What does Reconciliation mean to you? Check out what Indigenous educators in Surrey Schools have to say! #sd36learn surreyschoolsone.ca/trc/

Join us for this year's @bctela.bsky.social conference this October! In the morning Dr. Joaquin Munoz and I will share our learning progressions for engaging with Indigenous topics, and in the afternoon Dr. Kessey Jemmott and I will dig deep into the joy & decolonizing power of creative nonfiction!

Gather Around! Story at Resistance, Story as Hope! Register now for BCTELA's Oct. 2025 conference!! bctela.ca/conferences/

If you're looking for *free* rubrics, ELA course plans, conferencing docs, literacy support, links to powerful contemporary poems, and more, check out my class site: mistermckillop.wordpress.com/for-teachers/. #ela

Day 7 2025 BCTELA: BC Teachers of English Language Arts Summer Book Club! We know you have some important thoughts we can learn from in response to these questions. Contribute to our thinking in the comments section below.

Prompts! Writing stations! (Though they choose their own destination; no one hits all the stations.) Exemplars and discussions! Visiting poets! Modelling and co-writing! Drafts! In-the-moment feedback!

Day 5 2025 BCTELA: BC Teachers of English Language Arts Summer Book Club! Let's learn a bit about you...share your reflections in the comments section below.

Day 4 2025 BCTELA: BC Teachers of English Language Arts Summer Book Club Going big with this prompt. Share your thoughts in the comments section and support conversation by replying to others.

My favourite definition of poetry: intense language. So there’s an intensity to prose poetry, a densification with strong verbs and nouns. There’s often a focus on showing over telling, leaving the reader to infer. A GOOD prose poem takes us somewhere we didn’t expect.

Day 3 2025 BCTELA: BC Teachers of English Language Arts Summer Book Club Share your ideas below in the comment section and don't forget to respond or reply to others. 🙂 Love this learning community!

Day 2 2025 BCTELA: BC Teachers of English Language Arts Summer Book Club Share your thoughts in the comments section and please also respond to others' contributions!

Day 1 of 8 2025 BCTELA: BC Teachers of English Language Arts Summer Book Club! This collection of poems is a powerful read! Please respond to the quote, the question or the reflections below in the comment section.

Happy August everyone! A few short days until our 2025 summer book club chats begin for NDN Coping Mechanisms by Billy-Ray Belcourt, our conference keynote! Questions to provoke your thinking and responses start August 20th and go until the 27th! We are eagerly anticipating your contributions!!

Once a month I give this anonymous Google Form survey to all my classes + then turn around and share the results with them the following week Adapted from what @jimmayers.bsky.social does in his room, having this monthly "pulse check" has been a game-changer (Especially the debrief conversations!)

Since @marcusluther.bsky.social has been making his teaching practices explicit, I want to share how I teach theme. It’s not new, but it’s the best AND it’s a sure-fire way to tell if a student has used AI at this point.

Join us for Poetry in the Park July 16th with features Cecily Nicholson and Rita Wong, followed by open mic and host @jessicaleemcmillan.com. 6:30pm Queen's Park Bandshell. rclas.com/recurring/po...

Now Hiring: Poetry Editor! Position begins August 2025. For the full posting, please see our website. Apply before July 22, 2025: ex-puritan.ca/news/now-hir...

Something I love about having made a vision document for each of the classes I teach back in at the beginning of the school year? The ability to look at it when the school year concludes as a lens to understand what went well and how I need to do better: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

DOCTOR Kessey! She did it!!!😍😍😍

Arc’s Poem of the Year 2025 Readers’ Choice Award is open for voting! Which shortlisted poem is your favourite? Read the standout finalist poems and cast your vote today! buff.ly/3DLvn2D

“…keep going…”

my book, a body more tolerable, is out in the public early! WHAT A TIME!

