How to Enjoy the End of the School Year

It’s the end of the school year—how can you possibly get your ELA students excited about learning when summer vacation beckons? One word: choice. If you’ve spent any time around teens, you know the ticket to success in their learning is giving them as much choice as you can. When they choose what they will learn and the stories they will tell, they feel empowered and engaged. And they know that you care about their interests. Here are my top

Ten Tips for a Successful Reading Workshop

I have come to admit that my students get more out of the books they choose to read on their own than almost anything I assign to them. I also know that their lives don’t always allow them time to get lost in a book while they are surrounded by a quiet, calm atmosphere. So when I can, I structure in some time for independent reading workshop including writing regular reading responses based on one of two different structures.

Why You Need to Teach “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston

I’m always on the lookout for a great new text that will impact my students and also be enjoyable to teach. And when I do find that gem that has for some reason been hidden from me, I want other high school teachers to experience it as well. I can get kind of excited about new discoveries, especially when they add diverse voices and views to my curriculum. I created this unit on “Sweat” and now I want everyone to

How To Beat The Online Summaries

One of the main reasons why I love teaching literature is because I get to witness my classes experience the joy of reading great books. When students grapple with a text, analyze exquisite writing first hand, discover universal themes in classic works, and experience the accomplishment of finishing a challenging text for themselves, they truly grow as students and as people. Often, though, kids deny themselves of their own education by choosing to read online summaries rather than actual

Teaching The Great Gatsby: Discussion Questions, Unit Plan Ideas, and Historical Context

Just about every American Literature class in the country will read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel on the American Dream, but that doesn’t mean that your lesson plans on Gatsby should be like all the others. It’s one thing to fulfill a requirement or simply “cover” the book and it’s quite another to teach an impactful unit on The Great Gatsby that will really make a difference in the way your students view their world. II first started teaching this

7 Low-Prep Ideas for Poetry Month (High School Edition)

April is national poetry month, which means that teachers all over will feel obligated to dust off their ancient books of rhyme. But poetry doesn’t have to be full of archaic words and stuffy meter. With engaging and innovative unit plans, poetry can be fun and challenging and the best part of the year. Here are 7 ideas to experience poetry in April or any month. Do some Madlibs. One of my favorite low-key ways to get students experiencing poetry

How To Get your Students to Work Independently

The best piece of advice that I ever got as a teacher was from a principal way back in 2004. He told me that at the end of the day, my students should be more tired than I was. I took that as permission to give myself a break, not martyr myself for the kids, and get them to do the work, not me. The second best piece of advice I ever got as a teacher was from a freshman

6 Reasons Why Your Students Need Close Reading

When I think about my goals as a teacher, I think about how I want to empower my students to go out into the world and think for themselves. Creating independent, confident, life-long learners who aren’t afraid to try to new things is really the ultimate dream. But figuring out how best to spend the limited time that I have in class in order to achieve those dreams is not always easy. I have found, over the years, that teaching

Teaching Romeo and Juliet to 9th Graders? Make it Relevant

For most students, Romeo and Juliet is their first experience reading a Shakespeare play, and so the pressure is on—not only are you expected to get them excited about reading the 500-year-old words in this play, but their time spent with the two tragic teenagers will set the tone for their experience with other Shakespeare plays during their high school career. One of the best ways to insure that your Romeo and Juliet unit is a success with your classes

5 Tips for Teaching Before Christmas Break

The weeks before Christmas break are not exactly a teacher’s favorite time of year. Students are tired and restless; some might be excited about their vacation plans, some might be dreading extended time with their dysfunctional families. It’s a challenging time to teach to say the least. But that doesn’t mean that it’s time to throw in the towel and stream endless videos or give students meaningless busywork. It is a good time to try something different, and to get

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