1611. 1729. 1847. When connected to reading passages, these are frightening dates. They are, in fact, the publication dates of Macbeth, A Modest Proposal and Jane Eyre, all of which have appeared in classrooms and on standardized tests. If you …
Being back in school at the age of thirty-six, I have noticed many changes since the old times when I was an undergrad. I overhear a lot of stuff I don’t understand, for instance kids fifteen years younger than me …
Little in American culture represents spring the way baseball does. It doesn’t just represent spring, though. It’s an inextricable part of the season in this country. At this time of year, with the days getting longer and the temperature rising, …
Writing is an art. But when reduced to rubrics, margins and word counts, it becomes a chore. Unless you’re Charles Dickens, who got paid by the word, you probably don’t look forward to writing a ten-page paper. To compound the …
When it comes to reading comprehension, there are so many terms being bandied about out there that sound amazing. “Active reading” is one of them, and like most of these phrases, it’s easy to say but harder to do. What …
What is ‘storytelling’? Telling stories, of course. In 2016, there are so many diverse, wonderful and sometimes overwhelming ways to do this. What I want to explore is traditional, oral storytelling, which has been a part of human life since …
The first time I visited the website Shmoop.com, I was dumbfounded. I come from the era of those striped yellow Cliff’s notes. Back then, when you wanted to half-do your reading assignment, you had to physically go to a bookstore …
English teachers often worry the novels they’re scheduled to teach will fly over the heads of their students. In some schools, these teachers might have entire classes of students whose reading levels are significantly below grade level. Naturally, this deepens …
The presidential election will dominate the news in 2016. This makes the entire year a teaching opportunity. Teachers, tutors, and parents who provide social studies instruction will have heaps of current subject matter to use when creating and implementing lessons …
My sophomore year, our English teacher, Mr. Tabor, assigned John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. This intimidating, 600-page tome wound up being a game-changer in my life as a reader. All the other English classes that year were reading The Grapes …