“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens. (A Tale of Two Cities, 1859) These century-and-half-old words describe what it is like being an educator today.

One of the biggest shifts in implementing reading science in classrooms today is the use of sound walls. This term is becoming more common, and we are seeing sound walls in general education classrooms across the country.

A student shuffles to the next page of the book, listlessly moving to answer the questions at the end of the chapter.

The clock is ticking, the days on the calendar are drawing short, and every teacher knows time is limited. For all readers, every moment in the classroom is critical; this imperative is certainly true for the older reader.

If you haven’t heard about ChatGPT since its public introduction late last fall, you’re rare. If you have heard about it, you’re likely to be intrigued, confused, and possibly alarmed by what it can do.

I once invited a refugee from Rwanda to be a guest speaker for my ELA/social studies class. She shared how she lost her entire family during the Rwandan genocide and was forced to live in a refugee camp for 17 years with no running water or electricity.