As Susan said about Q1, the operational Q2 passage, “The Rock Eaters,” and prompt were definitely accessible for most students this year. I still looked at a few drawings, read a few song lyrics (“In the Heights”), and even saw one person who wrote out the numbers from one to one hundred (!), but for … Continue Reading
And that’s a wrap on another reading. This year I read for Q1 – “The Barren Moors.” In general, the prompt and poem were accessible and students tended to write a lot. Compared to prior years (with the possible exception of “Shaving”), there were few blank responses to the poem. So let’s break this down. … Continue Reading
As English teachers, we get asked a lot about our reading lives. People assume that we are well read, and I often joke that if reading Frankenstein or Fences 100 times defines well read, then yes, I assume I am. Truthfully, reading can be difficult for teachers. Teachers often take work home, find ourselves mentally … Continue Reading
Some days feel like a mad dash to the final bell. When that happens my colleagues can read it on my face, I am surviving day-to-day. It is a huge source of stress for teachers when the day owns them, they don’t own the day. And it leads to all kinds of complications like low … Continue Reading
This post written by Matt Brisbin originally appeared on APLitHelp.com and has been updated for this repost. “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein I want to tell you about an idea that has the potential to completely … Continue Reading
What does it mean to be a successful master teacher? I can remember first hearing someone labeled a master while watching episodes of This Old House with my father when I was a boy. When the credits rolled, Norm Abrams was listed as master carpenter. It added an aura to his skills akin to Jedi knighthood. But what … Continue Reading
When Gina Kortuem asked if I would be interested in a crosspost about summer work, I immediately answered yes because my summer work has slowly morphed over the last few years. I was not at all surprised when I read Gina’s post Why I Ditched Summer Reading to see that she and I have been … Continue Reading
A couple of weeks ago I outed myself as having an UnInstagrammable classroom by posting these pictures in the FB group and received c the response. Like minded souls followed up with pictures and comments of solidarity from their classrooms with stacks and piles of who even knows what all. Shout out to the few … Continue Reading
There is a super-simple way to get students to recognize tone, understand character, and experiment with voice all at the same time. This year I had my students assume the identity of characters in the novels we were reading and write fake Tweets from the perspective of that character. I instructed them to think of … Continue Reading
Last week I overheard a conversation from a group of students that went something like this: Student 1: I really think I should apply to College X as a backup school but don’t have time to write or revise my essay to the school’s prompt, so I guess I won’t. Student 2: Well if it’s … Continue Reading
