top of page
Practical, self-paced professional development and college credit
for secondary ELA and general education teachers
Search


The 4 Essentials of Reading Checks and Note-taking
If we want students to be lifelong learners and readers, we need to make reading as fun and painless as possible.
May 4, 20205 min read


Graduation Video Essay: The Class of 2020
Never before has it been so difficult to answer the question: How does it feel to graduate?
Apr 30, 20203 min read


3 Simple Classroom Management Tricks That Work
Any teacher knows the challenge of creating a healthy rhythm in class.
Apr 21, 20203 min read


Why Short Fiction?
This is the magic of fiction. Depending on the story, the author must pick and choose what facts and thoughts the audience will know and not
Apr 20, 20204 min read


What Does Project-Based Learning Mean for High School English?
During the last few weeks of school, I really sit back and listen.
Apr 15, 20203 min read


Bringing Together Music and Literature in the Virtual Classroom
This morning, as I listened to a song from Mikaela Davis, I thought, why not ask students to share their favorite song?
Apr 11, 20203 min read


Teaching Podcasts
The podcast takes us back to oral epic poetry – it demands the mind’s attention just like a lengthy novel.
Apr 8, 20203 min read


Rethinking the Structure of the Essay
Over the years, I’ve discovered that there’s a fine line in the teaching of writing between convention and creativity.
Apr 3, 20203 min read


How Students Come to Love Poetry
It’s a good time to read and listen to poetry. It’s a very good time to write poetry.
Mar 30, 20203 min read


Grades Should Be Invisible
I became a teacher to talk about literature, not to talk about grades and due dates and rubrics and expectations.
Mar 26, 20202 min read


Can the Teaching of Writing Be Fun?
The teaching of writing is at the heart and soul of any English language arts classroom. We need to show each student how to weave an organi
Mar 22, 20204 min read


Tradition and Technology: The Art of Teaching
If we let them go out into the world believing that there is a disconnect between literature and all of the language that surrounds them, th
Mar 6, 20204 min read


Literature, A Living Map
Faulkner heard stories from his family and then created a novel, a living map, from those stories.
Feb 24, 20202 min read


Virginia Woolf, Wordsmith of the Universe
Why do I think Virginia Woolf is the greatest writer of all time? There are so many reasons.
Feb 21, 20206 min read


Demonstrating Understanding with Creativity
There’s something amazing that happens in a class when you ask students to write creatively.
Jan 30, 20203 min read


Opening the Unconscious
Every great piece of literature explores the inner workings of what the character doesn’t consciously know about their own desires and fears
Jan 21, 20203 min read


Jane Austen and The Bachelor
ust as Austen imagined a world of romance determined by “age, character, and condition”, The Bachelor asks the same questions. It captures a
Jan 10, 20204 min read


The Sounds of Literature
Reading literature out loud to my students is one of my favorite things about teaching. It reminds me of when I was a child, and my mother w
Jan 8, 20204 min read


A Novel Way to Teach the Novel
Every English teacher works tirelessly to instill a love of reading in their students. We convince them that literature matters.
Dec 28, 20194 min read


Why is Hamlet Great?
We’re wrapping up Hamlet this week, and it never ceases to amaze me how it stays relevant year after year.
Dec 19, 20193 min read


The Power of Job-Embedded Professional Development
Creativity sometimes comes from conversations with people outside our field of study, but sometimes from people trying to tackle the same ex
Dec 4, 20192 min read


Boundless Questions, Perpetual Questions
I often think about the importance of asking good, quality questions in class.
Nov 20, 20192 min read


The Imaginary Reality of Technology and Fiction
More and more, the screen determines who we are, and not our relationships with real people.
Oct 30, 20194 min read


Symbolism in Life and Literature
On the first day of class this year, I placed a rock on a desk in the middle of my classroom.
Oct 21, 20193 min read
bottom of page