Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘Judy Jester’

Feb 2

Resolve to Read this Book: A Review of Minds Made for Stories

minds made for stories newkirkBy Judy Jester

It’s not often that I read aloud to my husband from “teacher” books, but I found myself doing so from Tom Newkirk’s latest work as often as I was from Steven Johnson’s How We Got To Now on our recent road trip to Cleveland. The former, Minds Made For Stories: How We Really Read and Write Informational and Persuasive Texts, knocked me out with its treasure trove of facts (not all related to writing) just as much as the latter did. Read more

Nov 27

1 Comment

Story as the Landscape of Knowing: Reflections on NCTE

NCTE 1This past weekend, several PAWLPers had the opportunity to attend the 2014 NCTE Annual Convention in Washington DC. Below are a handful of reflections from what was a truly amazing experience. Read more

Jun 1

“Writing Naked”

By Judy Jester

      The first time I wrote a piece for Voices in the Middle, I intended merely to document the nuts and bolts of the annual poetry slam I run at my school. It was fun. Here’s how you do it. But that’s more of the Instructor magazine type article. NCTE expects you to explain why such an endeavor is worthwhile. In attempting to clarify this for others, I discovered it myself. The poetry competition isn’t only fun; it fosters better writing as well. In what eventually resulted in Audience and Revision: Middle Schoolers Slam Poetry (Feb. 1997), I documented the results of interviews with students who said that they revised their poems far more because they knew they would be performing them in front of their peers. Read more