High school literature essential questions can shape whatever stories you teach. Many of us English teachers love to read and partially teach language arts because books have saved us in…
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Dystopian Lit Circles for High School English
Dystopian lit circles for high school English can add variety and fun to literature lessons. If you are organizing lit circles around dystopian literature, I’ve included some ideas below. Dystopian…
Classroom Library Ideas: Adding Engagement with Books
The following classroom library ideas will encourage engagement with your books and build a community of readers. As a high school ELA teacher, you can have a classroom library—hundreds of…
Teaching Color Psychology with Literature
Teaching color psychology is a quick add-on to literature lessons. In this post, I’ll provide some links and ideas to for analyzing colors with students. Years ago when I taught…
High School Lit Circles
Do you know where to start with organizing and planning high school lit circles? Years ago, I wrote about my experimentation with independent reading and class novels. I wrote that…
Why I’m Tired of Teaching To Kill A Mockingbird
I’m tired of teaching “To Kill A Mockingbird.” The reasons why are actually simple. The reasons and explanations for ditching To Kill A Mockingbird are plentiful. In this post, I…
Modern Short Stories for High School English
What modern short stories for high school English classes can you teach? Add these modern and diverse voices to your curriculum. High school short stories can reflect our students’ lives. …
Share Literature With Students: Show Your Love
Share literature with students to increase involvement with books and to build classroom community. Part of being an English teacher is allowing your students to witness you nerd out literature,…
12 Ways to Build Literacy in the Secondary Classroom
12 Ways to Build Literacy in the Secondary Classroom: secondary teachers share ideas for literacy in high school! I love books. Love, love reading. I collect books and decorate with…
Increase Classroom Library Engagement
Secondary teachers: how can you increase classroom library engagement? You can change student reading habits with an engaged classroom library. I returned to teaching in 2015. For six years, I…