From 'Midnight & Other Poems' (2009) —Mourid Barghouti [tr. Radwa Ashour] #poetry #poem #poems #palestine

As with so many things, the answer seems to be balance: starting with shared texts that build skills and community, and then letting students spiral out into their own explorations and priorities.

This poem by Jónína Kirton! www.eventmagazine.ca/2025/01/poet...

Here is a Canadian Poets Starter Pack! 🪶💐🩷 If you're a Canadian poet and I've missed you, comment below, and I'll add. (Also, if I made a mistake in adding you to the list, let me know, and I'll remove you!) Please share so folks coming to Bluesky can find their people! go.bsky.app/JbjXoTN

Stories shape the way we learn, lead, and connect. They help us make sense of the world, inspire change, and build stronger communities. Please join us in this special series hosted by our dear friend, Monique Gray Smith. outdoorlearning.com/event/the-me... @noiie.ca

As I read the 100+ poetry books submitted for the Fred Cogswell Award, I took notes on both the books and the tricky act of judging poetry. I've compiled some of them into an essay for @the-wood-lot.bsky.social. I hope you enjoy it! the-wood-lot.ca/2025/01/19/s...

If you’re looking to connect with ELA teachers in BC, here’s a starter pack! go.bsky.app/JJc37o1

Still a WIP but I’ve been working with @karismjones.bsky.social, @rabani.bsky.social, @carolinebr.bsky.social, @deewellington1.bsky.social, Sarah Jerasa & some other folks on a repository of digital mentor texts/practices. Here’s mine on VE. reminiscent-attention-b9e.notion.site/Video-Essays...

Bluesky is nice and all, but we still need it to get to a organizations-reply-immediately-to-callout-posts weightiness...

Happy 3rd birthday to this Christmas girl, who can fly like a reindeer…

Her season

Via @chrishunter.bsky.social, BC's AI & digital literacy teaching supports. There are 2 for ELA; I'm most taken with the ELA9 story one. www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/...

The BC MoE developed AI-related teaching and learning examples in various grades and areas of learning. Thoughts on the Math 9 one? www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/...

Looking for Indigenous Brilliance for your classroom? Have a listen to my playlist of amazing Indigenous musicians. www.carolynroberts.net/general-4

Spent the day at another high school, shadowing an expert ELA colleague. Takeaways: kids need context; learning logs carry powerful potential; movement & discussion help kids; we all do things beautifully & differently; there can never be enough books in a classroom.

A starter pack of educators in Surrey, BC. Comment/message me if I haven't added you yet! #sd36learn #edusky go.bsky.app/Dutdpe4

Wondering what to do with the three weeks of school before winter break? This is a perfect time to do mini-inquiries into Reading Identity and Book Choice.Let us know if you want some ideas. Here are some thoughts on engagement. trustingreaders.com/2024/10/18/a... @caroljago.bsky.social #EduSky

Poetry 🤝🏾 science

We shouldn't have to be stealth, but I will never fault someone being stealth for survival.

Oh wow

It's my favourite time of the year: the @bctela.bsky.social post-conference sharing from presenters! Check the link for some great resources from sec & postsec ELA thinkers to catch up on whatever you missed! #bcedchat bctela.ca/conferences/...

⚠️Urgent public service announcement for anyone using Microsoft Office: by default Office will scrape your documents, unless you opt out, as described below:

Talking about racism isn’t divisive. Racist ideas, beliefs, and policies are

If you are a new department head, this was written for my context but might help you: mistermckillop.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

We spent our afternoon in the Arts Integrated Module watching grade 9s perform new scripts for feedback on plot & staging: timely feedback, collaboration (we make things together!), & building on 2.5 months of understanding, criteria, & practice. They perform for gr 8s in a week. #sd36learn

There are four styles of classroom management, based off of Baumrind (1966): - Authoritarian - Permissive - Neglectful - Authoritative There is one of these we want to aim for. Do you know which? 🧵

Invitation to BC educators to join a research study on teaching and learning outside the classroom placeresponsive.ca #placeresponsive #storywork