Vocabulary instruction used to be my Achilles’ heel. I tried tons of different strategies, but each one brought very little…
Start Class the Right Way, Every Day
The final tardy bell hasn’t yet sounded, but your students are already in their seats, binders open, jotting down your…
Visually Dynamic Overviews Pique Students’ Interest
Before teaching the five major movements of American literature, it’s important to hook students’ attention with a visual summary of…
Death By Thesaurus
I often have students who rely too heavily on the thesaurus as they craft their essays, resulting in overwrought sentences…
No More Essay Fatigue! Time to Reclaim Your Weekends
It’s Saturday morning. I’ve been up since before the sun, working my way through three sections of essays on “The…
Poetry for Teens Who Think They Don’t Like Poetry
Even the most reluctant students love creating “found” poems, also known as blackout poetry. All you’ll need to fill an…
Mimic the Masters
J.K. Rowling. Suzanne Collins. John Green. Use the heavy-hitters of YA literature to inspire your students to polish their own…
Mr. Keating Is My Co-Pilot
Is there an English teacher out there who doesn’t love the 1989 Oscar-winning film Dead Poets Society? Doubtful. I first…
Buried Under Essays?
In a perfect world, class sizes would be capped at 12 kids. Teachers would lead two or three classes a…
Make the Tools of Rhetoric (Ethos, Pathos, Logos) Meaningful for Teens
Good ol’ Aristotle was right. If students use all three of the tools of rhetoric he identified – ethos, pathos,…