On Tap for 2023: Gatsby, Inspiration & Insights into Student Focus

Plus: my top ten posts of 2022

I savor these last moments of the holidays. They’re the perfect time to reflect, rethink, and redirect my site’s content to better serve you, my dear readers, in the coming year.

In doing so, it’s always interesting to learn which posts resonated most strongly with readers throughout the previous year. For example, as 2022 progressed, it was especially interesting to see how my posts that focused on teaching the The Great Gatsby rose to the top of the list. In fact, the popularity of my Gatsby posts caused me to create a dedicated pull-down menu you’ll find under the blog menu at the top of every page.

My collection of Gatsby posts is now twenty posts strong, and I know that number will only grow during 2023. I’ve been doing more reading and researching on Fitzgerald’s classic and have more posts planned on new topics to teach such as water as a symbol, the acts of vanishing found throughout the novel and their significance, a piece on Jordan Baker (to flesh out my reportage on the novel’s key characters, similar to the one I wrote for Wolfsheim), and more. It’s all in the service of students and how we as teachers can better bring this novel and its myriad nuances to life for them. Of course, this site is NOT turning into a Gatsby website. Since teaching involves so many texts, there will continue to be a plethora of topics covered.

However, also know this: I am doing more reading and researching on the loss of focus (and the disengagement it fosters) that teachers are witnessing in their students today. Check out my post on the new book by Johann Hari, Stolen Focus, for a brief rundown on what I’m learning. I see this phenomenon in my own students. Our brains are grappling with the onslaught of interruptions and distractions that is endemic and vital to the internet and its ancillary social media.

So for 2023, expect these three things from this website:

1. More Gatsby posts
2. More information to help you understand and address our students’ capacities for the focus that learning requires
3. More ways to stay enthusiastic about teaching. It’s a tough profession and you are needed more than ever to stay in the classroom. After all, what other profession allows you to dwell daily in your literary passions and share those passions with others?!

Lastly, THANK YOU for reading my website!

I know that around 80 percent of my readers are what Google calls “organic visitors,” readers who search for a specific topic, land on a post I’ve written, read it for ideas, and then jump back out. Further, ten percent of my readers are termed “referrals.” These readers find my site by clicking on a link embedded in another article or website. I love that. It’s gratifying to know that other writers and bloggers see value in the information I produce.

However, another ten percent of my readers, visit my site specifically for ideas, resources, and inspiration to maintain their enthusiasm for teaching. These readers compel me to persevere with blogging, and I will be acknowledging them soon with a post that shares the specific ways this website has helped them tackle their content and love their jobs more. THANK YOU and cheers to a great 2023!

Without further ado, here are my top twelve posts of 2022!

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Thank you! I so appreciate your taking the time to read this post! This year, please let me know how I can help you maintain your enthusiasm for teaching. What are you struggling with? What good thing happened recently? Leave me a message on my Contact page and I’ll do my best to address your requests or give you a virtual high five! Again, thank you so much for your continued readership. Cheers to an enthusiastic 2023!

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ELA Brave and True

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Photo by Aakash Dhage on Unsplash