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”
Category Archives: American Lit
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”
“Mending Wall” for High School
“Mending Wall” suggests that we reevaluate the walls we erect among ourselves, so we can instead draw closer over the values that we all treasure.
“The Chambered Nautilus” and Aaron Douglas
Poets and painters speak across generations and races. #poetry #aarondouglas #art #education
Leaves of Grass Text Pairing
I came across this article while waiting for my dentist appointment about a month ago. I noticed its’ catchy print title and since I was in the middle of planning new lessons for an upcoming unit on Walt Whitman, I snagged it and started reading.
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”
Into the Wild: A Movie to Read
Did you know that the 2007 movie, Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn and based on the book by Jon Krakauer, is FULL — and I mean FULL — of literary allusions? Here they all are.
Connect to Thoreau with Into the Wild
Whether a modest, yet sturdy cabin at Walden Pond or Fairbank City Transit Bus 142 on the Stampede Trail, this is American Transcendentalism at its core.
Henry David Thoreau for the High School Mindset
Ever have students tell you that school just doesn’t apply to them? Yeah, me too. Like all the time… maybe even more often than that.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
understanding of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” then try this simple activity as a culminating project.