language arts Archives - David Rickert

How To Improve Student Writing Scores on the State Test

March 24, 2019 By David Rickert Leave a Comment

Like it or not, state tests for common core and other state standards are here to stay. And unfortunately, some of our instruction will be diverted to helping our students do well on them.

One area that is particularly troublesome for language arts teachers is that the writing portion is scored by a computer. How is it possible to take something as complex as grading an essay and reduce it to work that can be done by a machine? It’s very frustrating to have the countless hours that we spend grading reduced to something that can be done by a program.

How does the computer score the state tests? We don’t exactly know. However, there are a few things that we know the computer is looking for, and ways to help make those things visible.

So here are four things students MUST do in order to score well on the test and how you can help students prepare.

Proofread.

Many students are used to typing on a computer or device that automatically identifies, and in some cases corrects, errors. Those students who take the test on a computer or device need to be aware that there is no such feature on the test. And those who are writing by hand need to be looking for the errors that they made in the mad dash to finish an essay. Unlike a human grader, the computer may not recognize a misspelled word as what it is. However, it will definitely catch run-ons and fragments.

How to teach it: Emphasize that students need to allocate time to proofread their work. Emphasize it as a skill with every assignment. For example, if you give time for students to write a paragraph as an exit slip, instruct them to use the last minute or two before the bell rings to check over their work. We want proofreading to become something that students automatically do.

As the school year progresses, keep track of the errors that students are most likely to make as you see them in writing. I also have a bundle that addresses the most common errors students are likely to make in writing in fun comics and activities.

Have a thesis at the end of the introduction.

Yes, it’s formulaic and yes, there are other places you can put it. However, this is the best place to put your thesis if someone (or in this case something) is looking for it. Also, a thesis shouldn’t be a question like: “Should museums charge admission?” or a statement like: “Read below to find out whether or not museum admission should be free.” A thesis statement must clearly state a position on an issue which will then be supported with evidence.

How to teach it: Thesis statements are part of regular instruction already, but emphasize what it should look like and where to put it. You can also have students practice thesis statements without writing an entire paper. Have them read an article or two and craft a thesis statement that they would use in a paper on this topic. Collect them on the way out and you’ll have a good idea in a couple of minutes how well they can write one.

Adding citations.

Students should be quoting from the passages. However, because there is more than one passage, they need to identify which passage their quotes come from. According to samples from past tests, it seems like you can either identify the passage by the author (“Robert Smith says …”) or by the passage (“In Passage 1 it says …”). Direct quotes are good – the computer will recognize that quotes are being used – but you shouldn’t quote too much. However, identifying the passage is critical as well.

How to teach it: First off, make sure students aren’t just writing an opinion piece that doesn’t use facts at all, which I suspect is a reason many students don’t score well.

Make sure you are giving students more than one passage to use as sources for assignments. For example, a lot of teachers use articles of the week regularly. Instead of giving students one article, give them two ask them to pull facts from both. When you discuss the article, have them identify the passage as they give their facts.

Address counterarguments.

The writing prompts for the state test ask students to address counterarguments to their claims. For years I taught 5 paragraph essays in which students stated three reasons to support an opinion, but weren’t asked to address the other side. Because of that, students might be inclined to neglect that they have to address what the other side would say. I would guess that this is the main reason that students don’t score well on the test is that they neglect this task, either because they haven’t been asked to do it, or because they don’t read the directions and know they should do it.

How to teach it: Throughout the year have students engage in persuasive tasks in which they must consider the other side and argue against that opinion. For example, we read two articles about Iowa schools that teach gun safety as part of physical education – one for and one against. Students had to take a side, but they also had to choose a point from the other side to dispute. You can also ask questions like: “What might the other side say? And why might they feel that way?” during class discussions in order to get students thinking about other points of view.

A Handy State Test Writing Visual!

I created this handout as a visual for students as they prepare for the test. It has all of the tips I addressed above as well as some other general suggestions. If you’d like a free copy of this handout, click below. You’ll also be added to my email list and get other great ELA tips delivered right to your inbox.

