Resources
Bibliography for Teachers
Bentley, Xochitl. “Borrowed Forms, Borrowed Shells: The Hermit Crab Essay,” Moving Writers, February 20, 2024. https://movingwriters.org/2024/02/20/borrowed-forms-borrowed-shells-the-hermit-crab-essay/.
This website has great information about hermit crab essay, as well as great examples if a teacher needed more ideas.
“Defamiliarization: The Art of ‘Making Strange.’” Gilliam Writers Group, Accessed July 15, 2025. https://www.gilliamwritersgroup.com/blog/defamiliarization-the-art-of-making-strange.
This has a good definition of what defamiliarization is, along with examples.
Fintelman, Emily. “Getting Started with Writer’s Notebook.” Mrs Fintelman Teaches, July 1, 2020. https://emilyfintelman.com/2020/07/01/getting-started-with-writers-notebook/.
This has good information about the reason teachers should use a writer’s notebook in their English classroom.
Garfinkel, Sarah and Julie Vick. “Six Ways to Add Humor to Your Writing,” The Brevity Blog. June 2, 2022. https://brevity.wordpress.com/2022/06/02/six-ways-to-add-humor-to-your-writing/.
This is a helpful writing blog in general; however, this article gave specifics about how to add humor. These concrete tips will help students understand how to create humor in their own writing.
Glatch, Sean. “Braided Essays and How to Write Them.” Writers.Com (blog), April 19, 2022. https://writers.com/braided-essays.
Again, another good article on this complicated essay structure.
Hartenberger, Laura. “What AI Teaches Us About Good Writing,” July 25, 2023. https://www.noemamag.com/what-ai-teaches-us-about-good-writing.
This article goes through the pros and cons about AI and deals with the subject fairly.
Hayles, N. Katherine. “Don't Ban AI from Your Writing Classroom; Require It!” Poetics Today, Jun. 2024, Vol. 45. 2 , pgs. 259-265, DOI: 10.1215/03335372-11092870.
An optimistic article that encourages how to use AI in a classroom. It ends assuring that the college essay won’t go away, but that we just need to adapt how to use it. She gives concrete ways on how to use AI in the writing classroom.
Hsu, Hua. “What Happens After A.I. Destroys College Writing?” The New Yorker, June 30, 2025. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/07/the-end-of-the-english-paper.
This is a very comprehensive article about AI where there are interviews with students and teachers.
Irby, Samantha. “My Taste is so Basic. So What?” Harper’s BAZAAR, April 17, 2023. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a43590494/my-taste-is-basic-so-what/.
This is the mentor text I use for the humorous essay. Students will find this funny and relatable.
Klinkenborg, Verlyn. Several Short Sentences about Writing. Vintage Books, 2012.
This book is very inspiring. As a teacher, I got many ideas from Klinkenborg to use in the writing classroom, as well as practical writing advice for me and my students.
Krumpak, Karen. “Writing Exercise: 3 Reasons to Write Imitations of Your Favorite Authors.” Writer’s Digest, March 2, 2018. https://www.writersdigest.com/there-are-no-rules/writing-exercise-3-reasons-to-write-imitations-of-your-favorite-authors.
This helped frame my rationale for having students emulate mentor texts.
Miller, Brenda. “We Regret to Inform you.” Nov. 2013, The Sun, https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/21675-we-regret-to-inform-you.
This is my mentor text for the hermit crab essay.
Quinones, Erica. “Living Writer Weaves Tales of Love and Violence.” The Elm, 28 Mar. 2019, https://blog.washcoll.edu/wordpress/theelm/2019/03/living-writer-weaves-tales-of-love-and-violence/.
This was an article written by a critic about Lidia Yuknavitch’s essay “Woven.” This gave a little more insight on the author and her purpose for writing her essay.
Richman, Ben. “Promoting Critical Thinking Through Reflective Writing - Stossel in the Classroom.” April 1, 2025. https://stosselintheclassroom.org/blog/reflective-writing/.
Comprehensive article about the importance of using reflective writing in the high school classroom.
Root, Robert. “Beyond Linearity: Writing the Segmented Essay.” Writing on the Edge, Spring / Summer 1998, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 27-34, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43157056.
This is an informative essay about the segmented essay and its effects.
Slate, Jenny. “Going to the Restaurant.” The New Yorker, Sept. 16, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/09/23/going-to-the-restaurant.
This is my mentor text for defamiliarization. Slate is a very funny and my students are going to love this one.
“‘Unfolding in the Present Tense’: An Interview with Lisa Van Orman Hadley,” The Rupture, June 3, 2014. https://www.therupturemag.com/blog/2014/6/3/unfolding-in-the-present-tense-an-interview-with-lisa-van-or.html.
An article that interviews Van Orman Hadley about her writing techniques for “Making Sandwiches with My Father.”
Van Orman Hadley, Lisa. “Making Sandwiches with My Father,” The Rupture, November 4, 2013. https://www.therupturemag.com/the-collagist/2013/11/4/making-sandwiches-with-my-father.html.
This is the mentor text for the segmented essay.
Yuknavitch, Lidia. “Woven.” Guernica, August 3, 2015. https://www.guernicamag.com/woven/.
This is the mentor text for the braided essay.
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