The one Twain text your students need to read for the 2024 election year. Use this lesson immediately! Follow the links for FREE downloads! “Corn Pone Opinions”: Written in 1901 and published posthumously in 1923 by Robert Bigelow Paine in Europe and Elsewhere. Relevance: Peer Pressure; Critical Thinking; Political Messaging and Decisions; Fashion Trends; AlgorithmsContinue Reading
In-class Activities
Quick and Easy Independent Reading Activity Solutions for Tired Teachers
Are you feeling May Tired Teacher Vibes and it’s only January? I’m right there with you–with a solution. Actually, I have two solutions in the form of independent reading activities, aka creative book report ideas that lower your workload but still meet standards. This blog post will NOTE: If you are a super tired superContinue Reading
Why Does Daisy Stay? How to Find Relationship Red Flags in The Great Gatsby
Why does Daisy stay? That’s the question students ask every year when we study The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s classic novel presents a valuable opportunity to educate students about the truth concerning abusive and toxic relationships. When they ask why does Daisy stay, they are really asking why anyone stays. They might be asking why theirContinue Reading
How to Use Hexagonal Thinking in the ELA Classroom
Hexagonal thinking has been around for a bit. It definitely engages students, and right now, that’s half the battle, right? Hexagonal thinking is more than engaging, however, when used effectively. Here are three effective strategies to teach argument using hexagonal thinking. (Plus, a free hexagon template download.) Brainstorming with Hexagonal Thinking: Brainstorming is underused and under-appreciated.Continue Reading
Three Easy and Effective Games for the ELA Classroom
Obstacles to Learning for $400, please. Answer: Boredom Question: What problem rivals cell phones as the biggest distraction in the classroom? More and more, teachers are called up to be entertainers and motivators while still maintaining effective educational practices. In our instant-gratification fueled world, I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon. So what do weContinue Reading
BINGO! Plus 3 More Tips for Effective Class Discussion
We’ve all had those classes we struggle to connect with. This past year was sometimes harder than usual. The masks, the switched-off cameras, the lackluster motivation, the crushing anxiety all contributed. As teachers, though, our job is to innovate ways to work through and break through. Class discussion is one path to create connections andContinue Reading
Using Google Slides to Create Great (Gatsby) Dialectical Journals
For readers, writers, and lovers of words, a dialectical journal is a great idea. We like nothing more than to muse about what moves us. For non-readers and reluctant writers, nothing could be worse. Yet, teachers are still tasked with the obligation to teach students to think about, connect to, and write about the booksContinue Reading
How Do We Make Hawthorne Accessible to Teen Readers?
Using Innovation on Demand to Assess Understanding of Texts When trying to create connections for students to classic literature, we must consider their reasons for pushback. What are the reasons students dislike the classics or at least aren’t too terribly excited about studying them? I’ve heard many. Classics are boring or they’re too hard. StudentsContinue Reading
