I realized I was no longer young when my phone had trouble recognizing my face. At the grocery store, I want to “pinch and pull” to enlarge the produce-code numbers when checking out, but that is fruitless. I worry that if I can’t decipher those numbers, how on earth will I read novels aloud to … Continue Reading
The poor short story – overlooked, under-appreciated, and neglected. Ask an English teacher what they teach, and a litany of novels is sure to follow. Poetry has more prestige as well. Six poets have recited poems at presidential inaugurations, but no one has embraced the podium to read a short story. I, too, have brushed … Continue Reading
I am going to show you how to have your most creative and fulfilling year of teaching. You will engage students, they will anticipate your class, and you will develop a repertoire of creative lessons, but first a quick backstory. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Not everyone marks their fifth wedding anniversary with a literary tour. But that’s … Continue Reading
Q3 (LITERARY ARGUMENT) BASICS Key feature: Q1 and Q2 present the text for students (a poem or prose excerpt). Q3 is different because there is no reading passage. Q3 CHALLENGES Q3 is the AP Lit. prompt that students can walk into the exam with the greatest confidence. That’s because it is the one question that … Continue Reading
THE BASICS CHALLENGES I spent six years on the AP Literature and Composition Test Development Committee writing the exam and Q2 was always the most challenging question to develop. Here are its particular difficulties: A FOUR-DAY PLAN TO PREPARE FOR THE Q2 ESSAY I use a four-day progression to review the prose fiction essay on … Continue Reading
I’m sure you are seeing what we are seeing. Faith in institutions is crumbling everywhere. According to Gallup research, 11 of the 16 institutions it tracks annually saw a decline in confidence in 2023. “Most of the institutions rated were within three points of their all-time-low confidence score, including four that were at or tied … Continue Reading
After being a frequent star on the naughty list for not taking attendance a few years ago, I had no choice but to build attendance into the daily lesson. Enter the attendance question. The first thing I do in class every day is go through the roll (for me that means having Infinite Campus attendance … Continue Reading
Here are all the 2026 Poetry March Madness resources Poetry March Madness is the most electrifying poetry unit I have ever created. How do I know? Each year that I have taught this unit, students have become visibly frustrated or disappointed when the poem they loved does not win. Some have left class at the … Continue Reading
by Brian Sztabnik In preparation for a mini lesson on body paragraphs that I taught this week, I purchased an essay-writing unit on Teachers Pay Teachers and was woefully disappointed. It packaged the same-old basic formula with fancy fonts and pretty borders: I find that this type of formulaic approach to writing does more harm than … Continue Reading
Frustration Here’s a frustration I grappled with earlier in the year and a quick-fix solution. Sometimes, I would work to make a lesson engaging and dynamic and with it came all this excitement to teach it. But that faded fast because when I was in the moment, I recieved nothing in return. There were a … Continue Reading
