Must-read Post of the Week:
Chris Lehmann argues that we can do a much better job making schools places of humane care and community.
Start of a New School Year
If every teacher reflected on Justin Tarte’s 5 Questions Every Teacher Should Ask Him/Herself, school just might be a little different.
Alan November urges teachers to focus on four key skills in the first days of school.
Chris Lehmann has a radical suggestion for schools: instead of embracing the next new initiative, what if we focused on getting better at the things we already do?
We tried Jackie Gerstein’s introductory icebreaker, What Do You Wonder About?, in Digital Literacy class, with good results.
Ginger shares some ideas for getting started in the project-based learning classroom.
Doing School Differently
Jackie Gerstein locates school dysfunction in the history of institutionalized school systems and argues for change.
What would happen if students took over your school’s Twitter feed for a week? What kind of message would circulate about your school?
I wish my children could go to this public school in California–designed with input from students, parents, and teachers.
Reading Workshop
Pernille Ripp’s Small Ideas for Better Readers Workshop offers solutions for newbies and veterans.
Donalyn Miller revisits the 40-Book Challenge.
There are so many problems with AR. Paul Hankins tackles just a few in his post, Okay…We’re Going to Say It Again.
Julianne Harmatz shares a slice of life focused on reading conferences.
#WeNeedMoreDiverseBooks
Hoping to find more diverse characters in science fiction and fantasy? Stacked has a list of YA recommendations.
Aarti at Booklust is hosting #Diversiverse, the easiest reading challenge ever: commit to reading and reviewing one book by a person of color between September 14-27.
Teaching Ferguson
Robin Holland’s powerful post, Open Season on Black Men, includes poetry, reflection, writing prompts, and many useful resources.
Rafranz Davis challenges us to think about “The Dehumanizing of Black Boys” at our own schools and reminds us that “When Real Life Happens, Lesson Plans Change.”
Kelly Jensen at Stacked has a round-up of useful articles, including reading lists of diverse books and books that might spark conversation and understanding about race, racism, social justice, and activism.
Philip Nel curates an incredible list of resources for teachers, divided into categories like Art, Children’s & YA Lit, and more. The first half of his post tackles the problem of structural racism and is also well worth a read.
Book Riot recommends 5 Good Books About Race.
I mostly tweeted, but Kate Harding has 9 more suggestions: 10 Things White People Can Do About Ferguson Besides Tweet.
The Ferguson Public Library has been open throughout the protests and has invited children who still haven’t been able to go back to school to come to the library to learn. TLT collects some inspiring tweets about the work of librarians and teachers in Ferguson.
Longer Reads
Mat Honan liked everything on Facebook so that you don’t have to. Hilarious and disturbing look at what happens when you like everything.
Sonya Huber has curated a list of Literary Picks from The New Yorker Archives.
Food
I made this Tried and True Cobbler from DALS last night, and I have to say, it earned its title. I used blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and it was as good as any more elaborate cobbler I’ve ever made.
I also tried Pinch of Yum’s Sweet Corn and Zucchini Pie–another winner.
Cats
A couple of great photos of surrealist painter Remedios Varo with her cats, plus a few of her paintings featuring the world’s best animal. (That would be cats, of course.)
the dirigible plum 
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