In Writing a Life, Katherine Bomer presents classroom-tested strategies for tapping memoir's power, including ways to help kids generate ideas to write about, elaborate on and make meaning from their memories, and learn craft from published memoirs.

Ruth Vinz's goal is to involve readers in the complexities of teaching and learning so that they will re-search and re-examine their own teaching lives, in the process creating a working schema for what and why they teach.

The past thirty years have witnessed a rapid growth in the number and variety of courses and programs that study life writing from literary, philosophical, psychological, and cultural perspectives. The field has evolved from the traditional approach that biographies and autobiographies were always about prominent people—historically significant persons, the nobility, celebrities, writers—to the conception of life writing as a genre of interrogation and revelation. The texts now studied include memoirs, testimonios, diaries, oral histories, genealogies, and group biographies and extend to resources in the visual and plastic arts, in films and videos, and on the Internet. Today the tensions between canonical and emergent life writing texts, between the famous and the formerly unrepresented, are making the study of biography and autobiography a far more nuanced and multifarious activity. This volume in the MLA series Options for Teaching builds on and complements earlier work on pedagogical issues in life writing studies. Over forty contributors from a broad range of educational institutions describe courses for every level of postsecondary instruction. Some writers draw heavily on literary and cultural theory; others share their assignments and weekly syllabi. Many essays grapple with texts that represent disability, illness, abuse, and depression; ethnic, sexual and racial discrimination; crises and catastrophes; witnessing and testimonials; human rights violations; and genocide. The classes described are taught in humanities, cultural studies, social science, and language departments and are located in, among other countries, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, Eritrea, and South Africa.

Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature presents the experiences and voices of Black creative writers who are also teachers. The authors in this collection engage poetry, fiction, experimental literature, playwriting, and literary criticism. They provide historical and theoretical interventions and practical advice for teachers and students of literature and craft. Contributors work in high schools, colleges, and community settings and draw from these rich contexts in their essays. This book is an invaluable tool for teachers, practitioners, change agents, and presses. Teaching Black is for any and all who are interested in incorporating Black literature and conversations on Black literary craft into their own work.

'This is a book by a teacher still in the classroom after 20 years. Want to know how to survive? Read this book; it's fizzing with ideas.' Ty Goddard, Co-founder of the Education Foundation A compendium of teaching strategies, ideas and advice, which aims to motivate, comfort, amuse and above all reduce your workload, by bestselling author Ross Morrison McGill, aka @TeacherToolkit. Teacher Toolkit is a must-read for newly qualified and early career teachers and will support you through your first five years in the primary or secondary classroom. It is packed with advice, tips and ideas for all aspects of teaching practice, from lesson planning to marking and assessment, behaviour management and differentiation. Ross believes that becoming a teacher is one of the best decisions you will ever make, but after more than two decades in the classroom, he knows that it is not an easy journey! He shares countless anecdotes from his own experience, from disastrous observations to marking in the broom cupboard, and offers a wealth of strategies to help you become a true Vitruvian teacher: one who is resilient, intelligent, innovative, collaborative and aspirational. Complete with a bespoke Five Minute Plan in every chapter, photocopiable templates, QR codes, a detachable bookmark and beautiful illustrations by renowned artist Polly Nor, Teacher Toolkit is everything you need to ensure you are the best teacher you can be, whatever the new policy or framework. Ross is the bestselling author of Mark. Plan. Teach., Just Great Teaching and 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Outstanding Lessons. Vitruvian teaching will help you survive your first five years: Year 1: Be resilient (surviving your NQT year) Year 2: Be intelligent (refining your teaching) Year 3: Be innovative (taking risks) Year 4: Be collaborative (working with others) Year 5: Be aspirational (moving towards middle leadership) Start working towards Vitruvian today.

Teaching Life Writing: Theory, Methodology, and Practice combines research in life writing and pedagogy to examine the role of life stories in diverse learning contexts, disciplines, and global settings. While life stories are increasingly integrated into curricula, their incorporation raises the risk of reducing them to mere historical evidence. Recognizing the importance of teaching life stories in a manner that goes beyond a surface understanding, life-writing scholars have been consistently exploring innovative pedagogical practices to engage with these stories in ways that encourage dynamic and nuanced conversations about identity, agency, authenticity, memory, and truth, as well as the potential of these narratives to instigate social change. This book assembles contributions from a diverse group of international educators, weaving together life writing research, critical reflection, and concrete pedagogical strategies. The chapters are organized around three overarching conversations: the materials, practices, and mediations involved in teaching life writing within the context of contemporary social change. The unique perspectives presented in this collection provide educators with valuable insights into effectively incorporating life stories into their teaching practices. Featuring works by over a dozen educators, the volume interlaces life writing research, critical reflection, and tangible pedagogical practices. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.

