Students should not be surprised about what they are expected to know and be able to do on an exam.  As you prepare the  summative assessment or final exam for your course consider ways you can help your students review effectively and then use exam time efficiently. The outline below is designed to guide the [...]

Reading and Writing a Literary Critique Use the Nine Yardsticks of Value Chart to show how you rate the autobiographical novel Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao. Also, carefully read the following critique and use the chart to indicate what you believe to be the values of the author, “Monkey Bridge,” Cao has a distinctive style [...]

April 22  is Earth Day as proclaimed by the United Nations in 2009.  Here’s an English Language Arts  activity you can incorporate into your lessons that will raise awareness of some of the issues important to humankind and especially to Michael Jackson as expressed in his “Earth Song“.  Focusing on lyrics fits in nicely with [...]

Propaganda, Persuasion and Play-writing Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee Adapted from McDougal Littell Conversation: Lessons of History Includes links to Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Download Inherit the Wind Lessons  Though based on the famous Scopes “Monkey Trail” where William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow clashed over a [...]

Here are samples of the Six Traits © Rubrics for Writing that has been customized to highlight specific requirements for specific assignments. When using the General Grading Guidelines for Writing, it’s important to show students what is required to earn each letter grade. Customizing the familiar rubric makes those requirements clear.  Students can self-check before [...]

I love to share ideas from others that I wish I’d thought of myself.  Here’s one from Joe Bellacero who writes: I know that, as an English teacher, I wanted my students to read things outside of class so we could spend our time in class in more fruitful discussion and analysis. One of my [...]

“There’s nothing new under the sun!” True, but students can be inspired by the old to do something new for themselves. Sounds weird, but that’s exactly what can occur when students we invite to pattern the writing they read.  Students soon learn that close reading, analysis and imitation unleash bursts of creativity that lead to [...]

I saw this on a post the other day and thought you’d be interested in an in-class activity to get students to think about the power of a few words as well as the structure of a story. I could see this an effective way to practice vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, too.  One could even [...]

Check out this discussion thread on English Companion Ning which includes Carol S’s distinction, as well as a list of quality resources to teach this key kind of writing and meet Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. Written by Carol  S Argue = change what the readers THINK Persuade = change what the readers [...]

An approach proven successful for me has taken several years to develop.  But it does seem to encourage students to do their best work the first time.  This approach includes incremental grading, allotting in-class time for peer responses to second and third drafts, including the class general grading guideline and a specific grading rubric for [...]