Planning for Efficient Student Feedback on Speech Presentation Days (See variety of feedback form below) To help student focus on various aspects of public speaking by classmates, for each round of speeches, I ask students to complete one section of our speech check list each day they are not speaking. Once the assignment is given, [...]

You can begin now and ensure that your students will be ready to do well on the semester exam.   First, write in your own words specifically what plan to measure.  Consider these ideas.   (1) How well students recall what you’ve taught about ______________. (2) How well students can use vocabulary. (which?) (3) How [...]

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 [...]

    Structured Discussions are a good way to get students to talk about literature and stay on topic.  Attached is an adaptation of the literature circle roles described by Harvey Daniels. This Literature Circle Discussion Guide is easily modified to accommodate students in different grades and for a range of readings.  

Patterning is a great way to have students practice what they learn about language and literature. As you view this set of workshop slides, you’ll find lots of ideas you can incorporate into your lessons to help students understand better how stories, poetry, and articles are structured and how to use what they’ve learned to enhance [...]

Perhaps, because so many elementary and middle school teachers are female, the books on our standard reading lists tend to appeal more to students of that same gender.  Not sure if that’s the case, but admittedly teachers of young men in all grades recognize that our male students often are reluctant or resistant  to reading the [...]

A significant component of the new Common Core Standards is the reading non-fiction informational texts across the curriculum.  Here are ideas to get you started incorporating non-fiction to support and expand your lessons in English Language Arts.  Use these books to help establish context for both fiction and non-fiction readings you plan to assign and [...]

End of the School Year – PICTURE BOOKS…Why not? In many schools, May is the winding down month of the school year.  Depending on where you are in the country, you may be assigning your final big project for which your students will demonstrate the breadth and depth of learning for the school year. You [...]

Encouraging students to read independently is one thing; keeping records and grading their efforts is another.  Here’s a idea to help reduce the time spent doing the latter.  Assign the students to keep their own records and work towards a grade of their choice!  You can reduce student cheating by making independent reading a minor [...]

 Looking for a poem to evoke conversation and teach patterning?                              “Dayrbeak in Alabama” by Langston Hughes is an excellent poem for any grade because it subtly addresses current social and political issues of diversity, it demonstrates the use of similes and an extended metaphor, and appeals to the senses in a way that students of all [...]