Don’t teach just transition words… teach transition ideas as well. Note added on June 5, 2021: I often go back to my previous blog posts and see the details of how I taught a certain book or writing mini-lesson. In fact, I recently did that with this post. In April, I was working with myContinue reading “Teaching transitions in writing, part 1 (updated 6/2021)”
Tag Archives: English
My First Attempt Teaching The Red Badge of Courage: it is what it is
My resources, my reservations, and my main reason to teach this book again Right now, at my new teaching position at a rural high school in Missouri, one of my junior/senior level electives classes is reading The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. If you’re unfamiliar with The Red Badge of Courage, it’s aContinue reading “My First Attempt Teaching The Red Badge of Courage: it is what it is”
NaNoWriMo Nostalgia: NaNoWriMo, my students, and my historical nonfiction project thingy
You gotta start somewhere. Note: I published this post about a year ago when I first attempted an after-school NaNoWriMo program. This year, I have recently moved and am now teaching high school. I hope to eventually host a similar after-school NaNoWriMo program in my new district, but for now, I’ll just look back fondlyContinue reading “NaNoWriMo Nostalgia: NaNoWriMo, my students, and my historical nonfiction project thingy”
Ditch the Dictionary
I’m trying these four short vocabulary bell-work tasks to help kids better learn new words I recently signed up to receive weekly email updates from the Sadlier School. As part of the email, I receive a free “Power Word of the Week” email from the Vocab Gal’s blog. I’ve been using these “slides” in myContinue reading “Ditch the Dictionary”
When bad grammar creeps into the Associated Press
What’s an English teacher to do? I have the Associated Press’ app on my phone and I frequently check it to stay up-to-date on current events. I often (and by often, I would estimate sixty percent of the time) notice one recurring problem: missing words. However, last night after reading a story about Facebook, IContinue reading “When bad grammar creeps into the Associated Press”
Chisholm Trail Heritage Center Cowboy Youth Poetry Contest
Plus: past winning poems to use as mentor texts Do you have any students who live on farms or ranches, own livestock, or love rodeos? If so, bookmark this post about a new poetry contest designed to celebrate the spirit of ranching life and the American West: the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center’s Cowboy Youth PoetryContinue reading “Chisholm Trail Heritage Center Cowboy Youth Poetry Contest”
Mini-lesson idea: use this compelling lead sentence example as a mentor text
A lead shouldn’t ask a question, but raise one instead I discovered this awesome lead sentence in the July 8-21 issue of New York magazine. The article, “The Battle of Grace Church,” is written by Jessica Pressler, who opens her story with this doozy of a lead sentence. This sentence shows precisely how engaging aContinue reading “Mini-lesson idea: use this compelling lead sentence example as a mentor text”
Headline poetry for high school students
Watch older students create stunning expressions from everyday language This year, for the first three days of school, I again indulged in headline poetry with my students. It was a new activity for my new high school students and I was glad for that. (I’ve introduced headline poetry to middle schoolers in the past. ClickContinue reading “Headline poetry for high school students”
Teach high schoolers how to “explode a moment”
Teach descriptive writing with this sure-fire lesson For some reason, young writers seem to want to write as little as possible when describing a scene. I read descriptions as sparse as this example: I shot the ball and it went in and everybody freaked out. However, when kids see the effectiveness of exploding a moment,Continue reading “Teach high schoolers how to “explode a moment””
Focus Your Binoculars and Zoom In
A revision mini-lesson Because it seems my high school students would benefit from learning some revision strategies, I decided to do a search on Teachers Pay Teachers for any revision handouts featuring the work of Barry Lane. I found this one (it’s FREE from Texas ELAR Coach) entitled Writing Strategy: Adding Detail by Zooming InContinue reading “Focus Your Binoculars and Zoom In”