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 ...
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- Feb 16
- 2 min
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.
189
- Jan 11
- 3 min
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 ...
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- Dec 21, 2022
- 3 min
Man vs. Machine: AI and ELA
AI is all the buzz lately. No need to teach writing anymore, a computer can do it...
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- Dec 6, 2022
- 2 min
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 ...
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- Apr 6, 2022
- 2 min
Autonomous, Relevant Learning and Good Conversation
This week, I asked students to connect the literature we study in class to the modern world. We had amazing, open-ended conversations ...
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- Jan 24, 2022
- 4 min
Filmmaking Made Easy: 10 Tips
After I taught the elective Filmmaking for the first time a few years ago, I realized how easy it is for students to quickly create a ...
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- Aug 23, 2021
- 3 min
Teaching Shakespeare Using Film: Romeo and Juliet from PBS Great Performances
There is no challenge quite like teaching Shakespeare. Early modern English always poses challenges for teenage readers, and ...
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- Aug 17, 2021
- 3 min
5 Ways to Have a Drama-Filled Classroom
No, not that kind of drama. Performance. Few people know how to act, but everyone knows what a good performance looks like. The words...
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- May 30, 2021
- 3 min
Graduation 2021: Love and Stories
Every year, I complete the final assignment that I give my seniors. I ask them to talk about how it feels to graduate, what they've...
235
- May 25, 2021
- 3 min
New Year, New Ideas
It’s hard to imagine that anything positive will come out of this year, but I’ve been thinking about what, if any, lessons I’ve learned ...
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- May 7, 2021
- 2 min
Where to Find Real Stories on the Web
We’re finishing up a unit on Exit West by Mohsin Hamid this week so I’m asking my students to listen to a personal narrative of choice....
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- Feb 8, 2021
- 3 min
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...
226
- Jan 31, 2021
- 4 min
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...
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- Jan 11, 2021
- 3 min
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 ...
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- Dec 23, 2020
- 6 min
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....
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- Dec 7, 2020
- 2 min
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...
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- Nov 10, 2020
- 2 min
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...
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- Oct 19, 2020
- 4 min
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
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- Oct 2, 2020
- 3 min
5 Goals for Remote or Hybrid Teaching
Right now, I’m keeping the focus on learning and not on assessment.
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- Aug 8, 2020
- 3 min
5 Rules of Thumb for Teaching During a Pandemic
But instead of thinking about how sad and unfortunate we all are to be in our positions, I’m trying the best I can to think about how much b
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- Aug 3, 2020
- 5 min
Essential Virtual Tools for ELA Teachers
My school will start remote learning this Monday, and everyone is scrambling to find the best and easiest tools to make life easier.
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- May 14, 2020
- 2 min
Library Vs. Web Browsing: 30 Sources for Projects
We become open-minded when ideas find us, not when we find them.
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- Apr 11, 2020
- 3 min