Frederick Douglass Final Project: The Graphic Essay

A fresh way to reflect on Douglass’ heroic life and text Back when I taught middle school ELA, I assigned graphic essays (essentially a dressed-up one-pager) to my eighth-graders after they finished reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. This incredible book, which provides Douglass’ first-hand account of the horrors andContinue reading “Frederick Douglass Final Project: The Graphic Essay”

The Web, Student Focus, and Ralph Waldo Emerson

Five Allusions to Emerson in The Shallows by Nicholas Carr Today, we mostly know Ralph Waldo Emerson, the popular nineteenth-century transcendental philosopher, through a handful of quotes that have filtered down through the centuries. Three examples: Beyond Emerson’s many well-known sayings, however, the larger ideas behind his writings ring few bells in the collective mindsContinue reading “The Web, Student Focus, and Ralph Waldo Emerson”

Into the Wild Text Pairing

Bear Meat by Primo Levi If you’re needing a text to pair with Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, may I suggest “Bear Meat”, a short story by Primo Levi, the Italian chemist, writer, Holocaust survivor. “Bear Meat” is a story about young men who take to the mountains for adventure and danger. They becomeContinue reading “Into the Wild Text Pairing”