The contents of this article may seem obvious, but when I was a new teacher fresh out of college, no one went over the basics of living as an adult with me. My parents passed away shortly after I started my teaching career, and I had to learn these financial survival skills from the school […]
Literacy
Black History Month and PBL: Ideas for Educators
As we enter February, 2018, schools across America will engage in activities celebrating Black History Month in the United States. There is a strong current in secondary education today where the goal is to move classroom activities away from teacher-centered activities toward “project-based learning” or PBL. This trend has specific criteria that ensure rigorous learning […]
Building Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension is the ability to read something, process what is saying, and understand what is saying. As an English teacher, I feel like teaching reading comprehension is one of the most important things that I teach my students. While students can be strong readers, sometimes they struggle with understanding the deeper meaning behind the […]
“Let Them Eat Cake:” How Teachers Can Resist Banned Words
Words never uttered can be extremely significant. Often the perception of words said (or unsaid) carry more importance than truth. In October of 1789, Marie Antoinette did not look down at the swarming hordes of fishmonger women storming the Palace on Versailles and […]
The Writing Gap: Why a Renaissance in Writing Instruction is Imperative
“Appositive?” “What is an appositive?” “Is that even a word?” These were snippets of conversations overheard in a teacher’s book study at Liverpool High School, a large, suburban school north of Syracuse, NY. The assembled teachers, from a variety of disciplines including World Languages, English, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics and Special Education, comprise a group studying […]
A Student-Curated Reading List to Combat Learning Loss
With the holidays just around the corner, most teachers are gearing up for some time off and some much needed rest and relaxation. While these breaks can a wonderful time to re-charge for both teachers and students, sometimes progress made throughout the semester can be lost. For example, in 2015, Oxford Learning put out an article […]
Yes, Breaking Up (with a text) is Hard to Do
It’s not you. It’s the text. It’s moving on…to another grade level. “I just don’t understand why….” you catch your breath, “it’s been the only book I liked …no, I loved… to teach.” You pause, ‘Why does it have to leave?” After all, you and the book have been together for school years. You […]
The Novels I Use to Teach Secondary English
The Novels I Use to Teach Secondary English There are lots of wonderful things about teaching high school English. One of those is that I get to use a lot of fun novels to help my students reach the standards they need to achieve. To make it fun, I tried to pick a wide variety […]