Callie Feyen

My students walked into the classroom to see a ball of playdoh wrapped in wax paper sitting on their desks. The directions were pretty simple: See how many different objects you can make with the amount of dough you have. No trading or combining, you can only use what you have. I gave them a few ideas to get them… View Post

{reading} Romeo and Juliet. I have to teach it in a few weeks and I’m reading it with quite the flutter and trepidation in my heart. Those poor kids. But I have to say, I think Shakespeare got it right when he decided to make them fourteen instead of Brooke’s  Romeus and Juliet, who are sixteen. What other age group… View Post

On a day in November last year, I introduced my 8th graders to Anna Whiston-Donaldson’s book Rare Bird: A Memoir of Loss and Love. The story is about many things: faith, motherhood, marriage, but they all swirl around the devastating loss of Anna’s son Jack who drowned in a flash flood on a September afternoon. I’m pretty sure I remember that… View Post

When Hadley wants to add a dash of funny into an anecdote, or say, a weeknight dinner she finds dull, her go to tactic is to use the word, “fart.” The word works in almost any situation that (she thinks) needs livening up. For example, do you have extra shredded cheese on your dinner plate? Then do this: You will… View Post

Because I wonder what would happen if I thought of some of the more mundane and tedious things I did as art. Because the entire book tore me apart. I don’t think that story will ever leave me, but I do think I’m now in the right frame of mind to teach Romeo and Juliet. Because I’m certain this is… View Post