4.3kviews Okay, English majors: Who else feels guilty when we have to rush through a literary masterpiece in order to meet the end-of-the-year time crunch? In… Read More »Annoy an English Major. Get Your Students to Understand Shakespeare in Half the Time.
2.2kviews Teachers know that most adolescents lack motivation to read, both academically and recreationally, yet we can see how crucial it is for students to develop… Read More »Why We Never Get Anywhere in English Dept: The Fight between Whole-Class Novels and Choice-Only Reading
6.3kviewsEntering the Conversation Most of ya’ll know my friend and colleague Dave Stuart over at Teaching the Core. A few weeks ago, Stu shared ways… Read More »Getting Real with Argumentative Writing
Are you looking for ways to improve your students’ comprehension, critical thinking, and reasoning skills all while meeting the Common Core State Standards? If so, you will not want to miss this one-day learning experience surrounding Close Reading. Through reading, viewing video, and dialogue, you will discover dozens of practical strategies and engaging techniques that are guaranteed to improve student achievement. This learning adventure is interactive, goal-focused, and instruction-based.
This presentation was designed to lead the incredibly awesome 4th- through 8th-grade teachers at Cedar Springs Public Schools through an all-day professional learning experience, wherein which I shared my journey of learning and teaching Close Reading to ninth- and tenth-graders. The presentation ranges from the days where I committed sticky-note Readicide and accepted “all thoughts about texts as great” to my current days where I want students to, as Dave Stuart of Teaching the Core verbalizes it, “legitimately understand and interact with complex texts for the sake of entering the argumentative conversation of which they are a part.”
3kviewsQ: Why not use a novel my students are already assigned to read? As we scaffold and support our students, it’s always important to consider… Read More »Completely Change Your Students’ Argumentative Writing: Teach Them to Close Read a Picture Book
1.1kviewsWhen it comes to the Common Core, many teachers today feel a bit overwhelmed by the barrage of ever-changing standards and top-down state expectations. In terms… Read More »Use In-Class Debate as a Transition to Argumentative Writing