Classroom Whiteboard Organization: 6 Teacher Supplies I Swear By
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. One of my favorite back-to-school
5 Engaging ELA Activities to Help You Power Through the Last Two Weeks Before Winter Break
The final stretch before winter break is always a unique season in the ELA classroom. Students are buzzing with anticipation, schedules get interrupted by assemblies
Bring Literature to Life with This Creative Theme Park Literary Analysis Project
As ELA teachers, we’re always looking for fresh ways to help students dive deeper into literature, especially with ways that go beyond the standard five-paragraph essay or chapter quiz. That’s exactly why I created my Theme Park Literary Analysis Project. This is a creative, engaging, and rigorous assessment that invites students to interact with literature in a totally new way.
This project has quickly become one of my favorite go-to final assessments for novels, plays, and even short stories. Whenever I finish a novel, I usually assign two major summative assessments: a standard novel test and a fun, collaborative project. Together, these two forms of assessment help me see what my students know. And this literary analysis amusement park project fits the bill for an engaging, collaborative, summative project!
3 Quick Ways to Boost Student Engagement and Energize Any Classroom Lesson
We’ve all been there—the class period feels sluggish, students are zoning out, and your perfectly planned lesson just isn’t landing the way you hoped. Whether
Teaching Night: 2 Ways to Incorporate Facing History and Ourselves with your Night Unit
Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night is a powerful and harrowing account of his experiences during the Holocaust. As a high school English teacher, I teach this book at the sophomore level, so my students are roughly the same age as Elie in his memoir. If you are teaching Night this year, keep reading to learn about two powerful activities to incorporate into your unit!
Teaching Night in a high school English classroom provides an opportunity to explore themes of identity, dehumanization, morality, and the consequences of hatred. However, it is also crucial to provide students with historical context to help students can understand not only the longstanding antisemitism in Europe, but also the breakdown of Germany’s government, and its rise to fascism.
Teaching Short Stories at the Start of the School Year: 4 Reasons to Begin the Year with Short Stories
Starting off the school year with teaching short stories is a great way to engage the learners in your classroom as soon as you are
Back-to-School Stations for Secondary ELA: How I Use These 4 Stations in My High School English Classroom
Of of the most engaging and interactive ways to start the new school year is by facilitating a back-to-school station activity in your classroom. Using back-to-school stations as a classroom activity during the first week of school a great way to get your students up and interacting with each other. Furthermore, back-to-school stations are also great for getting to know your students and handing out important class information.
Engaging Reluctant Readers in the High School English Classroom: 9 Ways to Engage Reluctant Readers
I sure wish my students inherently loved to read, and they all had wicked vocabulary skills, and I never had to convince them that a text was worthwhile of their time. If they did, that would make engaging reluctant readers much easier.
5 Tips for Engaging Struggling Readers and Writers
This blog post will help provide you with tools and strategies for engaging struggling readers and writers in your classroom. As a high school English teacher, I teach students how to read literature and write essays. In fact, reading and writing form half of the four major pillars of ELA instruction: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. And while it is essential to engage of the learners in our classrooms, those who need help with reading and writing might be less willing to engage in classroom discussions.