I am not a natural-born teacher. I am not a writer of ease and facility. I've done a lot of zigzagging to get where I am. . . . I have to rethink, replan, revise. Adjusting my balance and positioning is ongoing. We ask our students to write authentically, in their own voice. We validate their knowledge and their experiences. We want them to know the depth and joy of a lifelong love of reading and writing. In Zigzag Tom Romano writes his life, creating a model for us of the power that words - written, spoken, heard, read, taught - can have in shaping our professional, personal, and spiritual lives. Tom Romano has long been known for writing with one of the most distinctive and compelling voices in the field. Beginning with scenes of waxing the floor of his father's beer joint, Romano shows us how his voice evolved over time, how he found simpatico voices among friends, family, mentors, and literary writers, and how he wended a long, twisting road to helping students find their own voices. We have long cherished Romano's Clearing the Way, and here he shows us that the journey to that book led him down the same kinds of hallways we have walked, into the same kinds of classrooms we have taught in. In Zigzag we also see how the episodes of Romano's life led him to discover the dynamic fusion of imagination, voice, and content that fuels his celebrated multigenre approach and energizes writing curricula around the country. Romano speaks to us directly, confronting the problems every educator faces, and even years later finding more evidence that success and failure are not opposites but opportunities to learn - always to learn. From student to teacher, Ohio to New Hampshire, from miracle to meltdown to milestones, Zigzag opens a window into the development of a writer, a teacher, a reader, a learner. It is the story of our educational values - sometimes lived easily, sometimes shakily - and of what can happen when we pass those values on to our students.

When Peyton comes across the victim of a hit-and-run, she knows it’s destiny. But what exactly does fate have in store for her and the boy in the coma? Since her parents divorced, twelve-year-old Peyton has known that to achieve happier outcomes in her life, she’s got to focus on eliminating her flaws—and on making sure her first boyfriend is truly right for her. Guided by her collection of inspirational quotes and her growing list of ideal boyfriend traits, Peyton is convinced that this summer will be the perfect summer, complete with the perfect boyfriend! But when she discovers a boy lying unconscious in the middle of the road, the victim of a hit-and-run, her perfect summer takes a dramatic detour. Determined to find the driver responsible, Peyton divides her time between searching her small town for clues and visiting the comatose (and cute!) boy in the hospital. When he wakes up, will he prove to be her destiny? Or does life have a few more surprises in store? With abundant warmth and gentle humor, Jennifer Richard Jacobson offers a novel about searching for perfect answers—and finding that reality is both messier and far more intriguing than anything you can dream up.

The book is interdisciplinary in focus and centers on enlarging teachers understanding of how reading and writing can change lives and how the language arts can contribute significantly to and change educational processes in the twenty-first century. Implicit in its argument is that although the emphasis on science and math is crucial to education in the digital edge, it remains vitally important to keep reading and writing, language and story, at the heart of the educational process. This is particularly true in a democratic society because shaping stories through human language can enhance the quality of our lives, and teach us something important about what it means to be human and vulnerable. In this sense, stories allow for self-reflection and an increased opportunity to enhance and understand emotional intelligence and human community.

"...an eloquent love letter to teaching and to life, written by a veteran teacher at the height of his powers." - Sam Swope, Founder of The Academy for Teachers "I admired its feeling, candor, and exuberance - and of course its Emersonian hope." - Mark Edmundson, author of Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference "Shy abounds in wry observations about practical experiences; his quiet reflections verge on and flow into wisdom ..." - Bob Blaisdell, author of Tolstoy as Teacher: Leo Tolstoy's Writings on Education Great teachers are indispensable champions and guides for students passing through crucial years. They are forks in the road. They are artists with living canvases and hidden audiences. The essence of what teachers do when the classroom door is closed is not written about, or celebrated, enough. It is unsung work. Teaching Life sings it here. One part memoir and one part educator travel guide, Teaching Life is a charming and loving missive to the author's aspiring-teacher daughters and a lyrical celebration of the unsung work of teaching. This book will surely shine as a North Star for teachers the world over.