Do you use picture books in the secondary classroom? My librarian calls these books “everybody books” and with good reason. After I read The Book Whisperer, I knew that I…
Today, I’m reflecting on the larger writing process that I teach with freshmen and sophomores. I’ve realized that within my writing units, I primarily teach five mini-writing lessons. I teach…
Grammar lessons for the second quarter are here! Weeks 10-18 are below. I’ve taught at numerous schools, and most freshmen need a review of basic grammar concepts. In a previous post,…
Looking for a dynamite vocabulary and grammar lesson? Try these ten adjectives with the following lesson ideas. In this blog post, I (selfishly) sat down and thought of my ten…
Recently, I’ve spiced up literature lessons with infographics. I love infographics. They are a modern approach to outlines, memes, and other “clickable” content. My students are familiar with infographics, and…
Looking for digital guidelines for the secondary classroom? I can maybe, sorta, try to help you. Stay with me. I will explain why I am still in the process of…
Books for First Chapter Friday? These ten books worked well because their first chapters are awesome. Teachers ask me about how I manage First Chapter Friday, and I’ve written extensively…
We all want a literacy-rich secondary classroom. How can we get there? Literacy includes so much more than reading and writing that defining and articulating that one word can be…
Teaching verbs with older students? Verbs are powerful tools in student writing and in their literature! Verbs: the backbone of sentences, the fun part of sentences, the words connected to…
If you, a student of yours, or a child of yours is completing the transition to high school, I have a few ideas. Perhaps you stumbled on this blog post…
