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Media and Genre-Based Units
Schools and teachers usually organize ELA curriculum by novel, theme, or genre, or some combination of those three.
Jan 23, 20243 min read


Creating Relevance in a Modern Classroom
Sometimes I find myself trying to think of ways to create connections between literature and the real world.
Jan 10, 20242 min read


5 Fun Ways Students Find Quotes
Teaching students the value of using quotes in an essay is more important now than ever ...
Dec 21, 20233 min read


Meaningful Project-Based Learning for High School English: 5 Objectives
I recently opened enrollment for a new online course, Meaningful Project-Based Learning for High School English. Enrollment closes Friday
Dec 12, 20232 min read


5 Ways to Handle the ELA Workload
There’s no doubt that English teachers have to manage a ton of work. Students have to practice writing frequently and gather as many quotes
Nov 29, 20232 min read


Character Study: A Whole-Novel Activity
Students love to think about how a character develops because they too, because they’re teenagers, experience a lot of change.
Nov 17, 20232 min read


10 Whole Class Discussion Strategies
With every passing year, it seems harder and harder to get students interested in whole class discussions. But there are creative ways ...
Nov 1, 20233 min read


The Purpose of Literary Devices and Techniques
It’s easy for students to get caught in the trap of simply identifying literary techniques without considering their purpose ...
Oct 17, 20232 min read


Storytelling and the Personal Narrative
Because I teach seniors, I start the year with a short unit on the personal narrative and college essay. It helps me get to know ...
Sep 12, 20233 min read


More Fun, Less Stress
July has come to an end and it’s that time when the thought of school starts to plan its seed in every teacher’s mind. What will this year
Aug 2, 20232 min read


Modern Learning with Free Literacy Blocks
There are many students that love literature for the world it creates, the brand-new world that exists only within the front and back cover
Jul 18, 20232 min read


Free Literacy Block Reflection
The end of the school year is the best time to get ideas for next year. All the successful and failed experiments are still fresh in my...
Jun 13, 20232 min read


Graduation Video Essay
Every year, I like to complete the final assignment I give to my seniors. I ask them to create a video essay that responds to the...
May 30, 20233 min read


Literary Podcast Unit and Podcast Project
It’s fun to end the year with a project that students will remember. Instead of a traditional final, there are a lot of ways ...
May 5, 20232 min read


The Personal, Philosophical, and Political Response to Literature
It’s spring, which means it’s time to get creative. At this point in the year, students should be close to meeting our expectations ...
Apr 26, 20232 min read


The Basics of Film Interpretation
Teachers want their students to be readers, and not just readers of words. We want them to read the world around them: the streets ...
Apr 14, 20233 min read


Mini Writing Conferences: 4 Stages of Feedback
My students write most of their essays by hand in class. There are a lot of reasons for that, but at this point in the year ...
Mar 24, 20233 min read


What is a Teachable Moment?
Last Sunday night, I watched a prerecorded episode of 60 Minutes, “Canada’s Unmarked Graves, Sharswood”. The Sharswood story described...
Mar 9, 20232 min read


5 Ways to Introduce a Novel
Some books, maybe most, don’t require much introduction. Novels, to some extent, exist in their own world.
Feb 23, 20233 min read


Short Story Adaptations
Creating a short film used to be a long and difficult process, so I gave up on it. But then it became much easier to shoot and edit video.
Feb 16, 20232 min read


The Best Engagement Strategy: Scaffolding and Guided Notes
It feels like it’s getting harder and harder to keep the attention of our students. Every teacher knows that if a student doesn’t use ...
Jan 24, 20233 min read


Teaching Media Literacy With Short Stories
It’s not easy to find literature that gets students to talk about the world they live in. It can be done with any novel ...
Jan 11, 20233 min read


Man vs. Machine: AI and ELA
AI is all the buzz lately. No need to teach writing anymore, a computer can do it...
Dec 21, 20223 min read


7 Ways to Make Learning Personal
It’s difficult to find a book that every child will love. They like contemporary stories that seem similar to their own ...
Dec 6, 20222 min read
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