Lists

Heroes and the Hero’s Journey: Lessons and Activities for Your Next Heroism Unit

Heroes and the Hero’s Journey:  Lessons and Activities for Your Next Heroism Unit

What is the definition of a hero?

This is the quintessential question that arises when teaching any unit that involves heroism— whether it’s a unit on epic heroes or a unit on everyday heroes.

Your First FIVE Lessons of the School Year

Your First FIVE Lessons of the School Year

The first five lessons of a secondary ELA class are essential for setting the tone for the rest of the year. It’s also a stressful time to readjust to school hours, meet new students, and get back into a routine once again. That’s why I’ve put together your first FIVE lessons of the school year. All right here, done for you.

5 Must-Read Gothic Short Stories for High School Students

5 Must-Read Gothic Short Stories for High School Students

As students read each Gothic text, they can begin to build a list of identifying traits and then create their own definitions of the Gothic genre. I like to have students create a definition essay as a culminating assignment for the unit; alternatively, students can construct a presentation and/or write their own original short stories using the traits they’ve observed from texts in the unit.

Here are five must-read Gothic short stories for high school students.

Adding Diversity to British Literature: Text Lists by Theme

Adding Diversity to British Literature: Text Lists by Theme

The Canon of British Literature, as we know, consists of a homogenous group that does not reflect the rich multicultural world of Great Britain today. As a result, any survey of British Literature oftentimes becomes a skewed representation of the literary diaspora of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Five Ways to Infuse Humor into Your ELA Curriculum

Five Ways to Infuse Humor into Your ELA Curriculum

Let’s face it, most great works of literature are heavy, and those are the ones we typically teach. Why is that? Probably because the moments of great pain and agony in life are the ones that have the most profound impact us. Ergo, we teach Hamlet or Macbeth over The Comedy of Errors. Or, we teach heart-wrenching memoirs such as A Long Walk to Water over Bossypants. I find that my students sometime ask me why all great literature is so dark and why we have to talk about death, violence, tragedy, and depression so often when there’s so much of that in the world already.

Five End of the Year Activities for Google Slides

Five End of the Year Activities for Google Slides

It’s that time of year once again when we begin to wrap-up the school year. There are so many great ways to do this in a meaningful way. Here are five options for Google Slides for wrapping up the school year.

5 Online Platforms for Distance Learning in the ELA Classroom

5 Online Platforms for Distance Learning in the ELA Classroom

As ELA teachers, our job is to assess reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Thankfully, all of these skills can be assessed through online platforms. Check out these FIVE universal and easy-to-implement platforms and lessons for online teaching that can be done at any grade in secondary ELA.

10 Engaging Ways to Introduce a Shakespeare Unit

10 Engaging Ways to Introduce a Shakespeare Unit

Hooking students into Shakespeare can be a daunting task. There’s the language barrier, the different time period, funny clothing, acting…. it’s no wonder students can be reluctant at the beginning of a Shakespeare unit. But here are ten engaging ways to introduce a Shakespeare unit that will hook them from the first day. Be sure to check out the related 20 activities in the Ultimate Shakespeare Introduction Kit for even more ideas and activities!

TEN Children's Books for Secondary ELA

TEN Children's Books for Secondary ELA

Children’s books can be deceivingly “easy” and “childish.” But upon closer observation, many children’s books contain enough complexity to make them relevant texts to use as teaching tools for literary elements, techniques, and analysis.

Five ESSENTIAL Questions to Guide Textual Analysis

Five ESSENTIAL Questions to Guide Textual Analysis

Textual analysis can be very confusing when it is anchored or bogged down by esoteric terminology, jargon, and specific devices. This terminology can make textual analysis and close reading and intimidating process for students.

National Poetry Month: A WHOLE MONTH of Poetry Activities for Secondary ELA

National Poetry Month:  A WHOLE MONTH of Poetry Activities for Secondary ELA

Love it or hate it, poetry is unavoidable in the secondary ELA classroom.  I, for one, am a HUGE lover of poetry but fully acknowledge that it can be annoyingly cryptic at times.  Reading poetry reminds us that not all texts are meant to be beat "with a hose to find out what [they] really mean" like in the Billy Collins poem "Introduction to Poetry." 

The Five Most Important Argumentative Essay Topics of 2018

The Five Most Important Argumentative Essay Topics of 2018

As we kickoff 2018, the media is already reporting upon key issues that will define the new year.  These issues include women's rights, sexual harassment, DACA, the tax code, healthcare, unions, prescription drug abuse, cryptocurrency, and many others. 

10 Essential Writing Workshop Supplies from Amazon

10 Essential Writing Workshop Supplies from Amazon

Running an effective writing workshop can be a challenge on its own, but there are some supplies that can keep the writing process organized and effective for you and your students.  Here, I've compiled a list of my essential writing workshop supplies to get you through the rest of the year!

6 Christmas Commercials to Analyze for Literary Elements and Techniques this Holiday Season

6 Christmas Commercials to Analyze for Literary Elements and Techniques this Holiday Season

The Christmas holiday season is the most popular retail season of the year.  Companies hire ad agencies to compete against all of the sales of the season in order to attract attention to their products and services.

Three Famous Christmas Speeches to Inspire Writing

Three Famous Christmas Speeches to Inspire Writing

It's the "most wonderful time of the year" once again!  Every year, the holiday season inspires new movie ideas, and some of these movies go on to become some of the most beloved films of all time with some of the most well-known movie speeches in film history.

5 Ways to Show Your Students YOU CARE This Holiday Season

5 Ways to Show Your Students YOU CARE This Holiday Season

One of the things I feel that I don't take enough time to do is show my appreciation for all of my students and recognize their efforts throughout the year.  I find that I spend far more time focusing only on my struggling students rather than recognizing each student's individual journey, success, and growth.