If your students struggle to use textual evidence in their answers, you’re not alone. Students are responding, but their answers are vague, unsupported, and go nowhere. You ask for analysis, and they give you generalizations. You push for more… and you get crickets. When this happens, you need a … [Read more...] about How to Teach Textual Evidence (With a Simple Classroom Activity)
How to Teach Literary Analysis in Middle & High School
Teaching literary analysis can feel like one of the most frustrating parts of English class. Students summarize the plot instead of analyzing it. They struggle to explain their thinking, and when asked to interpret a text, they often say, “I don’t know.” This leaves many an ELA teacher wondering how … [Read more...] about How to Teach Literary Analysis in Middle & High School
Early Finisher Activities for Middle and High School ELA
What do I do now? You’ve probably heard this question from both your strongest students and those who rush to finish, and leaving it unanswered can lead to boredom or off-task behavior. However, the default solution, “extra worksheets” or busywork, can feel like a punishment for working … [Read more...] about Early Finisher Activities for Middle and High School ELA
How to Use Brain Break Activities for Middle and High School
If your students’ eyes glaze over halfway through a lesson, it may be time for a quick brain break. Brain breaks for middle and high school students help reset attention, restore energy, and get students ready to learn again. The best ones take only a few minutes and still reinforce ELA skills. … [Read more...] about How to Use Brain Break Activities for Middle and High School
5 strategies to boost critical thinking & prevent AI use
What if there were some simple ways to get your students thinking and working, rather than turning to AI to do those things for them? And what if these strategies were ones that don't require a pricey program for detection or hours on a teacher's part? While it's unrealistic to think we can ever … [Read more...] about 5 strategies to boost critical thinking & prevent AI use
Teach thinking and writing in the age of AI
How do we stop students from using AI to do their writing? I know that many of you are super-frustrated with the number of students who are just clicking a button rather than engaging in meaningful thinking and learning. But AI is not going away, teacher friends, and we must find ways to deal with … [Read more...] about Teach thinking and writing in the age of AI
Activities that make grammar fun
When I was in high school, much of English class focused on grammar: diagramming sentences & doing exercise after exercise. We learned the grammar rules but, boy, was it dull. Students today aren't as patient when it comes to sitting through grammar lessons, and while I don't believe we need to … [Read more...] about Activities that make grammar fun
Prevent students from using AI in their writing
We thought we had a plagiarism problem before, but AI has taken it to new heights, hasn't it? It's now a never-ending task to try to detect whether students have actually written something themselves. If you want to stop students from using AI in their writing, you can try to educate them of the … [Read more...] about Prevent students from using AI in their writing
Get students to pay attention
If you've been pulling out your hair, trying to get students to pay attention in class, you are not alone. There are many obstacles that are in the way, and I've got some classroom-tested solutions that you can try. There are three big issues that tend to pull students' attention from the tasks … [Read more...] about Get students to pay attention
Should students use AI for a first draft?
If you're looking for a short answer, I say absolutely not. My not so humble opinion, I will add, does not come from research on the use of AI. Instead it comes from many decades of studying how students learn and think and write. And my experience tells me that students should NOT use AI for a … [Read more...] about Should students use AI for a first draft?
Color coding makes learning visible
I tried a lot of things during my years as a teacher. Some flopped and some worked so well they became a go-to strategy in my tool kit. One of these was color coding. It became clear it was a game-changer the very first time I used it, and I started to build it into as many activities as I could. … [Read more...] about Color coding makes learning visible
Teaching Allusions
Ok. So how do you teach allusions to students these days? How can you possibly teach them to recognize one when they just don't have the background knowledge to do so? In order to be truly adept at spotting an allusion in a text, a student needs a lot of knowledge about religion, mythology, … [Read more...] about Teaching Allusions