In a previous post I discussed using model texts like short stories, poems, and non-fiction as model texts for writing suspenseful stories. In this post I’ll address using suspenseful story writing to teach literary devices. In the final post I will cover how we write the story. Before that, however, here’s a
Students love to write suspenseful stories, especially around Halloween. They can be a fun diversion in a secondary Language Arts classroom which can sometimes be dominated by essays. But if done properly, they can also teach students a great deal about how stories are constructed using suspense and imagery to
In my English classes I’m always looking for assessments that aren’t essays. Here’s why: Our district is really big on alternative assessments and allowing students more choice in how they display knowledge I like finding new ways for students to display their understanding. I don’t need another stack of essay
We all want students to know how to annotate and automatically do it when they are handed a piece of literature. The trouble is, for most students annotation is something they do for the teacher, and not for themselves. They don’t take any ownership of the process and don’t see
If you’re a high school English teacher – especially of the AP variety – it’s easy to get smug about books. We believe that some books are better than others and that every student should believe that Hemingway is a better author than Sparks or Rowling. We may not believe
This summer I had two wonderful experiences reading books. The first was reading War and Peace, which took me the better part of the summer, but was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I have ever had. The second was The Importance of Being Earnest, which I read in an afternoon, laughing
I have taught Romeo and Juliet so many times in my career that I don’t have to read it anymore to teach it (isn’t that a great place to be?) However, there’s always something new to discover in the play. For instance, I read recently that all the good stuff
I recently did a post about what classroom teachers could learn from the way that yoga teachers run their class. Here are some more lessons that come from my experience doing a ton of yoga over the summer. (I have to give a shout out to Yoga on High, which
There is a lot of information out there about what to do on the first day of school. But what should you do on the second day of school to get students engaged in the subject matter of English classes? In previous posts I did a post on using
