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How to Write a Reading Quiz That Actually Works: Lessons from Years of Mistakes
“Uggghhh . . . rivets.” Steph still remembers hearing about the notorious AP Lit reading quiz for Heart of Darkness—two…
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Reading in Class: How to Teach Elie Wiesel’s Night When Students Won’t Read at Home
Reading in class used to be an occasional treat—something English teachers did to introduce a new novel or to fill…
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How to Scaffold Writing Instruction: 3 Pathways for Three Different Classrooms
Scaffolding is a complicated term in high school education. On the one hand, we’re told to scaffold: Vygotsky’s zone of…
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Movie Lesson Plans That Actually Work (Without Extra Grading)
Everyone loves movie day. Students start asking about the movie the second we head to the library to check out…
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Why the 5 Paragraph Essay Still Works (When You Teach It Right)
The 5 paragraph essay: English class staple or formulaic cliché? We’ve heard plenty of criticism of the 5 paragraph essay…
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Teaching Literature Effectively: A Pride and Prejudice Case Study in Making Classics Accessible
You know what’s not the best way to make Pride and Prejudice appealing to teenagers? A 102-slide PowerPoint. Yep, you…
