Over the past few years, I have given less and less feedback on writing out of necessity due to large numbers, the desire to turn work around quickly, and the commitment to not grading at home. My feedback has for a while been row by row numbers for an AP essay with a Glow and … Continue Reading
One of my favorite mornings of the year was always the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. When my boys were little, we would go to the national cemetery in our area with their Cub Scout pack and walk the rows, placing hundreds upon hundreds of flags in front of the headstones. One year, another dad, … Continue Reading
After reading Act IV of Hamlet, I provided students with cards at their table for discussion, Students settled into reading and discussion, but I noticed one group of four not engaging in the work and staring into space. When I asked if they felt stuck or needed additional help, one girl quickly said, “When are … Continue Reading
In 2021, I did a four-day workshop for AP Lit. teachers in Pennsylvania. On the first day one participant made no bones about it – she was sent by her principal to learn how her students could get the sophistication point and that was her sole purpose in attending. So much hype and mystique for … Continue Reading
Poetry units often fail before they begin. The mistake that dooms them is that they are poorly planned and the marketing is terrible. PLANNING Many poetry units emphasize building students’ poetic terminology without putting as much attention on the experience of reading a poem. While vocabulary certainly helps to articulate things we identify in poems, … Continue Reading
In Clint Smith’s TedTalk titled “The Danger of Silence,” he asks his students to do these four things: Read critically Write consciously Speak clearly Tell your truth Since watching Smith’s video almost a decade ago, I have become more intentional about my classroom culture and now yearly ask myself what core values do I want … Continue Reading
1. Master the art of eye contact. Make ’em feel seen. Look long enough to see eye color, then you can look away. 2. Make it obvious and apparent how much you care. It cab be a grand act or a series of small gestures. But they have to know. 3. You can be the … Continue Reading
Many works of literature depict a conflict between the old and the new: Old worlds, old ways, or old values clash with newer ones… Choose a work of fiction in which there is marked tension between the old and the new. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how the tension between the old and the … Continue Reading
Christopher Gilbert’s free verse poem “Marking Time” proved to be a very accessible subject for an analytical essay on the 2026 operational portion of the AP Exam. Most responses were able to discuss the speaker’s reflections, even if they missed some of the deeper connections (i.e. the grief over the sister). Overall, there was a … Continue Reading
The end of the school year is like a flashbang: loud, disorienting, starts and ends suddenly. Between standardized testing, field trips, end of the year concerts, finalizing grades, finishing the year often equates to simply hanging on until the last day. Here are three things I do each year to provide closure at the end … Continue Reading
