Before the school year starts, you want your classroom decorated and neatly put together in preparation for orientations, open houses, and parent meet-and-greets. You may have your go-to ideas that you use from year-to-year or you may want some different ideas. If you’re a first-year teacher or just started teaching a new subject, coming with […]
High School
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, High School, Middle School, Opinion
What I Wish My Students Knew…
Last year, a teacher asked her students what they wished their teacher knew and it opened the eyes of teachers are around the United States. We all keep things inside and the only way for people to understand us is to let them out and share because only then can we begin to see each […]
Posted inHigh School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Middle School, Technology
Blending Digital Time: Mobile Learning and Self Reliance
The shift in education towards mobile learning and self reliance has educators and parents grappling over the social dynamic shift in relationships between student and adult. Access to technology has transformed traditional responsibilities, and redefined cultural values which is alarming for some and liberating for others. The media tends towards a worrisome focus on the health of those with access […]
Posted inAdult Learning, Current Events in Education, Featured, High School, Opinion
What to Consider when Tragedy Occurs during the School Year
Here in south Louisiana, we are recovering. The Cajuns are a strong, passionate people, and I assure you, we will come back stronger than ever. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. In the midst of tragedy, we discover who we are and what we believe, and we choose to believe in humanity and […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Twain's Satire in "Advice to Youth" Speech
Students have regular exposure to forms of mockery, ridicule, derision, scorn, or caricature on social media, on TV, on film, or Youtube, yet many still do not understand satire. Despite living in an atmosphere saturated 24/7 with “humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule that exposes and criticizes people’s stupidity or vices,” when students read satire, they say they just don’t “get it.” Perhaps […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize Speech-"the Word is with Men"
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] When American authors are studied in the secondary English Language Arts classroom for their short stories and their novels, John Steinbeck is usually featured. Students, however, may not have read a […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Ursula Le Guin's Speech as Literary Informational Text
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] Science fiction and fantasy are among the most popular genres in both film and book publishing, but they are often underrepresented in the English Language Arts offerings in the secondary classroom. There are […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy, Middle School
Give Students What They Want to Read for Reading Practice
The middle school or high school classroom library can be an important tool in making students life-long readers, but how to choose what goes into a classroom library for independent reading? Providing the books that student want to read is different than pre-selecting books that students should read. Yes, educators believe that students should read selections from the literary canon, for example, those […]