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 [...]

Recently I decided to include more music into my lessons. I started this with my American Literature courses (the College in the High School and mainstream classes), and my students have reacted quote favorably. Initially, I used The Who’s “Baba O’Rily” and “My Generation” with Anne Tyler’s “Teenage ...

The other day in class I had The Monkees' ''I'm a Believer'' playing on the stereo, and one of the students asked me ''Who screwed up the song?'' At first I was going to laugh, but then I noticed the question was sincere. I realized he was referring to the new Smashmouth version from the film Shrek. I felt very, very old. P.S. I heard a rap ...