Mar 05
There’s a lot to be said for seeing irony, foreshadow, and satire playing out on the screen versus just reading about it. My visual students really thrive when they see it in action. And since all my students secretly love watching kids’ movies, it’s a win-win when I show these clips. (This is the second …
Jan 17
Breakouts are huge right now, but they are also a bit intimidating for teachers to create and implement. Just programing the locks for each kit has caused me anxiety. How would I find the time and patience to set all the locks? How would I reset everything in time for the next class? A digital …
Jan 09
Fake receipts are a great way to change up your worksheets and increase engagement. I mostly use them for creative writing and comprehension assessments, but I’m sure you’ll come up with a few ideas as well. 1. Reading Comprehension Create fake receipts for various characters and have the students guess which character they belong to. …
Dec 06
This year I’m replacing O. Henry with David Sedaris podcasts. Why? Because in years past I pulled out “The Gift of the Magi” and most of my students have already read it – a few times. If you’ve had similar experiences or just want to mix it up for own sanity, read on for a few …
Oct 26
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is more relevant than ever right now. Here’s four reasons to dust it off and get it back into students’ hands this year. 1. Zaphod Beeblebrox is Donald Trump Regardless of how you feel politically, we can all agree Trump sometimes acts sporadically. I Just finished reading this with …
Oct 22
According to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, Level 3: Strategic Thinking involves problems with multiple valid answers. Severity charts are the perfect way to do just that. Students need to take into account multiple events, details, points of view, etc. in order to determine and validate their answer. Check out some of my examples below. Character Morality …
Oct 01
The absolute best way for people to learn vocabulary is through natural and repeated exposure: both in conversation and reading. However, I know many of my students are not hearing higher-level vocabulary with their friends or at home, and I also sadly know their reading is often limited to emojis and Facebook posts. So we …
Sep 24
Tape character traits and events to a wall and have students correctly match them to character posters hanging around the room. Leave them up for review throughout the novel
Sep 07
Oedipus the King is one of the oldest works taught in high schools, and by far it is one that gets the best reactions from my students: “Ugh! Why are we reading about this?!” If you do choose to (or are forced to) read about poor Oedipus, here are a few things that may help …
Aug 30
Saturday Night Live is loaded with examples of satire set to current events. Most sketches, however, are not appropriate for the classroom. Here is a list of three that are completely clean and on a level most high school students can understand. 1. Totino’s Super Bowl Ad Click here to watch it. Vanessa Bayer plays …
