Research Note Taking Graphic Organizer Teaching research is often anything but effortless, but I was honestly stunned by the results of my research note taking graphic organizer. I was dealing with a group of students more reluctant than ever to work independently with the persistence demanded of research. I taught research in a January and…
Category: Reading
This Debate Activity Will Have Your Students Requesting More Opportunities
Debate Activity When I perfected this debate activity, the English Learners in my classes begged me to do more debates! More speaking and listening about complex topics? Yes, please! This process took me years to perfect, and I am so happy that I didn’t quit. Classroom Debate Guidelines There are many pitfalls on the road…
Basics of Comedy: Introducing a Comedic Play in the Classroom
Basics of Comedy Honestly, most of what is taught in English class is pretty depressing. Why not liven things up with the basics of comedy? There are so many important comedies out there to explore with students. What makes comedy…comedy? There is a series of comedic structures and devices that recur throughout the form. Technically,…
Literacy For All Is The Hill I’ll Die On
Literacy for All How do we create an inclusive world with literacy for all? 54% of U.S. adults read at or below the sixth grade level. These adults (and you know them) can experience anxiety, confusion, and embarrassment with adult-level reading tasks. They can miss opportunities for advancement. They can become easy targets for those…
Narrative Structure: It’s Not Just a Plot Diagram
Narrative Structure How would Gustav Freytag, a 19th century playwright, feel about the proliferation of triangles modeled after his narrative structure analysis of the five-act play? I don’t know, but there are a lot of products for it on TpT. Ah, the legacy of Freytag! The theory itself, that narrative structure consists of 5 parts…
Teaching Text Structure: The Missing Reading and Writing Skill
Teaching Text Structure I haven’t always focused on teaching text structure as a reading comprehension and writing skill, but now I will never not teach it. Teaching text structure allows me to teach writing skills and then transfer them directly to reading texts to see how published authors use the skills we are learning while…
Literary Examples to Inspire Even the Most Reluctant Students
Literary Examples It’s time to return my classroom to the literary. The literary examples of teaching are the ones I fell in love with first as a student, and then a teacher. Getting lost in a book. Stunning discussions. Laboring in love through drafts of my writing to get every word just right. Right now,…
Novel Worksheets Need a Reinvention
Novel Worksheets Novel worksheets are a common activity when students read a novel together. It can be difficult to create worksheets that actually teach something about novels in general (and the specific novel they’re reading). Why A Whole Class Novel I don’t only teach novels, but a whole class novel has immense value. It allows…
Teaching Complex Text with the Most Influential Roadmap
Teaching Complex Text Don’t start from nothing every time you are teaching complex text. Streamline your work with an influential roadmap. How Complex Texts Should Be Utilized in the Classroom According to researchers like Timothy Shanahan, all students should get the opportunity to read complex grade-level text in order to have the best opportunities to…
Why Fluency Is Important, Even in High School
Why Fluency is Important Many might wonder why fluency is important for high school students, but it is one of those make-or-break skills. The Four Components There are four components to fluent reading. Phrasing and punctuation. Grouping words together in clusters of meaning by phrases, clauses, and punctuation. Expression (prosody). This is the emotion of…
