Tongue of Fire

When students are given scaffolding—time, tools, and support to climb the ladder of learning—they don’t just survive Shakespeare or Poe, they enjoy them. From Wimpy Kid to Julius Caesar to The Tell-Tale Heart, I’ve seen students connect when teachers have the freedom to adapt. Scaffolding isn’t extra; it’s the bridge that makes real learning possible.

Teaching high school poetry brought me back to Charles Bukowski. Thirty years ago, saw him as edgy but cynical. Now, I see something else: a brutal kind of honesty about survival, pain, and what it means to live honestly.