Two novels I taught this year were To Kill A Mockingbird and A Gathering of Old Men. Prior to and during reading these novels, I had the kids look at some songs, poems, and historical context. Here are a few of my favorite things concerning the race relations in the novels. Prior to reading To Kill [...]

While I assess diction analysis papers, personal essay, and literary analysis essays this week in the evening, I have scheduled enrichment films for my students. Here they are: Reading A Gathering of Old Men Malcolm X Separate But Equal Mississippi Burning Reading Frankenstein Edward Scissorhands Frankenstein Reading The Iliad Troy 300 Any ...

Here is a list of my favorite literary works of length to teach: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare The Crucible by Arthur Miller A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens What are your favorite pieces of literature to teach? [...]

I love using film clips or outside of class movies to enrich my students’ learning experiences, and the kids respond enthusiastically when I do use the cinema to enhance units. Any suggestions? I have the following novels to teach this semester: To Kill A Mockingbird, Frankenstein, Fahrenheit 451, A Gathering of Old Men, and Beowulf. I ...

I took a few pictures of projects for the end of The Great Gatsby unit. Each pair of students had to create an artistic rendition based on a quotation (Eckleburg’s eyes were popular) with an explanation, a sonnet connecting three characters, three essay question answers, and everything compiled into a display of some sort. Here are a few ...

A while ago I mentioned that I had my students research topics for the era in which our novels take place. We then used their findings to create visually pleasing bulletin boards. The requirements were: to include at least one image for each researched item, to type up a 6-8 sentence description or history for each selected item, to cite each ...

I’m thinking about giving my students a choice with their final novel projects. The students may compose a second literary analysis paper, or they may create an alternative project which incorporates an analysis and a visual. They will have to decide on the option and what they will create by Monday and get my [...]

My classes were awesome this week! American Literature: These kids have jumped right into The Crucible and explored the play wholeheartedly. They're asking the right questions and seem genuinely enthused to start each day. I think the groups I created are finally creating the collaboration I wanted to see. College in the High School: They love ...

Here are the books I'm teaching right now: American Literature: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain American Survey: Fools Crow by James Welch Mythology: Mythology by Edith Hamilton Sophomore Honors: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens We finish Twain, Welch, and Dickens this week. I just love when Carton mounts the steps to the ...