It’s easy to think that if we are doing test prep we aren’t teaching anything else. But in fact the skills that students need to do well on the writing section – writing thesis statements, using facts and citing them appropratiely- are skills that students need to have no matter what they write. True, we have to outwit the computer that grades these essay a little bit. But we only need to modify our instruction a little bit to sharpen these skills for the task. And in the end that’s what good instruction is all about – knowing how to respond appropriately to whatever task you’re given.

Here are some other blog posts on writing you might enjoy:

Writing Rubrics That Give You Back Your Weekends

Building Better Topic Sentences

Mini Timed Writings: Getting Students to Write More Without More Grading

A Workshop Approach to Essay Planning

Learning should be fun! Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for fun resources like the ones you see below.

Othello: Comics and Activities to Use While Reading the Play

March 10, 2019 By David Rickert Leave a Comment

Othello is a great play to teach in high school. Iago is a great villain. Desdemona is a perfect innocent victim, someone who doesn’t deserve the treatment she received from a jealous significant other. They can relate to the play because they have all missed out on a leadership position that was given to someone they felt wasn’t as qualified as they are (especially if you teach it to seniors. Many of them were denied entry to a college that accepted someone else they know.) They get that revenge if taken too far can be a destructive emotion.

My students like Othello even if they struggle with the language. For many of them, Shakespeare is something you should do in school, and they like the challenge. However, one area I always struggled with was how to introduce each act so that they had enough information to understand what was going on, yet not so much that reading the play became unnecessary. Also, I am always looking for something to make Shakespeare more accessible. So I made the following set of comics.

The comic image above is from Othello: Comic Summaries and Activities. The comics provide an overview of what happens in each act in a fun and humorous way that is inspired by a misspent youth reading MAD magazine, comics, and other irreverent publications.

They are a fun alternative to handing out summaries of the acts. For one thing, they don’t give too much away. Second, I have hidden Easter eggs throughout the panels of metaphors and images from each act (for instance, you’ll notice a black ram and white ewe in the middle panel.)

In addition, I have included a bunch of fun activities to do while reading the play that get students interacting with monologues, digging deep into the text, and examining the motivations of various characters. There’s even a puzzle page!

Of course, since this is the students’ first exposure to Shakespeare, you’ll need to introduce the bard and do a warm-up activity or two. I have a set of Shakespeare Bell Ringers that introduce students to the language of the bard. Plus, if you go to my store you’ll find a bunch of other Shakespeare resources. And if you want a FREE comic that introduces Shakespeare and provides a little more background and an activity with a sonnet, click below and you’ll get it!
If you’d like even more fun things you can do with Shakespeare, you can find them in my Shakespeare activities bundle, which includes the Shakespeare biography, a lesson on iambic pentameter, and a lesson on Sonnet 18.

Learning should be fun! Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for fun resources like the ones you see below.

Macbeth: Comic Activities to Use While Reading the Play

March 9, 2019 By David Rickert Leave a Comment

I don’t think there’s a more fun Shakespeare play to teach than Macbeth. It moves quickly (it’s one of Shakespeare’s shorter plays) and has it all: bloodshed, valor, all wrapped up in a play about what happens when the temptation to get what you want present itself. And it has witches! I also like that no matter how many times I read it, there’s always something new to discover. For instance, I just learned about the controversy about who the third murderer of Banquo might be. Lots of interesting theories there.

My students like Macbeth even if they struggle with the language. They rise to the challenge. For many of them Shakespeare is something you should do in school, so they don’t put up too much of a fuss. However, one area I always struggled with was how to introduce each act so that they had enough information to understand what was going on, yet not so much that reading the play became unnecessary. Also, I am always looking for something to make Shakespeare more accessible. So I made the following set of comics.

The comic image above is from Macbeth: Comic Summaries and Activities. The comics provide an overview of what happens in each act in a fun and humorous way that is inspired by a misspent youth reading MAD magazine, comics, and other irreverent publications.

The back side of these cartoons have activities centered around the work that will get kids interacting with the text in informative and creative ways. For example, there’s an activity that explores allusions with Robert Frost’s “Out, Out-.”

