Across, Down & Together
Games World of Puzzles
Article
Across, Down & Together
Jul 9, 2020
5 min read
Where Do Reading Lists Come From? (And Why Do We Love Them?)
Literary Hub
Article
Where Do Reading Lists Come From? (And Why Do We Love Them?)
Oct 21, 2020
10 min read
Is An MFA In Fiction Writing Worth It?
The Writer
Article
Is An MFA In Fiction Writing Worth It?
Oct 15, 2019
Novelist David Guterson, author of the notable Snow Falling on Cedars, once stated, “When I went to college, I took a creative writing class and decided in a week to be a writer.” The study of creative writing at colleges and universities is a modern
17 min read
What’s the Story?
Creative Nonfiction
Article
What’s the Story?
Dec 15, 2020
3 min read
With Good Reason
New Zealand Listener
Article
With Good Reason
Jul 30, 2023
The delayed introduction to elements of the new NCEA framework can be interpreted as a confused (and confusing) landscape on which our next generation of students and teachers must walk. Mātauranga Māori, the new history syllabus, and the prioritisin
2 min read
Inspired to Write
Ceramics: Art and Perception
Article
Inspired to Write
Jun 30, 2021
4 min read
The Significance of Storytelling while Sharing Leadership Education
The European Business Review
Article
The Significance of Storytelling while Sharing Leadership Education
Oct 3, 2019
7 min read
Why So Many Kids Struggle to Learn
The American Scholar
Article
Why So Many Kids Struggle to Learn
Dec 1, 2021
21 min read
Would College Students Retain More If Professors Dialed Back The Pace?
NPR
Article
Would College Students Retain More If Professors Dialed Back The Pace?
Feb 1, 2018
4 min read
High-School English Needed a Makeover Before ChatGPT
The Atlantic
Article
High-School English Needed a Makeover Before ChatGPT
Aug 30, 2023
6 min read
The Big Idea: Do We Need To Dismantle The Literary Canon?
The Guardian
Article
The Big Idea: Do We Need To Dismantle The Literary Canon?
Jun 12, 2023
As someone who writes books, lectures on teacher training courses and spent 15 years teaching English literature, I’m often asked what I think should be included in the literary canon or what should replace the existing canon. It feels like a trick q
4 min read
How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math: The building blocks of understanding are memorization and repetition.
Nautilus
Article
How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math: The building blocks of understanding are memorization and repetition.
Sep 15, 2016
I was a wayward kid who grew up on the literary side of life, treating math and science as if they were pustules from the plague. So it’s a little strange how I’ve ended up now—someone who dances daily with triple integrals, Fourier transforms, and t
11 min read
Writing with Sound and Vision THE AUDIOVISUAL ESSAY IN THE CLASSROOM
Screen Education
Article
Writing with Sound and Vision THE AUDIOVISUAL ESSAY IN THE CLASSROOM
Dec 1, 2019
12 min read
THE grand PLAN
Writing Magazine
Article
THE grand PLAN
Jan 4, 2024
6 min read
Stories Worth Telling
Family Tree
Article
Stories Worth Telling
Oct 31, 2023
5 min read
Commentary: How To Make High Schools Better Places For Students To Learn
Los Angeles Times
Article
Commentary: How To Make High Schools Better Places For Students To Learn
May 2, 2019
4 min read
How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math: Sorry, education reformers, it’s still memorization and repetition we need.
Nautilus
Article
How I Rewired My Brain to Become Fluent in Math: Sorry, education reformers, it’s still memorization and repetition we need.
Oct 2, 2014
I was a wayward kid who grew up on the literary side of life, treating math and science as if they were pustules from the plague. So it’s a little strange how I’ve ended up now—someone who dances daily with triple integrals, Fourier transforms, and t
11 min read
Reforming Relationships In The Classroom
ArtAsiaPacific
Article
Reforming Relationships In The Classroom
Nov 4, 2022
3 min read
What It’s Like to Teach Writing When Everyone’s a Writer
Literary Hub
Article
What It’s Like to Teach Writing When Everyone’s a Writer
Jun 3, 2019
6 min read
In Praise of the High School English Teacher
Literary Hub
Article
In Praise of the High School English Teacher
Aug 27, 2019
3 min read
A Feel-Good Report Card Won’t Help Children
Manhattan Institute
Article
A Feel-Good Report Card Won’t Help Children
Oct 13, 2020
4 min read
In Defense of Real Education
The Independent Review
Article
In Defense of Real Education
Jan 25, 2023
Which college professors do you remember most vividly and with the most respect? I suspect many of us think back to the best lecturers—the ones who captivated us and entertained us while sharing their expertise. I have nothing against charisma or a c
10 min read
Opening Lines: Get Them Right … or Else!
Writer's Digest
Article
Opening Lines: Get Them Right … or Else!
Dec 11, 2023
Opening lines—get them right … or else! Or else your readers won’t want to keep reading. This means that your novel, memoir, story, or essay won’t get published or won’t reach many readers. Yikes! That reads like the opening to a horror story for wri
4 min read
Solving the Substitute-Teacher Conundrum
The Atlantic
Article
Solving the Substitute-Teacher Conundrum
Feb 12, 2017
5 min read
The Classroom Culture War
The Critic Magazine
Article
The Classroom Culture War
Sep 30, 2021
TEN YEARS AGO, THIS MOTHER’S STORY would likely be considered a joke; a parody of the culture wars that were starting to simmer across the Atlantic. But a lot can happen in a decade: the child whose mother recently reported the above attends an acade
5 min read
The Gap Between The Science On Kids And Reading, And How It Is Taught
NPR
Article
The Gap Between The Science On Kids And Reading, And How It Is Taught
Feb 12, 2018
3 min read
Heroes
K-Zone
Article
Heroes
Dec 11, 2022
1 min read
RSC and Representation
Ink Pellet
Article
RSC and Representation
Jun 17, 2023
3 min read
Resources for Roadschooling
Rootless Living
Article
Resources for Roadschooling
Jun 29, 2022
3 min read
Everything I Don’t Know About Swords: On Teaching Creative Writing
The Millions
Article
Everything I Don’t Know About Swords: On Teaching Creative Writing
Mar 19, 2018
1. One evening in grad school, half-drunk and Googling my own name, I found a blog run by one of my fiction students. I shouldn’t have read it, but of course I read it. “I already hate this class,” she wrote. “My teacher is a stuck-up snob who won’t
7 min read