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Practical, self-paced professional development and college credit
for secondary ELA and general education teachers
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Stories About Modern Media
If we are being honest, most students interact more with modern media than with literature.
Feb 132 min read
83 views

A Spatial Approach to Literary Analysis: 6 Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers help students that think logically like scientists and mathematicians.
Dec 4, 20243 min read
222 views

Reading Blocks for Secondary ELA
I recently encountered an article in the Atlantic titled “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” It scared me a little ...
Oct 19, 20243 min read
128 views

The Best Contemporary Novels to Teach in High School
I have a love for most the literature I read in high school and college. I’m sure you’re familiar with the writers ...
Aug 23, 20244 min read
564 views

Close Reading Passages in Novels
There’s nothing like close reading. A bunch of colorful annotations on a poem is a beautiful thing. Close reading is a valuable skill and
Apr 19, 20242 min read
232 views

Character Study: A Whole-Novel Activity
Students love to think about how a character develops because they too, because they’re teenagers, experience a lot of change.
Nov 17, 20232 min read
188 views

10 Whole Class Discussion Strategies
With every passing year, it seems harder and harder to get students interested in whole class discussions. But there are creative ways ...
Nov 1, 20233 min read
405 views

5 Ways to Introduce a Novel
Some books, maybe most, don’t require much introduction. Novels, to some extent, exist in their own world.
Feb 23, 20233 min read
1,328 views

How to Inspire Students to Love Reading: The Joy of Reading
The biggest challenge ELA teachers face year to year is how to get to students to not only read the novels we assign ...
Aug 29, 20224 min read
1,376 views

Great Books to Teach in High School
Picking a novel to teach is never easy. Teachers must teach what’s board approved, what’s in the curriculum. There’s always the issue of h
Jul 29, 20223 min read
724 views

Whole-Novel Activities
Early in my career, I remember rolling through a novel chapter by chapter with PowerPoint slides and handouts. It always drove me crazy ...
Feb 17, 20224 min read
1,427 views

LGBTQ+ Literature: Opening Up Language
About five years ago, I read an article by a high school student about the way to create a LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum...
Apr 29, 20213 min read
393 views

Meaning-Making in the Secondary ELA Classroom
It’s easy to say to our students that literature should be meaningful. It’s easy to ask students … what does that line mean?
Mar 12, 20217 min read
212 views

Magical Realism: Interpretation and Creation
Magical realism goes beyond the place that a metaphor takes us. It goes beyond the realm of comparison.
Feb 19, 20213 min read
250 views

Teaching the Novel in a Remote or Hybrid Classroom
I’m trying to get as creative as possible when it comes to being flexible with students. After finishing a few units ...
Jan 11, 20213 min read
629 views

Rethinking Research
I attended the virtual NCTE conference this past Friday and it got me thinking about the research paper, or really, rethinking it. Part...
Dec 7, 20202 min read
364 views

Homework: Putting Home and Work Together
We need to think about what we’re asking students when we ask them to do homework.
Oct 8, 20203 min read
141 views

Introduction to Literature: The 6 Values
What’s the point of English class?
Sep 14, 20204 min read
671 views

How to Introduce the Value of Literature: Symbolism Show and Tell
The good thing is, this year, our students will be thirsty to know more about the world they live in.
Sep 5, 20202 min read
379 views


4 Ways to Simplify Teaching English Language Arts
This is the hardest thing for any teacher. Take a very difficult and complicated topic and make it easy to understand.
May 12, 20204 min read
585 views


The 4 Essentials of Reading Checks and Note-taking
If we want students to be lifelong learners and readers, we need to make reading as fun and painless as possible.
May 4, 20205 min read
368 views


Literature, A Living Map
Faulkner heard stories from his family and then created a novel, a living map, from those stories.
Feb 24, 20202 min read
22 views


Virginia Woolf, Wordsmith of the Universe
Why do I think Virginia Woolf is the greatest writer of all time? There are so many reasons.
Feb 21, 20206 min read
40 views


Opening the Unconscious
Every great piece of literature explores the inner workings of what the character doesn’t consciously know about their own desires and fears
Jan 21, 20203 min read
43 views
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