I have such mixed emotions about spring this year. I’ve been spoiled most of my teaching career by using all 8+ of our built-in snow days, but we’ve had such an abnormally mild winter here in East Tennessee, that I keep looking for white snow instead of yellow daffodils. Sigh. I’m hoping that sharing these ELA spring activities will put me into the spring spirit. 😀 🌸🌞 This post contains ... Read More about ELA Spring Activities for Middle School and High School
Teaching The Canterbury Tales: Fun, Real-World Driven Lessons for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
I absolutely love teaching The Canterbury Tales, and when I do it right, I even make my students love it a little too. ;) I've tried many different activities to teach Chaucer's classic throughout the years, so I wanted to list the very best strategies for engaging students with this fun tale. You can find all of my Canterbury Tales activities, handouts, prompts, and projects in my Canterbury ... Read More about Teaching The Canterbury Tales: Fun, Real-World Driven Lessons for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
Real-World Beowulf Essay Topic: A Write Like This inspired prompt that students actually enjoy
This week I had a conversation that I've never had before. It made me want to smile. Student: What tone should I use for this Beowulf essay? Me: What do you mean? Student: You know, how should I word it? What are you looking for? Me: Let's look at your mentor articles. How did these authors go about it? This one had more of a conversational tone and this one had more of a formal tone, so which ... Read More about Real-World Beowulf Essay Topic: A Write Like This inspired prompt that students actually enjoy
How to Liven Up Your Socratic Seminar and Get Students Talking
One of my favorite things about being an English teacher is hearing my students have deep discussions about literature. I mean half of the people I know go to book clubs for fun, so how awesome is it that I get paid to do this!? …sans wine 😉 The value of Socratic Seminars is tremendous, but just like with anything, hosting them the same way every time can become mundane for you and your ... Read More about How to Liven Up Your Socratic Seminar and Get Students Talking
How to Create a Digital Blackout Poem in PowerPoint or OneNote
(Scroll Down for OneNote Directions!) My tutorial on how to create a digital blackout poem using Google Slides has been a hit, so I wanted to give Microsoft users some love as well. :) When I design my digital lessons, I always make them Google Classroom, Microsoft, and LMS compatible so no matter which platform your school is using, you can enjoy these paper free options! For example, I love ... Read More about How to Create a Digital Blackout Poem in PowerPoint or OneNote
How to Create a Blackout Poem Using Google Slides
There's a certain zen quality to creating traditional blackout poems...that is until in your Sharpie induced brain fog, you accidently mark over a word you needed then have to start all over. ;) The zen before the breakdown, ha I love assigning blackout poems when we read challenging texts. I feel that it gives students a fun and effective way of finding main points, revealing author's craft, ... Read More about How to Create a Blackout Poem Using Google Slides
