At their core, AP English Literature essays aren’t about telling readers everything you read this year—they’re about proving you can make a clear, persuasive interpretation of the prompt and support it with thoughtful analysis. The exam is not based on your memory of the works of literature you studied, rather it is about applying the … Continue Reading
Thank you to our friend and fellow English teacher Brett Vogelsinger for sharing his poetry wisdom with us this week. You can learn more about him and his book Poetry Pauses (highly recommend) at the end of this post. Poetry calls us to pause and notice things differently, both the words on the page and … Continue Reading
The literary argument question on the AP Literature exam is the most open of the three essays which students (and teachers) can find to be both freeing and difficult. Answering the prompt requires students to both zoom in to specific scenes to answer the prompt then zoom out to larger thematic ideas based on the … Continue Reading
The textbook I used early in my career encouraged students to think of characterization in a binary way — either it was direct or indirect. The definitions went something like this: Direct characterization is a literary technique in which a narrator or another character explicitly describes a character’s traits, qualities, or personality. Instead of allowing … Continue Reading
This past weekend I participated in a group of three dozen educators, researchers, curriculum and learning specialists, and digital program leaders to draft a framework for AI in the English classroom. To say that this was time well spent – for me personally and for the work NCTE is doing – is an understatement. I … Continue Reading
SUSAN BARBER Not taking work home has become a hard fast rule for me, but this was not always the case. I spent years carrying essays on field trips to my house, my children’s sporting events and arts performances, after school events, faculty meetings – you get the idea. The bag of essays was an … Continue Reading
After sharing what Brian and I are thinking about going into 2026, we put out an all call for teachers in the MuchAdo community to share what’s on their mind. As usual, we are inspired and challenged to hear from you. Thanks to everyone who shared. Here are some of your responses: I agree with … Continue Reading
SUSAN BARBER I remember when ChatGPT broke on TikTok in late 2022 and feared how this would play out in classrooms. My concerns were validated when over 50 students suddenly used the work “evocative” in their first online essays in January of 2023. Since then, AI has continued to evolve, students have become adept at … Continue Reading
I quit tracking my books on GoodReads a couple of years ago because it became cumbersome and took joy out of my reading life. Instead, I’ve been compiling an end of the year reading list primarily recalled through pictures on my phone. I’m sure I’ve missed a few but this is most of what I … Continue Reading
Teaching older novels has become quite the intimidating thing. After all, last November, The Atlantic declared that even elite college students aren’t reading, and if those kids can’t read whole novels, what hope is there for high school English teachers? I have found a way to teach an 18th-century novel without losing my students to … Continue Reading
