Sensitivity to Holidays
Writing About the Holidays The holiday season, for many, extends from November through February. Families will be celebrating Diwali, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the New Year at various times during these months. Writing about holidays is a wonderful way to share cultures in words, pictures, and music. Yes, holidays also…
Protected: Music Lyrics and History
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Who Are You? Who Do You Admire?
Creating an ACROSTIC POEM Spring often is a season we begin thinking about end of school year celebrations honoring students and colleagues, and summer events for family and friends. One formula poem that elicits delight and gratitude is the simple acrostic. This also makes for an engaging start of the…
High Interest Summative Assignment
What We Learned! Collage OR Slide Assignment The Task: As a review of the study of literature this school year, you will be working with a group of your peers to present your impressions of ways your author uses various elements of the narrative: point of view,setting, characterization, conflict, symbolism…
Prompts for Writing Poetry and More
WRITING PROMPTS AND EXAMPLES My friend, Sarah J. Donovan, offered a POEM A DAY project in April 2019 and consented to share the links with you through me. See the kinds of prompts on the chart below, click on the chart to go to the prompts of your choice. Enjoy…
AUTHOR PROJECT: Reading and Research
Writing about Literary Favorites After introducing students to the Nine Yardsticks of Value, a good way to determine how well they understand the concepts and can apply them to an independent project, is to assign this author project. Each year, I'd choose to read one of the Nobel Laureates who…
Rapping with Romeo
TIMELESS AND TIMELY Sarah J. Donovan invited me to post prompts to celebrate APRIL POETRY MONTH. Here's one from her website: on ETHICAL ELA. INSPIRATION Many of you who accepted this “Poem A Day” invitation have read plays by William Shakespeare and may even have a favorite. One of my…
Converting Prose to Poetry and Patterning Poems A challenging but rewarding practice activity for processing reading and writing poetry is transliteration – the act of converting from one genre to another. (Young teens love knowing and using such sophisticated words.) You could give this assignment after reading together Gordon Park’s…
Ignite Writing by Patterning
“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 we invite students to pattern the writing they read. Students soon learn that close reading, analysis and imitation unleash bursts…
Shakespeare’s Birthday
Happy 455th Birthday, Will! April 23rd is the day many celebrate the birth of William Shakespeare, one of the more widely read dramatists of all times.This year is his 455th! Prepare your students to understand Elizabethan society a little better. Have a go with your students and have them take…