Alan Sitomer's Blog

I pen a quarterly blog for IRA. Todays is SPARE US FROM THE COMMON CORE ARMY CHOW.

Kinda funny, kinda true, definitely a blast to write.…

Meet my new publicist… what a kick, huh?

Happy Father’s Day

Daddy and Sieena PR for DADDIES…

For some reason, I always talk to myself as “we” in my own head.

As in, “Okay, we have four things to get done this weekend.” Or, “All right, we can’t beat ourselves up for not getting anything done …

It’s still amazing to me that my career as a writer has evolved to the point where stuff like this happens.

Just pinch me.

Thanks for all the wonderful support, y’all.…

For people who like words, this certainly is worth a few moments… just so funny (and clever!). 

MENSA INVITATIONAL

T he Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by

In case you missed it, an ELA teacher has just been named NATIONAL TEACHER OF THE YEAR. Her name is Rebecca Mieliwocki and she teaches 7th grade English in Burbank, California.

Ain’t no doubt that Rebecca rocks. However, unlike so many other …

For the first 15 years of my life as a teacher I secretly aspired to be a published author. This is a post for anyone who might have the same lurking dreams.

I was inspired to write this post …

The Common Core ELA standards lay out a pretty clear, if ambitious, picture of what a student ought to be able to do (and know) at a variety of demarcation points along the K-12 educational scale.

A question I …

Sorry I haven’t been blogging much as of late. My wife is due within the next 2 weeks for baby #2 (another girl), it was Spring Break (can you say, “Pass the suntan lotion?”) and I won the lotto (but …

I am on a bit of a blog kick as of late which have all been connected to the same opening line: “When I enter the schools of other teachers wearing my hat of “YA author” to do student assemblies,