“It is never too late to be wise.” “Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself.” “Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.” “AllContinue reading “Friday Quotes for Introducing a text from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe”
Monthly Archives: January 2020
Titanic-A Night To Remember – Teaching descriptive language, word choice, and other objectives
A Night to Remember is a great text to add to a paired-text group for focusing on objectives as the fiction piece added to a non-fiction account of the same event. Whether using an excerpt or entire novel, here a few pieces in the book to get you started.Word choice taken from Chapter 2 ofContinue reading “Titanic-A Night To Remember – Teaching descriptive language, word choice, and other objectives”
“What can money do to a person?” paired-text unit-Literature Spotlight
“Gold” by Imagine Dragons” lyrics Essential Questions “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost “King Midas” myth “Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs “Phaethon” Greek myth “Jack in the Beanstalk” fairy tale Let’s take the song lyrics from “Gold” by Imagine Dragons to introduce a “What can money do to a person?” paired-text unit with theContinue reading ““What can money do to a person?” paired-text unit-Literature Spotlight”
Wednesday Classroom Tech Tip-Academic Survey Ideas
Surveys in the classroom are a best kept secret. Yes, tons use them for surveying in a science fair project or who prefers pepperoni to cheese pizza, but what are other ideas. Bell-ringer survey’s of one question preparing them for the lesson. Essential question survey before a unit. Prior knowledge surveys before a lesson orContinue reading “Wednesday Classroom Tech Tip-Academic Survey Ideas”
Small Group “Switch-a-roo” day-Gathering several related topic short stories for a round robin quick study-Dystopian
Students like the Dystopia craze. They like the idea of standing up for what you believe in. They like the underdog getting to go at the big wigs. Then even like when the odds are against them and losing, then winning, then doing it over again. Anything’s possible. Impossible odds. Oh, the possibilities. Try puttingContinue reading “Small Group “Switch-a-roo” day-Gathering several related topic short stories for a round robin quick study-Dystopian”
Monday Literature spotlight- Emily Dickinson Poetry Unit
“I’m Nobody! Who are you?” “Hope is a thing with feathers” “We grow accustomed to the Dark–“ “We never know how high we are” “The moon is distant from the sea–“ Fun intro: Between the five poems and any others by Dickinson it is important to note that playing the song “Amazing Grace” in the background will lineContinue reading “Monday Literature spotlight- Emily Dickinson Poetry Unit”
Reader’s Theater for ELA Classroom
Reader’s Theater is a great ELA tool for all grades in the classroom. It can be used for Social studies and science as well for a great reteach, enrichment, or reinforcement of real life experiences with the concept being taught. One example includes one well used in the middle school classroom is “Tell-Tale Heart” from EdgarContinue reading “Reader’s Theater for ELA Classroom”
Neverending Story-Motivating students to free write with Neverending Story and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg Year-Long Project DOK 2 and 3
Over the years, freewriting has been a must have in the classroom to foster creativity and love of writing, but it has the possibility to do much more. Here is just one idea of how to foster the creativity and incorporate higher order objectives into what I call the Neverending Story. Yes, it is based off theContinue reading “Neverending Story-Motivating students to free write with Neverending Story and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg Year-Long Project DOK 2 and 3”
Teaching poetry with sound devices in middle school and high school
Let’s take a few poems to focus on and will summarize at the end. Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a Thing With Feathers”Langson Hughes’ “Wide River Blues”Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Bells”Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky”Komunyakaa’s Slam, Dunk, and Hook” 1. Starting with Dickinson is a motivator for the students. When they find out you can sing any Emily Dickinson poem toContinue reading “Teaching poetry with sound devices in middle school and high school”
Star Wars Quotes to introduce a lesson-Literature Quotes Friday
The students are enthralled with Star Wars as much as they were thirty years ago. So take what interests them and apply it to life lessons from the texts you teach. The next time they watch an episode of Mandalorian or Rey and Finn in the Skywalker movie, they will make connections they might notContinue reading “Star Wars Quotes to introduce a lesson-Literature Quotes Friday”
ELA On The Move 