About

My first day as a teacher, I hopped up on a chair and waved my hands to get my students' attention. It worked — for about two seconds. Then every single 7th grader in the room climbed up on their chairs and started waving and shouting too.

That was in 2000. I've learned a few things since then.

I spent the next twenty years in classrooms, coaching rooms, and training rooms across Arizona — teaching middle school and high school English, coaching new teachers through Teach for America, leading curriculum teams, and helping write the state's ELA standards. I've got a master's in English from the University of New Mexico, I used to hold an Arizona teaching certification and reading specialist endorsement, and I still believe — after all of it — that the right book at the right time can change the way a kid sees the world.

Scribbled Margin is the curriculum I wish I'd had when I started. It's built from twenty years of watching students respond to stories — what makes them lean in, what makes them think, what gives them permission to say what they're actually feeling. Every unit is structured enough that a parent can run it with confidence and open enough that a student can make it their own.

Where I stand

I'll be direct about this: Scribbled Margin is a full-chested endorsement of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Reading is political. Choosing which stories we put in front of young people is political. Deciding whose voices are worth hearing is political. I know that, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

I believe every human voice is worthwhile. I believe we all carry biases we haven't examined yet, and that stories are one of the best ways to surface them. Students thrive when they see themselves in a book. They grow when they see how someone else moves through the world. We become more empathetic, more complete people when we listen to experiences we'd never encounter in our own communities.

The novels in this curriculum are chosen because they offer windows and mirrors — windows into lives different from our own, and mirrors that reflect something true back at us. If that bothers you, this probably isn't your site. But if you believe, like I do, that young readers deserve access to the full range of human experience — you're in the right place.

I'm an older, white, straight man who has benefited from privilege in ways I'm still learning to see. I'm bound to make some mistakes as I design this curriculum — in the books I choose, the prompts I write, or the perspectives I miss. Feedback is a gift, and I'm always open to it.

A little more about me

Outside of curriculum, I write support articles for a fantastic app and I care a lot about clear, useful writing. I'm also working on a graduate degree in cybersecurity, which means I'm the same person building this site and auditing its security — a weird overlap, but a useful one when you're handling student data.

When I'm not doing any of that, I'm probably making a dorky joke that lands with about half the room. I'm at peace with those odds.

— Chad Kurzawski