We sometimes wonder if taking the time to teach students to read the media is worth valuable classroom instructional time.  Check out this video, then look at some of the lessons on this site tagged “media arts”.  If you have time, view the slides on Viewing to add to your understanding of reading the media.  [...]

Viewing and Writing about Photos from Around the World   Preliminary Activity:  Direct students to a website similar to 24 Hours in Pictures .  Let them explore the most recent photos, choose three of their favorites and write one sentence response/reaction to those three. They can copy and paste the photo onto a Word document [...]

Teacher Resources You May Find Useful Click on any of the lines to be taken to explanations, assignments, and other examples of ways to enhance teaching and improve learning. GENERAL GRADING GUIDELINES General Grading Guidelines for Writing Assignments General Grading Guidelines – Slides BOOK REPORTS Collage on Common Book or Story – See Chapter 1 [...]

In the United States, March is Women’s History Month. You’ll find the 2013 National Women’s History Month Theme: Women Inspiring Innovation Through Imagination: Celebrating Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics can be inspiring and enlightening for both male and female students. What an opportune time to feature the writing of females and to encourage [...]

Most of us are required to teach both fiction and non-fiction reading and writing. One assignment that pulls to the two kinds of reading and writing together is based on that could attract attention, reaction, and/or response from literary characters. The strength of this assignment is the student choice within the confines of curriculum requirements, [...]

This post page will be devoted to sharing links to multi-genre projects I’ve designed and those my generous colleagues give me permission to add to the page. Author Project – Based on the writing of Nobel Laureates for Literature Living History -This integrated project is the result of the collaborative effort of Patricia Schulze and [...]

Midyear – A Good Time To Start Anew? Are you a new teacher? A veteran in the classroom? Or a student teacher just starting to plan for and work with students on your own? Wondering how to get off to a good start in the middle of the school year? Yes, the beginning of the [...]

Media literacy, the ability to understand and use a range of print and digital media in one of  the several COMMON CORE English Language Arts STANDARDS and these are skills critical for success in most walks of life.  Students will be become more effective communicators and critical viewers when they learn to be cautious consumers [...]

  Resources recommended by colleagues.  Enjoy!       From Nancy Patterson, associate professor, College of Education, Grand Valley State University, and coeditor of the Language Arts Journal of Michigan: “Don’t miss these lesson plans from ReadWriteThink: Exploring Reading Strategies by Creating a Soundtrack and  A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words: From Image to Detailed [...]

One way to introduce students to the power of persuasion and to show them evidence of logical fallacies is to have them analyze advertisements in print and digital media.  You can have students write and post their analysis or present their findings in a speech using visual aids.  You may find paying attention to color [...]