Our first poetry unit is Counting Descent by Clint Smith and our first official lesson on structure was this week. I LOVE teaching structure because it’s one of the few concepts that students have very little exposure to or experience with in their prior lit classes. If they have had experience with structure, few know … Continue Reading
Teaching tone is a difficult thing, especially to high schoolers. Since it is such a challenge, it doesn’t get its due diligence but it is one of the most important literacy skills a reader needs to possess. Here are some common problems I have run into in my classroom when teaching tone: They don’t know … Continue Reading
I know that your back pocket has a bunch of tried and true poems, but maybe there’s room for a few more. Here are five poems all written in the last 25 years that are hidden gems. Maybe you can unwind with one each day at the end of your teaching day. Maybe you want … Continue Reading
Susan’s note: I typically have Brian Hannon join my APSIs for session to show us around LMS Voice Curriculum, a site filled with poetry resources. Not only does the site have poetry lessons that are ready to go in the classroom (with a writing workshop lesson, a literary analysis lessons, an essay prompt for the … Continue Reading
May 1st. How in the world are we here? I had a hard time imaging making it to this point of the year in the late fall and early winter, but now that we’re here, I have no idea what kind of time machine I have been in for the last three months. My seniors … Continue Reading
So many big test tips are generic. They include things like “get a good night of sleep the night before,” “read the questions before the passage,” and “eliminate wrong answers.” Rarely, does those tips provide a strategic plan to make a major jump in the days leading up to the exam. Here are eight ways … Continue Reading
Small tweaks often yield big gains. Here are five writing activities that put the work in students’ hands and help them improve their writing. 1 – Strong Verbs At some point during the second semester, I will ask students to take an essay and highlight every verb in the essay. Every. Single. Verb. This is … Continue Reading
We talk about the AP Lit exam on day 2 of class (day 1 is always some high-interest poetry activity). Here’s what I say: This class is all about the exam, and this class is not at all about the exam. We will live in this dichotomy all year. You will have the opportunity to … Continue Reading
Mary Shelley began Frankenstein at the same age of many high school seniors. She was 18, and legend has it, she was a part of a parlor game with Percey Shelley and Lord Byron while vacationing in Geneva. They challenged each other to come up with a ghost story during a summer in they spent … Continue Reading
One of the consistent issues that I have to combat throughout the year is that my students – in their close reading and analysis – keep tripping themselves up because they can’t “find any literary devices” in the passage or poem. They seem to think, as much as I try to break them from this … Continue Reading
