Blog Posts for Teaching English
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree: Connect Students to the World
How do you get American students to even begin to grasp life in a third world country? With Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Viviana Mazza,…
6 Ways You Should Be Scaffolding Student Writing
You’ve probably heard a million times that you should be using differentiated instruction in your classroom. If you’re in a stricter building, it may even be required that you document…
The Night Circus: Magic for Your Classroom Bookshelves
Not only does the book contain dueling, Victorian magicians, but Morgenstern’s details and descriptions make it feel like you are right there with them. This novel is not just a…
Mentor Texts and Sentences: Everything You Need to Know
Now, when I attend conferences and professional development, using mentor texts and sentences seems like a prerequisite for every quality unit. In this post, I hope to answer any and…
Is Revenge Worth it?: Long Way Down Review
Jason Reynolds is the king of engaging young adult literature. We all know that. But Long Way Down, in my opinion, really kicks it up a notch. In this Long…
How to Create the Classroom Library of Your Dreams
Everyone should have a classroom library, whether you teach English or another content area. Classroom libraries offer all kinds of benefits: increased student reading achievement, greater access to print material,…
5 Thrilling Books for High School Students who Hate Reading
How many times have you heard the phrase “I don’t read” in your classroom? For me, it happens every week during independent reading. For these reluctant readers, it is even…
Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: What You Need to Know
Have you been told that you need to start using a claim, evidence, and reasoning (or C-E-R) framework for writing in your classroom? Maybe you need to closely adhere to…
A Monster Calls: The Novel Your Students Will Crave
Beautiful. Heart-wrenching. Timeless. These are the words we often use to describe powerful classics. Well, they also describe Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls.