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 …
It was Thoreau who said “simplify, simplify.” This sounds…well, simple but I think it’s actually one of the more difficult skills to master in life, mainly because life itself tends to not be all that simple. However, I believe the …
A well-known adage in education suggests every teacher is a reading teacher. By extension, every teacher also might be a writing teacher. Writing serves different purposes across content areas. In a math class, writing might be less about crafting eloquent …
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 …
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 …
A perennial struggle for English teachers is helping students connect with literature. This can be most challenging with some of the archaic works of the traditional canon. The themes might be universal, but the dated language and sheer density of …
Homeschooling a student doesn’t mean foreclosing on interactive writing exercises. The absence of immediate peers does pose a practical challenge to cultivating interaction. However, a homeschooling parent or tutor might have more flexibility to provide authentic writing experiences than a …
Even as many classrooms come into the 21st century with high-tech computer labs and 1:1 devices, it seems like teachers may never give up assigning essays. Whether it’s the traditional 5-paragraph essay, your college admission essay, or even your dissertation, …