Classroom, Education, High School, Middle School, Professional Development, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, student needs, Teacher, Teaching, teaching writing, Texas, Uncategorized

Gettin’ My Learn On- Part Three of a Week of Professional Development

An English Teacher's Rock ConcertI would like to thank whatever English teacher fairy blessed me with the knowledge of the existence of the TALE Conference. TALE is the Texas Association for Literacy Education, and before this school year, I had never heard of it. How is that possible? I've been a secondary English teacher in… Continue reading Gettin’ My Learn On- Part Three of a Week of Professional Development

Classroom, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, student needs, Teacher, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching, Teaching annotation, Teaching tools, teaching writing, Texas, Uncategorized

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

11 minute essay, Assessments, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, state assessment, student needs, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching, Teaching tools, teaching writing, Texas, Uncategorized

Have Your Students Been Drafted?- Using the 11 minute essay to teach expository writing

Since I talked about timed expository/informational essays on Instagram , there has been some interest in an explanation of what it is, and how and why you should use it. I thought, instead of trying to explain it to each interested teacher, I would just write a post about the technique that has truly changed… Continue reading Have Your Students Been Drafted?- Using the 11 minute essay to teach expository writing