Changing my mindset Five years ago, I moved from teaching in a public school to teaching in a charter after 15 years. One of the hardest things for me to wrap my brain around was that my new school did not focus on state testing. They knew it was a necessary evil, and our… Continue reading Game on! Using games as test prep in the secondary classroom
Category: Secondary ELA
A Love Letter to my Teacher Tribe
Dear Teacher Tribe, It's the beginning of our 5th week of school, and there are a few things that you should know. For whatever reason, friends have become few and far between for me. Most of it is my own fault, some of it isn't. I've been told I hold people to too high a… Continue reading A Love Letter to my Teacher Tribe
Hero’s Journey and Annotation
A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away), I started teaching hero's journey when a colleague and I began teaching Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman. If you haven't read that book, or any of his work, PLEASE DO. He is one of the best YA authors out there, in my humble opinion.… Continue reading Hero’s Journey and Annotation
Annotation: Marking a Text with Purpose
For a very long time I struggled with how best to teach students to annotate. I had heard all the advice like, "Tell them they're having a conversation with the text". Or "Have them use symbols to show what they were thinking". Seems simple enough, right? Well, those did NOT work for me or my… Continue reading Annotation: Marking a Text with Purpose
Keep This for Reference- Reference Materials for the Secondary English Classroom
When I first started teaching 20 years ago, I had not given much thought to how I would have students organize and keep the work they did in my class. When it came time to ask for supplies, I defaulted to what I knew, and I had them bring a binder and dividers. I had… Continue reading Keep This for Reference- Reference Materials for the Secondary English Classroom