Using the term “boot camp” to describe a teaching experience suggests something perhaps not so pleasant—what’s the classroom equivalent of crawling through mud under barbed wire? But teaching a focused bootcamp can be a lot of fun, and it’s actually a nice break from the norm. Students gain a great deal by an intense focus […]
Christina Gil
Christina Gil was a high-school English teacher for sixteen years, but she recently left the classroom to follow a dream and move with her family to an ecovillage in rural Missouri.
She believes that teaching creative writing helps students excel on standardized tests, that deeply analyzing and unpacking a poemis a fabulous way to spend an hour or so, and that Shakespeare is always better with sound effects.
When she is not hauling water to her tiny home, she can be found homeschooling her two kids or meeting with her neighbors about the best way to run their village.
Posted inOpinion
You Probably Shouldn’t Be a Teacher If…
I can’t imagine having any other job besides that of a teacher. In fact, I think it is the greatest job in the world. But I definitely had my moments when I doubted whether or not I had made the right choice. And I think that I worked with plenty of people who had made the […]
Posted inClassroom Management
How to Avoid Teacher Burnout
One of the great pieces of advice that I received in my teaching career is that at the end of the day students should be more tired than the teacher. The other great piece of advice that I got was from a freshman in one of my classes. She said, “Why don’t you just give […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How To Make Writing a Priority in Your ELA Classroom
For many years of teaching, I would follow the same formula over and over throughout the year with my classes: teach a unit, finish unit, assign paper on that unit. Writing happened, but it was the thing that we did after we did the other stuff. What this means is that writing mostly happened at home, […]
Posted inBack to School, Opinion
Why You Should Take a Sick Day
I had a great mentor teacher in my first year teaching. We shared the same room, and as someone who had zero experience in student teaching, I really needed the guidance. One of the most important things she taught me that year was that I should stay home when I am sick. Taking a sick […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Why I Like to Start the Year with a Poetry Unit
Figuring out how to begin the school year can be intimidating. You’ll be setting the tone for the rest of the year, and you will never quite get the same amount of energy or hard work from your students as you do while the year is still fresh. (Ever notice that every single kid does […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
A Veteran Teacher’s Regrets: Student Choice
In my classroom, I integrated student choice whenever I could. We did reading workshop every Friday, when students read an independent reading book of their choice. Whenever we did a personal essay or literary analysis paper, I let students choose their own topics and ideas. I started doing I-Search papers, where students chose their own […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
I Don’t Teach To the Test, But I Still Play the Game
If you “teach to the test,” you are a slave to the system, right? I personally despise standardized tests, and in fact, when it comes to high school English classes, I would do away with midterms, final exams, and most typical tests altogether if I could. But since I do have to play the game, I […]