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Black History Month: Fits, Photos, and Happily Ever Afters
Back when I taught at Southwest High School in San Antonio, Sharri Peterson, who dubbed herself my work wife, was my school spirit partner. Whenever...
Whether teaching literature or rhetoric, close reading is an essential and often difficult skill to teach. This note-taking system, which is a modification of the Cornell note system, helps students slow down and examine a text closely through a structured approach that requires them to summarize details and analyze meaning through the inclusion of purpose statements.
Interview with a Character (ELA Activity)
There are so many more interesting methods to writing a character analysis than writing an analysis paragraph. Oftentimes, English or language arts...
Interactive Plot Map
Carmel McDonald walks you through how she walks her middle school ELA students through narrative structure with an interactive plot map. Download her...
Real to Reel: Textual Evidence
Code-switching is changing something about yourself to fit a certain situation or audience. The way you might talk to your friends versus talking to...
ELA Skills Depend on the Development of Cognitive Processes
The goals of ELA instruction in middle and high school range from developing basic reading comprehension and writing skills to reading and writing...
Summer Adventure Mini Lesson: You Have a Photo—and a Story
Every time I open up Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, I’m given the option to post to stories or urged to open the stories of others. Pictures that...
Myth with a Side of Mashed Potatoes
Like most kids ushered though elementary school in the days when the Charlie Brown holiday specials aired on television once a year and if you missed...
Getting Nothing for Someone
Just last week, my oldest son asked me what I wanted for Christmas. My answer? Nothing.
10 YA Reads for Summer
I just finished my tenth year teaching high school English and let me tell you, teens like to read… well, most of them. Some of you might be doubting...
The Gift of Reading: Of Authors, Words, and Magic
For most of the past year and half, I have spent most of my waking hours querying or obsessing over querying literary agents for my young adult novel
Women's History Month: I Am Malala
In recent months, the Taliban in the Middle East has taken over once again after American troops removed themselves. The first person I thought of...
#Neveragain—No, Really
From San Antonio, you take I-35 S until you hit Hwy. 90W just outside of the city limits. You’ll then hit Castroville, which everyone pronounces...