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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I haven’t read it so can’t weigh in. But this nomination and the explanation from my fellow witch interests me. No veto here.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

See y’all on the heath? I’ve loved teaching Macbeth, and while I was really down with Cody’s rationale for JC, I can easily get behind Macbeth.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This sounds like a George Saunders short story.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

In my best Gossip Girl voice: “spotted!”

Group of people pose for a photo at NCTE convention.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And I love getting to be English teacher geeky about all this! It’s like we’re the record store guys from High Fidelity except about literature.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

And the real world is so unhinged, that a (non unhinged) text that can remind us of historical patterns of power, that can remind us that we are in a long arc despite how desperate this one point seems to be, that’s a text worth teaching. So thumbs up to Caesar, although I’d miss Midsummer.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For me, the answer to the questions above are Lear, Caesar, Midsummer, and, well, Titus Andronicus. I don’t feel strongly enough to veto and have really enjoyed teaching any Shakespeare I’ve ever had (gotten?) to teach.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Should the pick be inward, focused, and examine what Shakespeare did as a writer? or more outward focused as Cody suggests and connect to real world trends? should it be a play that most kids seem to love?(or should we just pick Titus Andronicus because it’s so unhinged and a riot of a read)?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Ultimately, I think on a list of 20, 2 to 3 classics of Western literature are fine as long as the other picks acknowledge the wonderful diversity of what’s out there. So, since it’s early, I’m a yes on Shakespeare in general. Now, for which play?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I’ve been mulling this a lot! First like Cody I’m not a defend the canon type, but I don’t think including WS is doing that, and I do think students should be exposed to some aspects of the canon. But which? Second, I’ve wavered about which Shakespeare to include if Shakespeare is to be included.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

No veto here. Putting this one on top of my reading list.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

As a dad of a highly sensitive 8 year old boy, you had me at “emotional inner life.” Havent read this but your description/ explanation sells it well and it’s going on my next to read list.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Haven’t read it but really like that the two starting picks broaden the notion of essential as regards genre and publication date. So much different than my high school experience that so narrowly suggested what counted as worthy literature.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

One of the things I look for in teaching a good text is the potential for other texts to tie in. I see a path from this one to There, There (location) and another to Just Mercy. Good pick!

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Quick clarification: are these picks in an order? You mentioned vetoing as a way to rank a book higher. Would this pick be #20 or 1 or something else?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Against all preferences I usually have for poetry I’m going to suggest Longfellow’s “The Cross of Snow.” Its statement about grief cuts against the typical platitudes people offer, and high schoolers could benefit from that message before heading out into the many griefs that await them.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I keep seeing this video posted and no one is mentioning that the men behind Trump are as good at standing as they are at math.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Geese sounds like an "anti-Strokes" band in the sense that, whenever they get a decent sounding rock groove going, someone in the studio clearly asked, "Ok, great, now how can we mess this up in the most unappetizing way possible?"

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Trouble. I came in on Alligator (Boxer was out already but my iTunes gift card was only $10 so I went with the earlier one). Saw the Boxer tour in a 300 capacity room. Just all remarkable stuff, but Trouble felt like the platonic ideal of what they’d been doing. Of the 4 which do you think is best?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

As a former New Yorker I’m so curious which bar.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

I personally would like to include a play in each class I teach.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

I think life goes on even with no Shakespeare (given of course other great art takes its place), and a lot of Shakespeare in the curriculum is also really good. So roll with the culture of your school. The fact that I’ve taught in a lot of different schools probably shapes this opinion.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Best experience was creating graphic novels. Ss had to pick 3 moments to tell the complete story (learning how to edit) and draw using film techniques.

A photo of a piece of paper of student work. The paper is divided into four quadrants, and each square shows a pencil sketch of an image from a scene of Shakespeare’s a Midsummer night’s dream.

A second sketch of a scene from a Midsummer nights dream

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Of late it’s become Hotspur’s line from 5.2 of Henry IV Part 1: “An if we live, we live to tread on kings.” Also always loved the flies to wanton boys line from Lear.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

What poem are you starting with?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

I love stuff like this! 10 writers by whom I've read more than 5 books (in chronological order): 1. Franklin W. Dixon 2. Matt Christopher 3.Lillian Jackson Braun 4. Christopher Pike 5. John Grisham 6. Toni Morrison 7. Joan Didion 8. Gabriel Garcia Márquez 9. James Lee Burke 10. Jason Reynolds

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

It was more about building communities around reading than improving reading skills (though I do think practice helped kids get better). I integrated it with tech instruction in 4th grade. We used Google sheets to track books we had finished and the class celebrated when a new book was added.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 31/03/2025

Improve a first line by substituting Mrs. Dalloway. Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover Mrs. Dalloway.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

With ranks, if you combine pitchers and hitters using fangraphs auction calculator and sort by price, you get Skubal as a pick 2 or 3 overall (depending on parameters), yet no one has Skubal as a first rounder in a general snake draft rank? What’s the difference?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

This is what’s baffling to me. Any thoughts on what they think the end game is?

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason.

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Chris Copeland @copeland1.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Gosh… the weight of the first post!!

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