First, let me say that our school library is wonderful. Thanks to the efforts of our talented librarians, our school library is filled with many high-interest, engaging titles. I take my classes to the library regularly to give students the opportunity to hear book talks and to… Read More
The other day I announced to my ninth graders that we were about to begin our very last book of the school year, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Some students were, no doubt, excited about the arrival of summer. Others expressed surprise at how quickly the… Read More
Every year as April approaches, my colleagues and I gather together to make a decision. What poem will we choose to celebrate National Poetry Month this year? For the last nine years, students at Conestoga High School have marked National Poetry Month with a celebration known as… Read More
A few years ago, I read Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide, and since then, I’ve had to ask myself some tough questions about how and why I teach literature. This passage, in particular, continues to haunt me: Shouldn’t schools be the place where students interact with interesting books? Shouldn’t… Read More
One of the last books I read in 2014 was Gabrielle Levin’s delightful novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. At one point, the main character—a somewhat odd and sometimes churlish bookseller named A.J. Fikry—tells his daughter to remember that “the things we respond to… Read More
If you look at the picture on the right, you might be asking yourself why all those people are in line. Concert tickets? The latest gadget? Maybe a Kleinfeld’s sample sale? Nope. What you’re seeing is a line of hundreds of language arts and English teachers—from pre-service… Read More
Each August brings with it mixed feelings. The first is always shock: Wow, August already? Didn’t we just get out of school? The second is denial: August? Really? It can’t be. Didn’t we just get of school? Then anger: What, August?!? Why?!? We just got out of… Read More
Three years ago, I took a course called “Visualizing Words and Worlds” through the PA Writing & Literature Project (PAWLP) and this past July, I had an opportunity to co-teach the class for the second time at the James Michener Museum in Doylestown (a fantastic museum, by… Read More
Tricia Ebarvia 
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