Former Wonder Lead Ambassador

Paul W. Hankins

Joined 3 years ago

Paul W. Hankins is an English Language Arts teacher at the secondary level. A firm believer in inquiry-based strategies and approaches, Hankins believes in most cases that teachers have "questions," but students have "wonders." Meeting in the middle addresses the standards while embracing the natural wonder and curiosity our students bring into the room. Hankins is a member of multiple state level professional groups, including Hoosier Family of Readers, The Indiana Reading Association, AISLE/ILF, and The National Writing Project at Indiana University Southeast. Hankins is a member of the National Writing Project, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Assembly on Adolescent Literature to the National Council of Teachers of English, and is a second-year ambassador with The Jossey-Bass Teacher Ambassador Program. Hankins serves or has served on multiple reading/literature juries to include the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award (ALAN), the Lee Bennett Hopkins Children's Poetry Award (2016), and the Eliot Rosewater Awards (Indiana).

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"When Readers Find The Books Seeking Them"

“When Readers Find The Books Seeking Them”: Two Teachers Talk Twin Towers TitlesTHIS IS A CROSS-POST BLOG from THESE 4 CORNERS (Paul's Blog)A ...

Apr 27, 2016

#WallowinWonder: 1677: "What Makes Your Tongue Burn?"

We've been working with Catalog Verse in Room 407. You might recognize this type of poem if you've ever listened to:"My Favorite Things" from The ...

Apr 24, 2016

#WallowinWonder: #201:"What is the Best Place on Earth?"

This picture is from our family vacation in Northern Michigan last fall. This area is often referred to by locals as "God's Country." While walking ...

Apr 21, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Poem 14, 15, and 16: Synthesis/Sestina Poem

You've probably wondered where I've been. I wish I could answer like Zora Neale Hurston's Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God to say, "I've been ...

Apr 14, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Poem 13: #1667 "How Do Homing Pigeons Find Their Way Home?"

"How to Find Your Way Home"Move about--from little room to little room.Look about--little room after little room.Move in--make this one your little ...

Apr 12, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Poem 12: #1666: "Why are There Seven Days in a Week?"

I'm going to cheat a little today. Only because our students in Room 407 are working with Pantoum form today and tomorrow.And. . .Pantoum has seven ...

Apr 11, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Poem 11: #115: "Are Debit Cards and Credit Cards the Same?"

I've already used one of these machines today. And by the end of the day, I will have probably used one again. It reminds me that while in ...

Apr 10, 2016

WallowInWonder Two-For Sunday: Poems 9 and 10

Feeling a little under the weather and I did not get a post in on Saturday. So, if you are following the blog during the month of April, you are ...

Apr 9, 2016

Wallow in Wonder Poem 8: "Why Can't You Drive As Fast As You Want?"

I am very late to the game today. It's been that kind of week. And here we are. . .at the end. . .of that kind of week. You know the kind of week, ...

Apr 23, 2019

I always had difficulty reading. I would gravitate to wordless books. As a visual thinker the pictures always told more of the story for me. I was in ...

Nerdy Book Club

Apr 22, 2019

For the past sixteen years, I have had the pleasure to teach Language Arts Lab to middle school students — a class that one of my former ...

Nerdy Book Club

Apr 20, 2019

My favorite part of being a school librarian is reading to students. I regularly read to kindergarten and first grade students. Once a month I have ...

Nerdy Book Club

Apr 19, 2019

Resilience. Persistence. Perseverance. We women know we have always had these qualities—and now we are being sure that ...

Nerdy Book Club

Apr 18, 2019

Our Nerdy Book Club by Rhett Miller My friends and I, we have a book club. We read and we read and we read. We talk and we laugh and ...

Nerdy Book Club

Apr 17, 2019

For a writer, this is a strange and kind of awful thing to admit, but it’s the truth: I grew up in a bookless house. Okay, it wasn’t 100% ...

Nerdy Book Club

Apr 16, 2019

I’ve been thinking about the girls of this world. I’ve been thinking, for example, about a moment, not so long ago: it happened ...