Planning for next year? Check out these multi-media resources If your students are into True Crime as a reading genre, or if you’re needing a “ripped from the headlines” unit to breathe new life into your upper-level high school ELA classes, do I have an idea for you! And the best thing about this ideaContinue reading “True Crime Unit: Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos”
Tag Archives: High school
The sonnet for high school: (part 2)
Use these student-written mentor texts inspired by Terrance Hayes Two weeks ago, I posted about a unique sonnet writing exercise inspired by poet Terrance Hayes that I tried with my junior-senior poetry class. Click here to read that post. This new exercise took repetition to an extreme degree, and in so doing, demonstrated the literaryContinue reading “The sonnet for high school: (part 2)”
Hexagonal Thinking and The Great Gatsby
My first attempt with hexagonal thinking Dear Teacher-Friends: If you’re here for Part 2 of my “Teaching the Sonnet” post, please bear with me. I am still in the process of obtaining permission from a few students to post their wonderful sonnets. As soon as I have those permissions rounded up, I will publish thatContinue reading “Hexagonal Thinking and The Great Gatsby”
The sonnet for high school (part 1)
The power of repetition in Terrance Hayes’ “Sonnet” If you’ve ever worked with students and sonnets, you know how difficult writing a sonnet can be. In a word, it’s complicated. In fact, these little box-shaped poems offer all kinds of challenges for young writers (and their teachers–ha!). For example, when my British Literature students studyContinue reading “The sonnet for high school (part 1)”
Creative high school poetry idea: Poetic Art
If you want to give your high school students a new angle on poetry that allows them some hands-on and screen-free time, this might be a good activity to try. #poetry #NationalPoetryMonth #poeticart
Enthusiasm in the high school classroom
I can’t tell you how many times students enter my room and say something like “I’m SO tired,” or “Man, I’m exhausted,” or “Mrs. Yung, I’m gonna sleep in class today because I CANNOT keep my eyes open.” This happens not just during my 8 a.m. first hour class, but all day long. I bet I hear someone tell me they’re SO TIRED about nine or ten times a day.
Gatsby Text Pairing: John Green’s “Our Capacity for Wonder”
If Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is your favorite novel to teach, here’s a new essay from John Green you need to either read or listen to.
Doctor Faustus: 10 Multi-Media Resources and Activities
High school students need to know the basics of the Doctor Faustus and also come to appreciate the staying power of Marlowe’s most famous work. Do that with multi-media selections to the max! Here are ten resources that have worked for me.
The Book Bento
Have you tried book bentos yet? I’ve assembled a handful of my book bento articles in this post that I hope will introduce you to this new reading assessment project.
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.