Author: Mara Truslow

I'm a middle school English teacher, but let me start by going back in time. I grew up in the desert valleys of Boise, Idaho and attended an International Baccalaureate private high school with a strong emphasis on service-learning. Then, I transplanted my then nascent self to Nashville, Tennessee where I attended Vanderbilt University. I studied in Peabody College, but somehow evaded and education degree. Instead, I studied Human and Organizational Development and History. Last year, I taught at a charter school in North Nashville and taught 7th grade writing. I wrote an experimental curriculum where all students worked on laptop computers. Then, I taught a semester-long Common Core aligned Pilot Unit. I focused on the TCAP/ Common Core Informational Text Standards and worked with students to write Analytical Summaries analyzing the efficacy of an author's rhetorical moves in a piece of writing. I received my M.Ed in Instructional Practice from Lipscomb. Now, I teach in a more rural school south of Nashville, where I teach reading and writing in a blended literacy class.