Trying to make high school students excited about reading often feels like a Sisyphean task. When we started recommending books on “First Chapter Fridays,” we put a lot of effort into finding books we had read and enjoyed or that we thought our students would like. Most weeks, these recommendations seemed to go in one ear and out the other . . .
The plates of English teachers everywhere are full. There is so much ELA stuff to deal with. Things directly related…
There is SO. MUCH. TO. COVER. in an ELA classroom, and unless you have superpowers or a roomful of shockingly quick, motivated learners, you’re going to have to prioritize.
As English teachers, we are often quick to find the beauty or humor or nuance in the texts we read…
One of our favorite ways to grab students’ interest is through contemporary television shows and movies. Visual storytelling, whether as entertainment or on social media, is a big part of our students’ world, and using these other “texts” can be an easy yet powerful way to bring students into the world of a novel or introduce a skill in a way that is non threatening and high-interest.
Are you teaching a course that’s left you thinking, this textbook is the best we could do? Curriculum improvement may…