Of course, since this is the students’ first exposure to Shakespeare, you’ll need to introduce the bard and do a warm-up activity or two. I have a set of Shakespeare Bell Ringers that introduce students to the language of the bard. Or if you’d like the Macbeth comics and the Bell Ringers bundled with a bunch of other stuff, check out my Macbeth and Shakespeare Bundle for a whole bunch of goodies. Also, if you want a FREE comic that introduces Shakespeare and provides a little more background and an activity with a sonnet, click below and you’ll get it!
If you’d like even more fun things you can do with Shakespeare, you can find them in my Shakespeare activities bundle, which includes the Shakespeare biography, a lesson on iambic pentameter, and a lesson on Sonnet 18.

Learning should be fun! Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for fun resources like the ones you see below.

Escape Rooms – An Interview with Danielle Hall

March 5, 2019 By David Rickert Leave a Comment

Every morning on the way to school I pass by a business called Breakout, which hosts escape room parties. I’ve never done one, but what happens is a group of people is locked in a room together and have to solve a series of puzzles to escape some fate, like being eaten by a zombie or being busted by the police. They seem like a lot of fun and maybe one day I’ll get the chance to do it.

They are so much fun, in fact, that Danielle Hall has developed escape rooms that you can use with the teaching of Shakespeare. Her Romeo and Juliet Escape Room, for instance, provides a lively, competitive way to review the main concepts of the play. She also has one for background information on Shakespeare that I can’t wait to use with my students. And if you don’t teach Shakespeare, she can help you create your own escape room for a novel or play that you teach.

Danielle and I are both devoted to making the study of Shakespeare as much fun as we possibly can, so we decided to interview each other about our resources. Click here to go to her blog post, where she interviews me.

So what is an escape room? And have you done one?

This is a totally cool piece of nerd history, but I promise I’ll keep it brief. Escape Rooms originated as adventure video games back in the 80’s and evolved into puzzle games in the early 2000’s in Japan. The concept was transformed into live “trapped in a room games” by 2007, but didn’t really come to the US until 2015 or so, and only in big cities.

I did my first Escape Room at the NC Outer Banks in 2016, and I’ve been hooked ever since. We were looking for Blackbeard’s treasure or something, and the game took about 45 minutes. We’d solve puzzles and new game components would unlock to us. I knew during that very first game that I wanted to apply the concept to the classroom.

How does the basic concept apply to your escape rooms?

One of the things you’ll find in a live game like the Blackbeard’s Treasure one we did is that your teammates will find items or hints that you didn’t notice. It’s really important that everyone tells the team when they’ve found something, even if they don’t think it’s helpful. Then your team can work together to understand how information applies to the puzzles. It’s all about critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.

In my games, students work together in teams to solve puzzles. As they progress, they gain more information for subsequent levels and oftentimes, hints to decoding a Secret Message. For example, in my Romeo & Juliet Escape Room, students use their knowledge of plot, characters, conflict, and theme to solve puzzles. The codewords they get from each task help them decode a final message. Sometimes hints and items are hidden throughout the classroom, so it’s a super interactive (and loud!) experience for them.

Do you envision escape rooms as a replacement for other forms of assessment like essays or tests?

I don’t. Rather, I always recommend teachers use them to introduce or review a concept. For example, I have a Harlem Renaissance Escape Room that provides students with an overview of the era. It gets students excited about the history and famous figures. Once you’ve captured their interest, you’ll have more buy-in for lengthier research and assignments.

Another reason that I don’t like the idea of grading Escape Rooms is that students need to feel okay failing. In live games, there’s often only a 50% success rate! More difficult rooms will brag about their low success rates to let you know that you’re signing up for a real challenge. Whereas I like to make my games have a higher success rate than that, there’s still the possibility that students won’t work well as a team or won’t see all the clues… adding in a graded component just muddies the water of the game’s goals.

I think that’s awesome, and we definitely need to move students away from thinking that everything needs to be a grade. How much prep time does it take to get the escape room going? Can I do it tomorrow?

