assessment – Teaching English Language Arts

Invite Students to Connect Literature and Current Events

August 23, 2022August 24, 2022 by admin

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

Nine Yardsticks for Deeper Reading

October 16, 2021October 16, 2021 by admin

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Readings: Responding Deeply While the Nine Yardsticks of Value originally were written for use in evaluating fictional works, they can be adapted for deeper reading of more kinds of writing. Take a look below, then download Responding to Reading for use in your classroom to aid students in reaching Common…

Planning for Focused Units

July 18, 2019July 27, 2019 by admin

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Get Off to a Good Start Consider thematic units that may be drawn from Essential Questions. Once you decide on themes or essential questions for the first unit or marking period, you could ask the students to choose the themes/questions for the subsequent ones. Almost any piece of fiction/non-fiction can be adapted…

AUTHOR PROJECT: Reading and Research

April 26, 2019April 26, 2019 by admin

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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…

Ignite Writing by Patterning

April 4, 2019April 29, 2020 by admin

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“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…

COLORS, ARRANGEMENT AND STORIES

January 22, 2019February 12, 2019 by admin

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Critical Thinking in Colors and Shapes Colors and arrangements can be used evoke different moods, different personalities, and different feelings. Spend at least five minutes looking closely at this painting, Nine Colors by Ellsworth Kelly. 1. What do you notice about the colors and arrangement of these circles on a…

Writing to Learn in Content Areas

January 15, 2019February 11, 2019 by admin

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WRITING TO LEARN Across Content Areas Now that more schools are considering ways to teach and utilize literacy tools to enhance instruction and increase learning across the content areas, many English Language Arts educators are being viewed as the repository for such strategies. Remember, while schools are implementing the Common…

Advertisement Analysis Assignment

October 28, 2018April 29, 2020 by admin

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Persuasion - Advertisements 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…

Language Arts Resources

September 7, 2018April 28, 2020 by admin

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General Overview of ELA Resources Welcome to my website. Click on any of the lines to sample explanations, assignments, and other resources to enhance teaching and improve learning. GENERAL GRADING GUIDELINES General Grading Guidelines for Written Assignments General Grading Guidelines - SLIDES BOOK REPORTS Collage on Common Book or Story…

Prep for Semester Exam

March 12, 2018March 12, 2019 by admin

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Prepare Now to Assess Begin now and ensure that your students will be ready to do well on the semester exams. 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…

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