I begin class by with a short story. An extremely short story, in fact —it’s called “The Birthday Party” and it’s only three paragraphs long. Reading it with a class is an opportunity to see what my students do when they are asked to do a close read. We’ve trained
Viewing literature represented in different art forms teaches students critical thinking and viewing skills.
Annotation is a valuable skill, but what should students actually be doing when they annotate?
Every high school student will read a Shakespeare play at some point. And how teachers approach Shakespeare initially will make or break that relationship with the Bard. Think about Romeo and Juliet. The play opens with a fight scene in which a lot of the action is implied, there are a bunch
How many of your students have gone to see a play? I’m guessing many of them have seen a school production. Some might have seen a professional production (and by the way, when I ask my students musicals don’t count.) But the reality is students are much more likely to
These 9 creative activities will get students interacting with drama in fun and meaningful ways. And they work with almost any play.
When students design their own assessments, they get a tremendous amount of ownership over their learning. They can utilize their own interests and passions to demonstrate their understanding of concepts. Engagement goes up, and they develop some really creative ideas. For example, I have had students do final projects on
We all know the benefit of surrounding ourselves with others whom we can ask for advice. I’m fortunate to work with a bunch of English teachers who are terrific sounding boards for ideas. But it’s also good to take advantage of those who don’t work in my building. I’ve been
My students are currently reading books that they have selected from a fairly lengthy list of titles that appear on the AP exam on Question 3. Student choice is powerful: when students are able to select the texts they want to read, they are more invested in what they are
This year I was finally able to do something I have always wanted to do: bring a live author into my classroom. This is not something easy to pull off, especially in the secondary world. How do you find an author, especially one that is willing to give up their
