PLL Blog Posts

Change, Power, & Hope

Author: Ellen A. Thompson, Ed. D. During the summer of 2021, I had the good fortune to have a group of 12 educators join me in a course wrapped around the book, Forged by Reading: The Power of a Literate Life written by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst. Not only

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Invitation Standing: Stop, Look, Listen and Write—A Duet

INVITATION STANDING BRING a leaf to me just a leaf just a spring leaf, an april leaf just      come Blue sky never mind Spring rain never mind Reach up and take a leaf and      come just come Paul Blackburn, (1926-1971) from The Cities, Grove Press:1967. Paul Blackburn, son of writer

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Finding Poetry in Unusual Places

Finding Poetry in Unusual Places Ellen A. Thompson, Ed.D. Poetry, literature that evokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm.  ~Britannica.com A few weeks ago, I tried out something I had not done in quite

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It is Okay to Have Fun with Vocabulary!

It is Okay to Have Fun with Vocabulary! Lisa V. Driver Ed. D. Learning vocabulary is a life-long process. Learning new words and their meanings is essential to our student’s education. Teaching vocabulary at the middle and high school level does not have to be burdensome and routine. Students do

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