Asking “So what?” makes the difference My juniors finished reading Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. Instead of taking an objective culminating exam, they will show their learning by writing a literary analysis essay. However, each student will choose the content and the focus of their essays instead of selecting a topic fromContinue reading “Teaching students to write essays that answer the question: So what?!”
Tag Archives: teaching
Five Articles to Pair with The Old Man and the Sea
These articles are intended to round out the ideas presented by the novella This winter, my junior English students have just finished reading The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and are beginning to develop their cumulative essays on the novella. To prepare for that, and to build more background knowledge about theContinue reading “Five Articles to Pair with The Old Man and the Sea”
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: A nonfiction contender for 2020-21
Thinking ahead to new class sets for next year Nonfiction is definitely my thing. Yes, I love novels and short stories, but nonfiction really captivates me. And I guess it’s because I truly believe that life is stranger than fiction. As a result, I’m starting to consider which nonfiction books I’d like to requisition forContinue reading “Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: A nonfiction contender for 2020-21”
Mentor text: Slice of life writing for high school students
Slice of life essays written by elementary students are everywhere; high school slices are harder to find. Here’s one. Last fall, near the beginning of the school year, I introduced my high school juniors and seniors to slice of life writing. Slices are short narratives that celebrate the ordinary moments in our lives that weContinue reading “Mentor text: Slice of life writing for high school students”
Treasured Object Poems: A Favorite Poetry Activity for All Grades
In this post: Treasured Object Poems Mentor Texts and Lesson Tips Need a fun poetry activity to use with your students? One that will also hone their sensory language and revision skills? Show them how to write a short free-verse poem about an object they value. Paying tribute to a precious personal item encourages themContinue reading “Treasured Object Poems: A Favorite Poetry Activity for All Grades”
Sometimes Poetry Can Teach Better than I Can
Take word choice, for example Last December, when I read a student’s second draft of their Treasured Object poem and saw that it contained the word “get” four times, I thought Really? Get? Four times? It surprised me because I thought I had taught not only sentence variety, but word variety as well. It’s goodContinue reading “Sometimes Poetry Can Teach Better than I Can”
Dear Teachers: The Church of Scientology is one click away from your students
Be careful: the church’s Youth for Human Rights lessons are now available online. A lot can happen in two years. Two years ago, I wrote on Medium.com about a variety of educational materials offered by Youth for Human Rights International, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based human rights advocacy group. Back then, after doing some quickContinue reading “Dear Teachers: The Church of Scientology is one click away from your students”
A Christmas Memo: Madeline, Me, and the Cathedral of Notre Dame
This Christmas, for the first time in more than 200 years, Christmas Mass will not be held at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Since last April’s fire, services at the famous cathedral have been held at the Eglise Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, a church near the Louvre. This week, I’ve decided to reblog a post IContinue reading “A Christmas Memo: Madeline, Me, and the Cathedral of Notre Dame”
My “Article of the Week” rubric for middle and high school
Plus rubrics you can tweak to fit your classroom Last February, I wrote this post about what I consider to be my most effective writing assignment: Kelly Gallagher’s Article of the Week (AOW). I still use this assignment on a weekly basis, but I’ve added narrative writing to the mix by assigning what I callContinue reading “My “Article of the Week” rubric for middle and high school”
Student writers learn their power at Missouri State
The Write Now! High School Writing Conference at Missouri State University Shaun Tomson explains his metaphorical “I Will” statement, “I will always paddle back out.” Here are some quick photos of the high school writing conference hosted by the Missouri State Center for Writing in College, Career and Community. I took these just a fewContinue reading “Student writers learn their power at Missouri State”