Todd Blake Finley, PhD, is an Associate Professor of the best English Education Program in the World at East Carolina University in the College of Education.
He has taught elementary and 8-12th grade English and co-developed the Tar River Writing Project. His BA in Elementary and Secondary English was earned at the University of Puget Sound, where he grew up. His MA in English and PhD in C&I were earned at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Finley teaches, researches, works with schools and publishes in the field of composition, curriculum, instruction, technology, and collaboration. He lives a ridiculously contented life in North Carolina with his wife (a 5th grade teacher) daughter (a college frosh in NYC) and two poorly trained dogs.
You can follow his professional posts on Twitter. His home page is http://finleyt.squarespace.com/
Blog Posts
Technology can enhance academic conversations, says Anna Des Roches, a community development officer for Collaborize Classroom. The American Association of School Librarians (AALS) agrees, naming...
Read More.High school writers often fail to include dialogue in their stories. Perhaps this is because they over-rely on telling narratives. Or perhaps skipping dialogue is a strategy that allows students to elude the...
Read More.Of the thousands of 18.5-year-olds that I've taught, some could not manage the challenges of college while others attacked higher education responsibilities with full uh-rah commitment. It is from observing the later group's mojo that I...
Read More."We want to find a person behind the pen." -- Professional Writing Retreat Handbook
Last weekend I attempted to draft an inspirational message for my English education majors. Maybe because I haven't yet mastered a grownup man voice -- I'm 48 -- or because of the...
Read More.Did you check out Open Education Week this month? The international event highlighted free lesson plans and materials, searchable by subject, grade and quality. I spent a couple days throwing keywords into OER (open education resources are digital...
Read More.Protégé of Plato and instructor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle was the archetypal learner-teacher whose contribution to modern writers were three rhetorical proofs: pathos, ethos and logos. When combined with 21st century communication platforms, Aristotle's proofs shower rocket fuel on...
Read More.Start with Courage
In 1969, RAND political analyst Daniel Ellsberg risked espionage charges by photocopying secret Pentagon Papers that documented how U.S. presidents lied to the American public about military escalation plans in Vietnam and lied about its chances of success. In the...
Read More.In a Buick LaCrosse crowded with English teachers on the way to a wine bar in Raleigh, Dr. Lil Brannon explained her trouble with rubrics: "Did you ever watch kids play Dance Dance Revolution, the video game where...
Read More.I am addicted to searching for inspiring writing prompts. Like playing Pachinko, clicking through education resources soothes and focuses me. My coffee goes cold as I hunt through Twitter and Diigo posts for just one more idea.
I am addicted to searching for inspiring writing...
Read More.Along with the National Writing Project, Figment, and The New York Times Learning Network, we are celebrating the...
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