Randy Ribay

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Five questions for Sonia Manzano

Photo: Edward PaganSonia Manzano's forty-four-year run as Sesame Street's Maria recently came to a close, but that doesn't mean she's taking it easy. Her newest book, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx (Scholastic, 14 years and up), is a memoir in which Manzano recounts her rough childhood...

Why schools still need libraries (and librarians)

I felt like a scavenger. There I was, in a prestigious private school’s library, picking through books they were getting rid of in order to make space for a new tech area. The staff was extremely kind, but I still resented what their students had and mine didn’t.As I’ve explained...

We need (more) diverse authors

In the Age of Testing, it seems creativity is often left by the wayside. Professional development for teachers these days focuses on practices that supposedly raise test scores. Practice questions. Test-prep software. Data analysis. Incentives.To make room for these practices, it seems that many high schools no longer teach creative...

Lesser-known heroes

In my literature classroom, students must always be reading a book outside of the novel we’re reading as a class. Every now and then, a student will pull V for Vendetta or Watchmen or Maus or some other graphic novel* off of my shelf and ask if he can use...

We need diverse books because of Ferguson

source: http://news.stlpublicradio.org/I have no idea what actually happened between Mike Brown and Darren Wilson in those unfortunate moments — and neither do you. Some people lie. Some cops lie. Evidence can be portrayed or interpreted in multiple ways. Let's stop pretending that we (or our news sources) are the sole possessors of indisputable facts....

Are you ready for some football...books?

I love the fall. I do not love people asking me, “Hey, how about that [insert-local-football-team] game?” I have nothing against the sport; it’s just not my thing.Working at an all-boys school, though, I am surrounded by a mass of gridiron fans. As stereotypical as it may be, I think...

Blasting the canon

As a new English department chair, I’ve already been faced with decisions about book orders. Our high school opened in 2007, but our middle school just opened with a sixth grade class last year. This means it was time for us to create a seventh grade curriculum.I believe in leadership...

Why are we doing any of this?

Every teacher has heard it before: if you’re teaching students to succeed on the Test, then you’re teaching them the skills they’ll need to succeed in college and beyond.And if you’re like me, you’ve either inwardly or outwardly scoffed at this claim.As I use the summer to reflect on this...

Confront and question

A man decapitates someone and then hangs himself.A young man learns to return hate with hate.A powerful leader is assassinated via stabbing.An entire people group is nearly annihilated.A girl’s parents and two sisters die because of a corrupt government.A boy is raped in an alleyway, and his friend does nothing...
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