Ideas from the Blog

I have always decorated my classroom. I want it to be homey and a place that is welcoming and somewhat comfy for my students. But my past decorating meant hanging cool posters, adding a reading lamp or two, and buying some plants to replace the ones I killed the year before. I've also arranged and … [Read more...] about Flexible Seating, Pinterest Envy, and Common Sense

I'm only two weeks in to my summer vacation, and already, my brain is full of ideas for next year. However, before I start changing and improving, it's important for me to reflect on the things that worked last year, whether they made the class run smoothly or they created a lightbulb moment … [Read more...] about PLANNING FOR BACK TO SCHOOL: MY FAVES FROM LAST YEAR (Part one)

Would you love to try reading or writing workshop in your secondary classroom, but don't because you aren't quite sure how to run one?I know -- because I've been there -- that one of the reasons secondary teachers shy away from a workshop approach is because it's outside of their comfort zone. … [Read more...] about Managing Workshop with Stations

There's nothing quite like summer vacation for teachers. After ten months of hard work and dedication to our students, we get two months to rest and recharge. We actually have time to do things that we can't do during the school year, things that we really should do all of the time.We can fall … [Read more...] about Summer Break: Using The Gift of Time

Our curriculum demands that our students  write for a range of tasks, purposes and audiences. We also want them to write so they can think things through, find their voice, and express themselves. The more they write, the better they will become at all of these things; therefore, we need to … [Read more...] about Building Writing Stamina and Skills

Literary analysis is hard, and writing about it is even harder. I teach IB and Pre-IB and even these (mostly) keen and able students struggle to write effective analysis that flows from one idea to the next. I've written before about how I scaffold the steps they need to analyze . In that post, I … [Read more...] about Engaging Your Students in Literary Analysis

Even if you'd love to go paperless, your school might not be there yet. Unless each student has access to technology all the time, you just can't make that environmental jump. However, while you're waiting and hoping for the day when your school does go paperless, there are several things you can do … [Read more...] about Not Ready to Go Paperless? Start with Less Paper!

If you ask me, it's always a good time to celebrate The Bard, but on April 23rd, we recognize both his birth and the incredible contribution he made to the English language. Now I know that not everyone thinks we should still be studying his work in 21st century classrooms, but I'm not one of those … [Read more...] about Celebrating Shakespeare

Do your students scream with glee when you are introducing poetry? I didn't think so. If your kids are like mine, they see poetry as a labyrinth they have to muddle their way through. At the very least, they think of it as pure drudgery. It doesn't have to be that way, especially if you begin … [Read more...] about Introducing Poetry

Getting students to actually read is a serious issue in secondary classrooms when the required reading is longer and can't be completed in class. There are not enough hours in the semester to get it all done as it is, and besides, kids read at such vastly different rates that some are finished long … [Read more...] about Getting Your Students to Actually Read

Literary analysis is not easy, not for our students and not even for us. It's a process that requires the reader to dive deeply into the text. It's one that requires a great deal of thought. And it's also one that took us  (the so-called experts) years to master -- if we ever really did. That's why … [Read more...] about Scaffolding Literary Analysis