Bundles & Units

The Power of Teaching Star-Crossed Love Stories

The Power of Teaching Star-Crossed Love Stories

Star-crossed love stories are a popular trope in literature and film. They often feature two people who are deeply in love, but their love is doomed by fate or circumstance. This can be due to their social status, their families, or even the stars themselves.

Teaching Poetic Devices with Pop Songs

Teaching Poetic Devices with Pop Songs

Teaching poetic devices with pop songs can be a fun and engaging way to help students learn about poetry. It can also help them to appreciate the beauty and complexity of language.

Close Reading Strategies for Success

Close Reading Strategies for Success

Close reading is a key component of any successful literacy program. It’s the practice of breaking down texts and analyzing them in order to better understand the author’s meaning and purpose.

Five End of the Year Activities for Google Slides

Five End of the Year Activities for Google Slides

It’s that time of year once again when we begin to wrap-up the school year. There are so many great ways to do this in a meaningful way. Here are five options for Google Slides for wrapping up the school year.

High-interest Halloween Activities & Lessons for Secondary ELA

High-interest Halloween Activities & Lessons for Secondary ELA

It’s that time of year when we get to tap into the high-interest season of Halloween and use it to our advantage as writing teachers! Halloween means Edgar Allan Poe, Gothic stories, mysteries, and all things secondary students LOVE!

Engaging Secondary Students with Crime Stories

Engaging Secondary Students with Crime Stories

There is a reason why crime stories dominate tv and film. People love them! They are equal parts mysterious, suspenseful, horrifying, gruesome, and terrifying. These are the exact traits that draw us in as viewers, and these are the exact same reasons why crime stories are an excellent way to engage secondary students.

5 Innovative Activities & Projects for Any Novel Unit

5 Innovative Activities & Projects for Any Novel Unit

As secondary ELA teachers, there are certain traditional activities that we tend to give our students during a novel study. These activities range from body maps to dialectical journals.

Screenwriting: A Creative Approach to Targeting the Common Core

Screenwriting:  A Creative Approach to Targeting the Common Core

Screenplay writing is a type of writing that we don't really address in secondary English Language Arts.  The closest students get to this type of writing is through reading drama.  But why is this the case in the 21st century classroom?

The Romantics vs. the Imagists: A Comparison of Two Different Styles

The Romantics vs. the Imagists:  A Comparison of Two Different Styles

Contrasting literary movements as a pedagogical approach to teaching literature is a debatable method, but I have found that juxtaposing literary movements...

The Complex Themes of Winter Poetry: Creating a Winter Poetry Unit for Secondary ELA

The Complex Themes of Winter Poetry:  Creating a Winter Poetry Unit for Secondary ELA

This winter season, I found myself missing the snow for the first time in my life because we made a big move from a cold climate where we have lived for the past six years to a warm climate where there is no snow.  I never fully realized...