Thirteen years later, I finally returned to Wheaton with the man I'd met there as strangers. Here's what I learned about the scars that build character and the dreams we bury too soon.
Education & Advocacy
The Old Maid’s Golf Lesson: What My Student Taught Me About Self-Love
A brilliant student's blog post about wanting to be seen as beautiful and smart made me face my own fear: what if people see me for who I really am? Then a golf game with family taught me to remember only the good hits.
Snow White Worried She Wasn’t Inspiring—Then e.e. cummings Taught Us Both About First Roses
Five false starts into writing night, my student Snow White confessed her prom prep stories 'might not be inspiring.' But between her friend's heartbreak and e.e. cummings declaring 'feeling is first,' I found my first hidden rose of spring—and remembered why poetry has no boundaries.
I Became Cinderella to Teach Fairy Tales—My Sophomores Taught Me to Believe in Happy Endings Again
Armed with a British accent and blue gown, I convinced sixteen-year-olds I was Cinderella from Far Far Away. They taught me about cell phones while proving fairy tales aren't just for children. Sometimes you have to suspend reality to remember that happy endings are still possible.
Teaching Fairy Tales After Brussels: Why Tomorrow’s Heroes Are in My Classroom
After the ISIS attack in Brussels, I looked at my students writing fairy tales about villains and heroes. I don't understand terrorism, but I know the heroes who will save us are sitting in my classroom right now.
Four Deaths in Four Days: What My Students Taught Me About Living
When death surrounded me—a former student, a country star, my teacher, a First Lady—I had to face the question: What are we really staying alive for?
When a Colleague Called Me “Wildly Optimistic”: Finding Myself in Apple Freewrites
At our teacher meeting, everyone wrote adjectives on apples for colleagues. When someone called me 'wildly optimistic,' I realized something had changed in my fifty weeks of writing. I wasn't always this hopeful.
What My Student Taught Me About Getting “There” First in Love
Young Beauty discovered she seemed depressed when she started writing, just like I did. Here's what we learned about vulnerability, passion, and what happens when you fall in love before he does.
How Teaching My Students to Make Bucket Lists Saved My Own Life
Thirty-six weeks after starting this blog in crisis, I'm teaching my students to dream big and write it down. Here's what happened when writing became my way back to hope.
Using Rhetoric to Fall in Love: A Teacher’s Guide to Choosing Charming
My students are studying persuasive essays, and I realized I'm basically writing one about whether to fall in love with Charming. Using ethos, pathos, and logos, here's my argument for opening my heart again.
Writer's Growth 