I always get this question! I try and make everything as easy as possible for teachers with Print Checklists and ideas for set-up, but there’s still time involved. If you buy a ready-made game, you should ALWAYS play through it first to get an idea of where your students may encounter difficulty. I’d say that between previewing, printing, and setting up, you’re looking at at least 3-5 hours of work. It’s like planning for a field trip. It’s totally worth it, though! You’ll engage students you’ve never seen interact with their peers or the subject matter before.

I also have an editable ELA Escape Room, and this sort of thing takes even more set-up. Even though I’ve tried to make it as easy as possible, you’re setting up a customized game for your classroom, and of course there’s going to be time involved. I usually recommend 7-10 hours to make your own game with this resource.

How do you introduce Shakespeare to your students?

Well, my students seem to have very little understanding going into Shakespeare of how different life was. They either think that society was totally in the Dark Ages, or they assume that Elizabethans were more technologically or medically advanced than they were. I capture students’ interest by showing the first five minutes of the Doctor Who episode, “The Shakespeare Code.” The Doctor and Martha arrive in Shakespearean London, and the Doctor does a very comedic comparison of those times to ours. After that, I have students write a letter to Shakespeare explaining one of our modern technologies.

The other thing I do is engage them right away in William Shakespeare, the man, the myth, the legend. They play through a digital escape room I created to learn about Shakespeare’s life and Elizabethan London. They play as Alex, a young aspiring actor who has to go on a quest to help find the missing script!

In what other ways do you make the teaching of Shakespeare fun and approachable?

I have an acting background, so no unit is complete for me without some acting. We do abridged versions, famous scenes rewritten as skits, or each act as a different genre or in a different time period. Like you, David, I don’t want students to feel like it’s too “stuffy” for them. The Globe was a lively place with audience participation (cheers and jeers!), pop culture references, and ad-libbing depending on the crowds or the sobriety of the actors. I want students to have permission to play with the text.

I also really love your comics, and so do my students! We use them throughout Romeo & Juliet and they’re always clamoring for more. I even had a student decide once that he wanted to draw his own comic of one of the scenes… I really regret that I never got a photo of his work for you. I think your work really helps students imagine how they can start to have some ownership of the text. In addition to artwork, they’ve also done genre rewrites (Much Ado as a tragedy) and even Shakespearean fanfiction! I love it all!

Awesome! I love hearing that I inspire students to create their own comics. Do you have anything new and exciting in the works? Like more escape rooms? Or something completely different?

Yes! I’m working on a big project now, which is an adventure game for struggling readers. Students will unlock the mystery of the small Western town of Burnbridge. Over the course of ten games, they’ll play as different protagonists who eventually work together to discover (and solve!) the town’s mysterious and dark history. We’ve got an amazing artist on board providing incredible game visuals, and the final version will be playable as a digital game. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!

Thank you so much for this conversation, David! It’s been great to chat about ways to make Shakespeare fun and engaging for all types of learners.

To read Danielle’s interview with me about how I use comics to teach Shakespeare, click here.

And if you’d like to get more great ELA lessons, why not click the box at the bottom of the page? You’ll get a free lesson on Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” plus great teaching ideas delivered in your inbox.

Learning should be fun! Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for fun resources like the ones you see below.

5 Reasons You Should Be Teaching More Poetry

January 22, 2019 By David Rickert Leave a Comment

I’m frequently asked by other people what books I teach. No one ever asks what poems I teach.

There’s no question that language arts curriculum centers around novels and our classroom can get pretty novel heavy if we’re not careful. We all know about the need for non-fiction. But let’s not forget poetry, which can be the genre that gets left out. We might do a few poems here or there that tie in thematically with what we’re reading, but we don’t give it room for serious study.

However, there are many reasons why we should include more poetry in the classroom. In fact, last year I eliminated a novel to make sure I had four good weeks throughout the year to study poetry. Here are five reasons why you should open up your lesson plans to include more poems.

Students can’t fake read them.

We all know fake reading is a problem in the language arts classroom. Give a kid a novel and he may decide to go online to avoid doing any reading. I have had students proudly say they have gone through high school without reading a single novel.

