We and our students are immersed in media today. Look at the numbers: 80% of children under six watch at least two hours of TV or other screen media a day. The average American is inundated with 11.8 hours of information a day. 57% of an American’s information time is spent on the TV and on the internet. The average American is exposed to 560 ...

I'm an established children's writer, based in the UK. I visit dozens of schools, libraries and literary events every year to talk about my work and to generate enthusiasm in young readers for books and all things literary. You can find more info at my website www.simoncheshire.co.uk or at the Skype An Author Network.I have a couple of new ...

I’ve been on vacation and upon returning I had a full inbox of questions about how to integrate multiple language arts elements into a single assignment. I thought I would use an example from my own curriculum to illustrate the idea of integration. One novel we teach during the Sophomore year is Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, and we also ...

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “The English language is a vehicle. A vehicle to connect pople. Teaching and learning English is not the ultimate goal. We can use this language as a vehicle to study other school subjects. Or topics which are actually interesting to our students. Human topics. Engineering, history, ...

Over the summer I have been making a number of lists of different Web 2.0 Tools that I would like to use in the classroom this year. I made the lists so that I would remember what tools were available whenever I am planning a lesson. I do have a Smartboard in my classroom, so there's great potential for demonstrating tools when teaching or using a ...

One day teacher B said to teacher A, ''I'm glad, ya know?, because my elder daughter has told me she has begun to write a book, a novel. I like the idea. One person who decides to write a book, well, or a story, a shorter story, sounds great, you know? She reads a lot of novels, kind of one every two or three weeks. I'm after she wouldn't lose ...

One day teacher B said to teacher A, ''Writing is communication. Our learners must learn to write essays, and create stories. For that purpose they need to practice. They need to read massively, and focusing on the expressions that appear in novels, for instance. Thus, they will learn meaningful ways to express their thoughts, elegantly, and more ...

I just thought I’d throw out into cyberspace what I like to do when teaching Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. First, we read Bradbury’s “The Pedestrian” and talk about Bradbury’s views. I begin the next few days by sharing a number of statistics about television and media in general. Each day I provide 5-8 stats or statements by researchers about ...

I just finished planning for January, and I’m going to be teaching the following this month. American Literature: First, we’ll review the Edgar Allan Poe writings (“The Raven” and “Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell Tale Heart”) as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment.” I actually used an excerpt of Stephen King’s Danse ...

Previously, I posted about a diction analysis assignment I use in class. While I designed it originally for my honors students, I have modified it to use with my mainstream students as well. I thought I would present an example of this here. The first key idea that the kids have to understand is that a diction device is not the same as a ...