Sara Holbrook author/poet/educator
January 31, 2010
“She is the light which draws all the butterflies,” says a teenaged boy of his mother in the book Mother without a Mask by Patricia Holton. I read this line in the opening pages of the book and think how the description is also the perfect way to describe a school library –
January 26, 2010
ESOL is for amateurs at Rabat American School. Here the norm is ETOL or EFOL — English as a third or fourth language — or more, I am reminded as we come together to find our poetic voices how students in the USA (me included) suffer from not having access to more
January 25, 2010
It’s nobody’s job to shut the doors on the train speeding from Marakech to Fez in Morocco. Cars do-si-do, in a rhythmic two-step, doors wide open to the rush.
It’s someone’s job to punch the tickets, and another’s job sell the snacks, while four people claim jobs teachers, they are really touts,
January 12, 2010
This is Morocco — food and frenzy. Everywhere “we are welcome,” which generally means, do you want to buy? We were met at the airport by our hosts in Rabat, and after a relaxing two hour lunch, wandered the medina where Cynthia helped to introduce us to the culture before we took off
January 8, 2010
All December we were boxed in — by the weather and by deadlines. Three deadlines for me for books upcoming in 2010:
ZOMBIES! EVACUATE THE SCHOOL!WEIRD? ME, TOO. CAN WE BE FRIENDS?HIGH DEFINITION: VIGOROUS VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION
But now we are breaking out of the box! On our way to Morocco and then
November 18, 2009
I found this embedded on a friend’s blog, so I did what all good researchers do, I copped the URL. Yesterday was a good day for a melt down. I wasn’t in school and I had the time to fully appreciate the pressure of having three books due by year’s end. Today was a great
November 10, 2009
If we’re going to the beach, you have to put on shoes.I don’t want to wear shoes.Here let me help you.I can’t find my shoes.Here’s one.I don’t want to wear those shoes.These are fine.I want my other shoes.Start with putting on socks.I don’t want socks.You need socks and shoes. It’s November.Where’s my purse?You don’t need
October 16, 2009
Watch CBS News Videos Online
The boy is right — seems like everyone either loves or hates the president — no middle ground. But unlike the way people either love or hate coconut, opinions swing wildly. I don’t know if that reflects the fact the president is a moving target (unlike the flavor of coconut
October 12, 2009
Austinburg Elementary is old school. Literally. It is a very old school. Tall wooden windows, a gym with a real stage at one end, heavy wooden classroom doors. I couldn’t find an age on the building on-line, but I’m guessing the old girl is pulling up hard on a centennial. The steps into the
October 7, 2009
Two fantastic schools in two weeks — Central Elementary in Edgewater, MD and Garfield Middle School in Lakewood, OH.
Today in Lakewood I met with the seventh graders, first in writing workshops and then for an assembly. In the course of our writing, one student observation stood out, “Poetry makes me less scared.” Shyly,
