Preventing the Use of AI in ELA: 6 Methods
There will always be new tools to help teachers combat the use of AI. A Chrome extension called Origin by GPTZero provides a writing ...
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Jan 233 min read
Media and Genre-Based Units
Schools and teachers usually organize ELA curriculum by novel, theme, or genre, or some combination of those three.
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Dec 21, 20233 min read
5 Fun Ways Students Find Quotes
Teaching students the value of using quotes in an essay is more important now than ever ...
340 views
Nov 17, 20232 min read
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.
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Oct 17, 20232 min read
The Purpose of Literary Devices and Techniques
It’s easy for students to get caught in the trap of simply identifying literary techniques without considering their purpose ...
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Sep 12, 20233 min read
Storytelling and the Personal Narrative
Because I teach seniors, I start the year with a short unit on the personal narrative and college essay. It helps me get to know ...
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Jul 18, 20232 min read
Modern Learning with Free Literacy Blocks
There are many students that love literature for the world it creates, the brand-new world that exists only within the front and back cover
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Apr 26, 20232 min read
The Personal, Philosophical, and Political Response to Literature
It’s spring, which means it’s time to get creative. At this point in the year, students should be close to meeting our expectations ...
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Mar 24, 20233 min read
Mini Writing Conferences: 4 Stages of Feedback
My students write most of their essays by hand in class. There are a lot of reasons for that, but at this point in the year ...
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Feb 23, 20233 min read
5 Ways to Introduce a Novel
Some books, maybe most, don’t require much introduction. Novels, to some extent, exist in their own world.
1,180 views
Dec 21, 20223 min read
Man vs. Machine: AI and ELA
AI is all the buzz lately. No need to teach writing anymore, a computer can do it...
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Dec 6, 20222 min read
7 Ways to Make Learning Personal
It’s difficult to find a book that every child will love. They like contemporary stories that seem similar to their own ...
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Oct 17, 20224 min read
Creative Writing: The Be-All and End-All
I used to get moans when I asked students to write a poem. But in the last few years ...
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Oct 5, 20223 min read
How to Close Read Poetry or Prose: 5 Steps
Close reading may be the most important skill taught in an English class. It’s the heart and soul of what we do: uncover the world ...
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Sep 27, 20223 min read
Academic Success Explained in 7 Steps
It’s becoming more and more common for students to think that they shouldn’t have to work for an answer or a solution to a problem...
366 views
Sep 15, 20222 min read
How to Teach Literary Techniques
Literary techniques make literature, literature. Without them, we’d be left with words and facts...
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Jun 16, 20222 min read
Free Literacy Blocks
I’ve been thinking a lot about all the challenges of this past year, but also trying to learn from it. I tried book clubs for the first time
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Jun 1, 20222 min read
The Creative Classroom
I start the school year talking about how language is all around us.
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Apr 6, 20222 min read
Autonomous, Relevant Learning and Good Conversation
This week, I asked students to connect the literature we study in class to the modern world. We had amazing, open-ended conversations ...
561 views
Mar 25, 20224 min read
The Research Paper Made Easy: 8 Steps of the Writing Process
It’s that time of year to assign a college-style research paper to my seniors and I’ve found myself giving more and more time in class ...
381 views
Dec 17, 20212 min read
How to Make Fiction Relevant
To wrap up my unit on Things Fall Apart, I’m doing what I believe Chinua Achebe would have wanted....
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Nov 26, 20213 min read
How to Write a Meaningful Conclusion
I’ve long held the belief that we’re doing conclusions all wrong. Traditionally, it’s a moment in the essay where the writer wraps ...
291 views
Sep 16, 20212 min read
Voice to Text: The Keys to Great Storytelling
What makes a great personal narrative? In the beginning of every year, I ask my students to write a story that communicates something...
216 views
Jul 11, 20213 min read
Displaying Student Work
A few years ago, I was the advisor for my school’s student-run art gallery. My district converted an old garage used for storage space ...
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