Are your students moaning and groaning over taking another test or writing another essay? While these are tried and true methods for assessing many skills, I have been on a mission to find more innovative, unique ways of assessing student growth and learning.
Best Practices, Close Reading, Essay Writing, Lists, Writer's Notebook
One of the best ways to teach students how to integrate literary and rhetorical devices into their writing is to imitate the style of great writers. Here are 20 Great Literary Quotes to use as Mentor Sentences in Secondary ELA...
Best Practices, Essay Writing, Literature Articles, Reflections on Pedagogy, Writer's Notebook, Freebies
Contrasting literary movements as a pedagogical approach to teaching literature is a debatable method, but I have found that juxtaposing literary movements...
Lesson Planning, Writer's Notebook, Holidays, Close Reading, Poetry, Bundles & Units, Best Practices
This winter season, I found myself missing the snow for the first time in my life because we made a big move from a cold climate where we have lived for the past six years to a warm climate where there is no snow. I never fully realized...
A Facebook friend of mine recently posted the following question: “Where can I go online to create an eye-catching poster for my upcoming show?” 99% of the people who responded said Canva.
“Can you please tell my son to stop playing video games?”
I’ve heard this desperate plea from parent after parent during parent teacher conferences for the past several years. “All he wants to do is play video games and not study,” they say in desperation.
The holiday break is OVER, and it’s time to face the reality that we have 5-6 more months left of school. So the question is: How do we get through the next 5 months without getting burnt out?
The season of Christmas is upon us, and it is a season of the year that has inspired the setting of many iconic pieces of literature. The religious iconography of the holiday symbolizes themes of rebirth, renewal, sacrifice, forgiveness, grace, and the archetypal character of the chosen one...
About three to four years ago, I opened my very first Teachers Pay Teachers account. I figured that since I was already putting the time and effort into creating curriculum content for high school English...
Many teachers, scholars, literary critics, and even students have argued and continue to argue that there is no merit in studying the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. However, there are three key reasons why Beowulf is a valid unit of study in high school English today.
Active and purposeful highlighting and annotating is an important skill that can enable greater success in being able to comprehend a text. Of course, there is an ongoing conversation as to whether or not highlighting in particular detracts from comprehension...
I’ll be the first to admit that when I’ve seen other teachers doing interactive notebooks with their students, I thought of them as more of an “art project” than anything educational. But then...
First thing is first with a blog title such as this! I have to admit that it is most definitely a case of calling the kettle black that I am writing this blog article. Why? Well, because if there is a cookie, I will eat it. If there is cake...
The Writer's Notebook is an essential tool for the ELA classroom as a facilitator for the writing process. It makes the teacher's job easier and more efficient to assign and assess work, and it helps...
The Writer's Notebook has become a cornerstone of the ELA classroom as a tool for facilitating the writing process. The Writer's Notebook not only helps students have a central database for their ideas and drafts, but it also...
The Writer's Notebook has become a cornerstone of the English classroom over the past decade and has been touted by NCTE, The College Board, The National Writing Project, The Young Writer's Project, and others as a necessary component in the writing process...
Writing commentary is undoubtedly the most difficult part of writing any essay. All other parts of the essay are more formulaic in nature. But when it comes to commenting on evidence...
As I was driving home today, I listened to an interview with Jonah Berger on WNYC about his new book entitled Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior. It fascinated me, and...
It's finally almost here! SUMMER!!! You're grades are turned in, you've said goodbye to your students, and all that remains is a war-torn classroom with the remnants of the life that was once there...
Whether you are new to Teachers Pay Teachers or consider yourself a veteran, there are some standard questions to consider before creating new products and posting them...