However, if you give a student a poem in class they have to read it. And then they have to analyze it and say something about it. They may decide not to read novels, but they can’t escape a poem that’s sitting on their desk right in front of them. A healthy diet of poems is a great way to ensure that students are building critical reading skills. Furthermore, I had a college English professor tell me that the best way to become a better reader is to become a better reader of poetry. (I’m not sure if that’s true, but I’m going with it.)

They can add diversity to your curriculum.

For a dual enrollment class that I teach, we are not allowed to have students buy books. Thus we are restricted to those works in the public domain, which cuts down on the diversity of works available- lots of dead white authors. Many of my students don’t see themselves reflected in those works.

However, because poetry from all times and places is readily accessible online it’s an easy way for me to add authors that reflect the diversity in my classroom. The modern poetry community is very diverse, and tackle a number of issues related to diversity as well (more on this below.)

Even in my freshman class where students are required to purchase their books, we still have a curriculum dominated by Shakespeare, Wiesel, and Steinbeck. I make sure in our poetry unit that we have a wide variety of authors from different races, cultures, and backgrounds to offset the lack of diversity in the works I’m required to teach.

Poetry allows you to address important social issues

Especially modern poetry. Check out Warsan Shire’s “Home.” Or Clint Smith’s “Counterfactual.” Or Maggie Smith’s “Good Bones.” These poets and their poetry speak to modern issues in ways relevant to our students.

These poets prove that poetry is more significant than it ever has been and has found a home in our short attention span world. Many of these poets deal with significant social issues.

Not to mention the emergence of spoken word poetry, which my students really love. Here’s the best list of spoken words poems I’ve come across. All are geared towards students, although all might not be appropriate for lower grades. There are even some spoken word competitions for high school students and you can watch poets that are the same age as your students. Maybe it will inspire them to enter a competition!

Poets have active lives outside the classroom in the worlds our students inhabit.

Many living poets have an active social media presence because that’s how they promote their work. They also use social media to promote other poets’ work. Following a particular poet’s Twitter feed can be an enlightening way to make an author come alive.

If students aren’t old enough to follow poets on Twitter or Instagram, you can bring up their feeds in the classroom and showcase how they engage with their followers and what causes they promote (many poets are politically active.)

Furthermore, most poets are easy to locate and don’t mind if you contact them if you have questions about their poetry. A lot of them are gracious enough to Skype with you and your students to discuss their work. Unlike novelists, who tend to work through agents, most poets can be contacted directly. And there’s nothing like knowing the person behind the work you’re reading.

Poems don’t require much prep time

This is a pretty flimsy reason, but it’s real. When I’m teaching a novel I spend a considerable amount of time rereading the novel in addition to planning. With poems, that time is cut down considerably. If you’re finding yourself a little burned out from too much planning because your class is novel heavy, plan a unit of poetry to give yourself a chance to catch your breath.

So how do you find poems to teach?

The worst thing you can do is go to Google and type in “poems about _____” because there is a lot of bad poetry out there. You’re better off looking for poetry at the Poetry Foundation or poets.org where they screen for quality. In fact, poets.org has a great section of poetry for teens collected by subject. This year I had my students vote on what subject they wanted to read poems about and chose the top two. I selected about six poems from each of the categories and away we went.

I also like to teach a unit on sonnets. Sonnets are great because they are a predictable format, easy to learn how to read properly, and have been written for years, so you can read sonnets from as far back as Shakespeare to as recent as Terence Hayes. As a final project I have my students do an analysis of a sonnet they have chosen themselves from the sonnet page on poets.org. (Don’t have them just use google to find poems or they’ll end up at sites like poemhunter.com where anyone can submit poetry. You want control over the process.)

I also like to teach several poet by a particular author. I have used the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson successfully. This year I’ve done a unit on Rita Dove and in another class we read Clint Smith III’s Counting Descent, both of which my students loved.

For more poetry resources, check out Teach Living Poets. Lots of great ideas there, and a terrific community. Also check out #TeachLivingPoets on Twitter.

For a fun activity with poetry that you can do anytime, check out You Call That A Poem? Reading Weird Poems In Class.

For a fun model text activity with poetry, check out Teaching Poetic Devices Using Impostor Poems.

Learning should be fun! Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store for fun resources like the ones you see below.