The UK newspaper The Guardian has an ongoing series that focuses on “The 10 Best of” a variety of topics. They’ve covered a range of interests, including fashion, movies, comedy, politics, and music. Fortunately for those of us who teach…
Category: classroom activities
You’ll Like This Grammar Lesson Alot :)
Yes, I really mean “alot” and not “a lot.” As the website Hyperbole and a Half explains: The Alot is an imaginary creature that I made up to help me deal with my compulsive need to correct other people’s grammar.…
Video Interview of Author Tim O’Brien
If you’re teaching Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, be sure to take a look at Big Think’s video interview with the author. In addition to talking about his novel, O’Brien talks about the process of writing and the role…
Helping Readers See Themselves in a Text (NCTE Inbox Blog)
As a young reader, I wanted stories about young girls, about their accomplishments as women, and about the journeys they took from child to adult. I didn’t want to be bothered with stories of boys becoming apprentices, men fighting battles,…
Why You Should Try Twitter in the Classroom
If you’re even slightly interested in how you might use Twitter in the classroom, take a look at William M. Ferriter’s essay “Why Teachers Should Try Twitter” from Educational Leadership. The article explains, “For educators who use this tool to…
Change Your Metaphor
No more plug and play education. It’s time for more blossom and grow! Okay, so the metaphors aren’t really parallel. I guess it should be plant and grow, but that’s not as catchy. The difference between the two metaphors, though,…
Bits Post: Warning: No Yelling in the Food Court
Try this incredibly simple but quite useful analogy to reach students who are struggling with issues of audience and style. Soon they’ll be speaking to, and not at, their audience.
WFMAD 5: Word Geek
Dear Teacher, I completely fail at vocabulary exercises. Sure, I can use your words in a sentence, but they sound like words I was told to use in a sentence. They never sound like anything natural. No matter how much…