One thing students – and adults, for that matter – struggle with is the use of apostrophes. It’s difficult to watch people of all ages butcher the proper use of this fickle piece of punctuation, but it seems to baffle those young and old. A simple way to teach apostrophe usage is to use holidays. […]
ELA
Posted inPedagogy
How I Used Pokémon to Battle Student Boredom
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Anime has been a powerhouse in pop culture for decades, especially in youth culture. I recall enjoying it as far back as middle school, circa the mid-2000s, on channels like Toonami. Still, I never expected it to grow to […]
Posted inPedagogy
Why I Stopped Using Writing Rubrics
Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! In my English and writing courses, I always love to share the following Anne Lamott quote with students: “…writing needs to breathe and move.” To further expand on this quote, I explain that writing cannot be constricted in a […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Finally An Afrofuturist Textbook!
An Interview With the Editor of Conjuring Worlds Have you signed up for The Educator’s Room Daily Newsletter? Click here and support independent journalism! Afrofuturism is highly-desired, but frequently a missing puzzle piece in many English Language Arts curriculums. B. Sharise Moore, a veteran educator and author of Dr. Marvellus Djinn’s Odd Scholars, hopes to change […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
How VH1 Inspired the Way I Taught Novels
Maybe my millennial is showing, but VH1’s “Watch and Discuss” campaign had an incredible impact on how I taught novels in my grade 8 standard ELA class. I wondered, what if I took the same concept and applied it to reading in English class? I made reading a novel as engaging as watching a VH1 […]
Posted inInstructional Strategies
Getting Students to Write (Part 1)
Getting students to write can be difficult. For students who don’t like writing, being confronted with a lengthy writing task will turn down the will and up the resistance quick. Think about it: they are uncomfortable for a reason. Who knows why: unsure of their skills, confused by the task, maybe just uninterested in that […]
Posted inElementary School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
Close Reading and Deep Thinking = “Textploration”
My focus in this piece will be on inspiring truly close reading and deeper thinking as a facet of ELA instruction. When a reader can go beyond recall; go beyond simple inference and analysis, and go spelunking deep into reflection on and evaluation of story characters and elements (while using the text to support their […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Part 3: Adventures in Real Word English/Language Arts – Let Them Be Great
I love English Language Arts (ELA), but real world ELA can be eye opening. I have been teaching my Technical Writing class for two weeks now. And I have had my share of ups and downs. I’ve always taken myself seriously as an educator. My love of literature and writing always translates easily into the classroom. […]