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 ...

A while back I wanted my students to write more, but I knew I didn’t have the time to assess more. So, like Miniver Cheevy, I “thought, and thought, and thought/ and thought about it…scratched [my] head and kept on thinking…/coughed, and called it fate,/ And kept on drinking.” Ok, not really, but that’s a great poem for allusions and the ...

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 ...

Go check out GraphJam.com. This site has some great commentaries on life through different styles of graphs. Maybe some could even be incorporated into a classroom. Here’s a funny one. The original location is here. Posted in Good Mood, Snarky, Writing

Last week I tried something called The Wagon Wheel. I numbered off my students 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, etc. and then had the ones form a circle shoulder to shoulder facing outward while the twos faced the inner circle. If an odd number of students are in class, you can jump into the outer circle. Then, I asked the entire class a question and the inner ...

After such a long week this past week, I’m psyched for our four-day week ahead. First, I get to start teaching my favorite Shakespearean play: The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. We have already learned some background information through a video and a history chapter (and I can say learned because all but one student really aced the background ...

I have been thinking for the last few days (sad, I know, during vacation time) about how I want to conclude the first semester with my Sophomores. We will be reading The Princess Bride during the final two weeks of the semester before finals begin, so I wanted one more writing assignment to finish off the first half of the class. Now, I have ...

I gave my College in the High School students (an American Literature class) a project to go along with the conclusion of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. They had the options below, and every one was chosen by one of the groups of three. Each group had to choose one option in each part. Part I: Compose a full block business letter explaining in ...

For those of you who love fonts or just an interest in them, here are a few enjoyable sites: a College Humor video about the Council of Fonts, a movie about Helvetica, a funny interview about banning a font, and a poster I think all journalism teachers should have (buy it here).

With my Sophomore Honors students, the final unit remaining is the persuasive speech unit. Generally, the students do quite well with these 3-5 minute speeches, and I require the following: three types of sources (i.e. periodical, internet source, survey, scientific study, interview, etc.), a minimum of eight solid facts, an anecdote on the ...