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
Strategies for teaching theme
As far as I'm concerned, most roads lead to theme in a middle or high school English classroom. Yes, we teach students about many literary elements, but we do so to help them understand the life lessons that writers want to get across. We also teach them to have a message in their own writing, … [Read more...] about Strategies for teaching theme
Three ways to teach students to make inferences
I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I used to love teaching students to make inferences. Learning to analyze an author's purpose is a key skill for middle and high school English students, but many of them see it as a mysterious process that's hard to do. That's why I loved teaching it … [Read more...] about Three ways to teach students to make inferences
Literary Analysis with Quotable Quickies
Literary analysis is difficult for most students, and I believe it's mostly because they get overwhelmed with the process. That's why I do my best to scaffold the steps they need for success. Today, I'd like to share one of my favorite (and most successful) strategies: literary analysis with … [Read more...] about Literary Analysis with Quotable Quickies
Active Learning Strategies: The Write-Around
One of the my favorite active learning strategies is the write-around. It's quick and easy to use, and it is perfect for building the skills that students need for analysis. Let me show you how and why it works. Start with an open-ended question A successful write-around starts with a question … [Read more...] about Active Learning Strategies: The Write-Around
Scaffolding the process of literary analysis
Here's a quick tip for you that will help your students improve their ability to analyze and write about text. The best part is that you will be scaffolding the process of literary analysis with assignments that take minutes to grade! Sound good? Read on! I kid you not when I say that I spent … [Read more...] about Scaffolding the process of literary analysis
Hexagonal thinking activities in English class
I'm always looking for ways to get students engaged in critical thinking and higher order discussions. I've tried a lot of things over the years, and hexagonal thinking has emerged as a favourite for me and my students. Read on to find out how to use hexagonal thinking activities in English … [Read more...] about Hexagonal thinking activities in English class
Teaching students to analyze text
Are you wondering how to teach students to analyze text? I'm a huge believer in the power of the habit. The more a person practices something, the more it gets embedded in the brain. That's why I put a lot of energy into building the habit of using the right terms when I'm teaching students to … [Read more...] about Teaching students to analyze text
Making Text to Text Connections
Whenever I start a new text, I always begin with a pre-reading exercise that gets students engaged in the ideas we will explore in whatever it is we are about to read. I wrote about this process before, on this post, but now I'd like to tell you about how and why I tweaked it for making text to text … [Read more...] about Making Text to Text Connections
A Visible Thinking Activity for Analyzing Text
In my thirty year career, the thing I've found the hardest to get kids to truly understand, is how to do a literary analysis. Many of them can do one on a surface level, but most struggle to show a true understanding. I've been tweaking lessons for years, and the most success has come from using a … [Read more...] about A Visible Thinking Activity for Analyzing Text
One-Sliders for Analyzing Text
Someone, somewhere, once said that necessity is the mother of invention. That is an adage we had to lean into - hard - in 2020. It was a year that challenged us in so many ways as we desperately tried to transfer what we know about good teaching from the classroom to the screen. One way I did that … [Read more...] about One-Sliders for Analyzing Text
3 Visible Thinking Activities
Often, the most successful activities in my classroom are those where we make student thinking visible. Deeper learning happens when I pull back the curtain on the process students need to follow, so they can clearly see what needs to be done. And because they have a clearer idea of how to do … [Read more...] about 3 Visible Thinking Activities