Outdoor Reflection: 1 Year Later
I recently saw Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows perform “A Long December” on Jimmy Kimmel and it got me thinking about last year. When...
top of page
Practical, self-paced professional development and college credit
for secondary ELA and general education teachers
Search
Mar 12, 20217 min read
Meaning-Making in the Secondary ELA Classroom
It’s easy to say to our students that literature should be meaningful. It’s easy to ask students … what does that line mean?
211 views
Mar 4, 20213 min read
The Case for Content-Specific Professional Development
After some years teaching, I realized that my love of learning about literature turned into a love of learning about how to teach literature
668 views
Feb 19, 20213 min read
Magical Realism: Interpretation and Creation
Magical realism goes beyond the place that a metaphor takes us. It goes beyond the realm of comparison.
249 views
Feb 13, 20213 min read
Why Do You Want to Be a Teacher?
Introduction to Teaching the Magic of Literature: Using Imagination to Shape the Future It was one of the simplest, yet most complicated...
289 views
Feb 12, 20212 min read
Bite-sized Prose, Buffet Conversations
Because distributing books has been a challenge this year, some of my students have been reading novels on their computer. From the...
230 views
Feb 8, 20213 min read
Screencast: The New Essay?
It’s pretty typical for a teacher, or anyone for that matter, to feel like they are swimming in new tech tools. But this year, it’s...
241 views
Jan 31, 20214 min read
Teaching Media Literacy
A lot of what we deal with in English language arts relates to strangers, people we don’t know. We read novels and non-fiction to immerse...
108 views
Jan 19, 20214 min read
What Makes a Superteacher?
This has been a challenging year for any teacher. Even during a regular year, teachers work hard to meet the many demands and...
315 views
Jan 11, 20213 min read
Teaching the Novel in a Remote or Hybrid Classroom
I’m trying to get as creative as possible when it comes to being flexible with students. After finishing a few units ...
628 views
Dec 23, 20206 min read
10 Creative Projects for Remote Learning
My colleagues and I recently had a conversation about the rest of the year and what we could do to keep our students engaged....
223 views
Dec 15, 20203 min read
Politics in the Classroom: 5 Goals
Even now, an open and honest conversation about politics can quickly turn ugly. Sometimes the conversation doesn’t happen at all because ...
148 views
Dec 11, 20203 min read
50 Songs to Start Class
This year, the start of class is that awkward time when we’re saying hello and waiting for everyone to virtually trickle in. When...
1,320 views
Dec 10, 20202 min read
The Teaching of Writing: Feedback and Revisions
Tomorrow I’ll give virtual feedback on an essay my students wrote on a poem. I usually provide feedback right before I assign the next...
390 views
Dec 7, 20202 min read
Rethinking Research
I attended the virtual NCTE conference this past Friday and it got me thinking about the research paper, or really, rethinking it. Part...
363 views
Nov 29, 20202 min read
Self-Reflection and Metacognition
At the end of each quarter, I like to give my students the opportunity to reflect on what they’ve done and what they will do next.
159 views
Nov 18, 20203 min read
Writing For and In the Present
I recently came across Several short sentences about writing, a book by Verlyn Klinkenborg that I read a few years ago. It’s a must read...
103 views
Nov 10, 20202 min read
Sketchnoting in the Digital Age
Last week, I told my students to create sketchnotes on the poems we studied in class. I didn't really specify what I was looking for, I...
242 views
Nov 1, 20203 min read
6 Poems to Read Out Loud
Over the years, I’ve grown to love reading certain poems out loud, so here’s a list of my favorites ...
512 views
Oct 19, 20204 min read
5 Tech Tools for Small Groups and Presentations
Under normal circumstances, we try to steer kids away from socializing so they can stay on task and so that we can give our assessments and
320 views
Oct 8, 20203 min read
Homework: Putting Home and Work Together
We need to think about what we’re asking students when we ask them to do homework.
140 views
Oct 2, 20203 min read
5 Goals for Remote or Hybrid Teaching
Right now, I’m keeping the focus on learning and not on assessment.
301 views
Sep 13, 20204 min read
Introduction to Literature: The 6 Values
What’s the point of English class?
666 views
Sep 5, 20202 min read
How to Introduce the Value of Literature: Symbolism Show and Tell
The good thing is, this year, our students will be thirsty to know more about the world they live in.
368 views
bottom of page