Tag: literature

• The Adventures of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

  It’s halfway through the second quarter of the school year and I’ve finally reached my favorite part of 8th grade literature, the beginning of an extended unit on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. First we read his short story, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, which serves as a warm-up to third quarter when we take…

  michardillo

  December 6, 2015

  books, Essay

  8th grade, A Study in Scarlet, Africa, Agatha Christie, Belgian Congo, Body of Proof, Bones, C. Auguste Dupin, Columbo, Dr. House, Dr. Joseph Bell, Dr. Watson, Edgar Allen Poe, England, Heart of Darkness, Hercule Poirot, Joseph Conrad, literature, Monk, Perry Mason, Psych, Queen Victoria, Rizzoli and Isles, Scotland, Sean Spencer, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, teaching, The Adventure of the Speckled Band, The Great Mouse Detective, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Mentalist, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mysteries of Laura, Victorian Era, Vienna, Walt Disney

• A Love Letter to Laurie Colwin

  Everyone has a list of people, either alive or deceased, that they would love to have dinner with. I’m sure there is a BuzzFeed list of the top candidates for those lists, chock-full of celebrities and famous people. For me, however, at the top of my list, is Laurie Colwin. Born and raised in Manhattan,…

  michardillo

  July 12, 2015

  books, Essay

  food essays, Home Cooking, Janet Yake, Jeff Gordinier, Juris Jurjevics, Laurie Colwin, lemons, Lemons and Limes, literature, Manhattan, monotypes, More Home Cooking, New York Times, non-fiction, Rosa Jurjevics, teacher, teaching

• Grace on the Field

  As many of you know, I teach middle school language arts in a Catholic school located in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. Yes, I spend all day with pre-teens and teens, awash in adolescent hormones, Axe body spray, egg-shaped lip gloss containers, and poor grammar brought on by texting and IM’ing.  Six periods a…

  michardillo

  May 10, 2015

  Essay

  100 metre, 400 metres, athelete, English, Eric Liddell, Flying Scotsman, football, language arts, literature, middle school, Olympics, sports, teacher, teaching, track

• Poetry 101

  It’s early April and a damp, gloomy day out. Yet, in spite of the temperature being in the 40’s this morning, signs of spring are visible. When driving my daughter to the metro today I pointed out to her the forsythia in full bloom up and down both sides of the street. I told her…

  michardillo

  April 12, 2015

  Essay

  Cecil Spring Rice, e. e. cummings, edgar allan poe, Eleanor Farjeon, Emily Dickinson, forsythia, Gustav Holst, John F. Kennedy, Jupiter, literature, mary ellen solt, poem, poetic, poetry, Robert Frost, spring, teaching, The Planets, W. H. Auden, Walt Whitman, william carlos williams, william shakespeare