Lesson Plans for Teaching Poetry: Fun Activities and Ideas for Poetry Month

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

Why Your Students Should Be Writing Timed Essays

Students working quickly, striving to gather evidence, formulate their own ideas, and shape them into a coherent essay—this is how I like to end all of my thematic units, with a timed essay. Students will never really be able to avoid timed writing—from state tests to the SAT to AP and later college exams, they will be required to write intelligent pieces within a limited time frame. Real writing happens in the revision process, and many people believe that that’s

Why You Should Teach ELA in Thematic Units

When I first started teaching, I did what lots of ELA teachers do: I started at the beginning and then went from there. In other words, I taught literature chronologically. What better way for students to understand the comprehensive sweep of literature written in English, right? Well, it often felt like I was just stringing together a list of texts, and, as happens to many people, I never really got to the stuff that was written in the last 100

How to Teach Shakespeare: Unit Plans That Actually Work

Teaching Shakespeare is truly the highlight of the school year for me. And it’s not only because I love the Bard so much that I have tattooed a favorite quote on my arm. It’s also because the Shakespeare unit is a highlight for my students as well. It wasn’t always that way, and I have learned a lot over the years about how not to teach the Bard. These 6 tips will work for any Shakespeare play, but if you

What Your Students Should Learn From The Crucible: Teaching Ideas, Fun Activities, and Discussion Questions

When you think about what you want students to learn from a powerful unit on The Crucible , think about five years from now. In other words, if you were to run into these kids in five years what would you want them to remember? Would you really care if they remember that Mary’s last name is Warren or how many people were accused of witchcraft or if the residents of Salem owned cows or sheep? If you’re going to spend

6 Reasons To Teach With Mentor Texts

Starting a writing unit by examining great examples of the kinds of writing we’ll be doing is one of those ideas that I seem to forget and remember over and over again. Maybe it’s because I rush through writing plans, anxious to get to the assignment so that students can start working. Maybe it’s the effort of looking for good examples. Perhaps it’s the mistake of believing that my explanation is plenty and students shouldn’t need anything more. Or possibly

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