Normally by the last month of the school year, I end the day by crawling in the corner, lying in the fetal position, and sucking my thumb for a few hours. The end of last school year went much better because I created this … [Read more...]
Common Core Lesson Plan: Easy Research Assignment Using Google Docs
September 1, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Lessons of the Day: How to Write a Paragraph
August 27, 2014 By Leave a Comment
You swore in your sadness/wrath that you would help your students learn the valuable skill of paragraph writing. Now's the time to make good on that promise. You'll find excellent lesson plans on paragraph writing linked at … [Read more...]
Five Things Teachers Can Do to Reduce Stress
August 14, 2014 By 3 Comments
I rolled out of bed this morning, looked at the calendar, did a little math, and wept. School starts in a week. My initial reaction was to return to bed and suck my thumb while lying in the fetal position. That only helps … [Read more...]
Lesson of the Day: Literary Terms Quizzes for Romeo and Juliet
August 12, 2014 By Leave a Comment
While you were lounging by the pool this summer, I was writing Romeo and Juliet quizzes while lounging by the pool. These Romeo and Juliet literary terms quizzes can be found on the miracle we call the Internet. They're … [Read more...]
Lesson of the Day: Using Literary Quotations for Writing Assignments
June 23, 2014 By Leave a Comment
A couple posts ago, I shared a simple and useful writing assignment involving thematic quotations, not necessarily connected to literature. Let's take a look at an assignment using quotes from specific pieces of … [Read more...]
Lesson of the Day: Proofreading and Editing
June 11, 2014 By Leave a Comment
I like Nathaniel Hawthorne. I really do. But for some reason, I posted two Nathaniel Hawthorne short story study guides and gave credit to Edgar Allan Poe for writing them. Thanks to savvy readers, those errors were brought … [Read more...]
Another Quick ELA Common Core Writing Assignment
June 7, 2014 By Leave a Comment
As I write, I'm basking in the joy that is the beginning of summer vacation, but that's not gonna stop me from helping out my pathetic poor colleagues who are teaching summer school. Of course, you may have come across this … [Read more...]
Lesson of the Day: The Great Depression and Of Mice and Men Research
April 2, 2014 By Leave a Comment
For an English teacher, there are few things more annoying and soul-breaking than assigning and working on and grading research papers written by 9th graders. I say this only because I was once rushed to the hospital with … [Read more...]
Lesson of the Day: A Great Observational Experience Using Poetry
March 24, 2014 By Leave a Comment
So the big wigs came to my school last week and I didn't want to embarrass the school, get my administrator in trouble, and end up teaching from a cart next year, so I went to one of my favorite lessons: Poetry Speed … [Read more...]
Lesson of the Day: March Madness Writing Assignment Rubric
March 18, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday, I unveiled the March Madness Reading for Information lesson plan along with a March Madness writing assignment. Today, I'm going to toss in a rubric for the 4-paragraph essay. [table id=5 /] Here are some links … [Read more...]