Assessments, Best Practices, Reflections on Pedagogy, Teacher Tips, Technology Tips
Meredith Dobbs
Beyond the Test: 10 Innovative Ways to Assess ...

Are your students moaning and groaning over taking another test or writing another essay? While these are tried and true methods for assessing many skills, I have been on a mission to find more innovative, unique ways of assessing student growth and learning.

Beyond the Test: 10 Innovative Ways to Assess Secondary Students
Best Practices, Close Reading, Essay Writing, Lists, Writer's Notebook
Meredith Dobbs
20 Great Quotes to use as Mentor Sentences in ...

One of the best ways to teach students how to integrate literary and rhetorical devices into their writing is to imitate the style of great writers. Here are 20 Great Literary Quotes to use as Mentor Sentences in Secondary ELA...

20 Great Quotes to use as Mentor Sentences in Secondary ELA
Best Practices, Essay Writing, Literature Articles, Reflections on Pedagogy, Writer's Notebook, Freebies
Meredith Dobbs
The Writer's Notebook in Secondary ELA: ...

The Writer’s Notebook is the heart of the English classroom. It is the place that holds a student’s reflections on literature and life...

The Writer's Notebook in Secondary ELA: Introduction & FREE Guide
Bundles & Units, Close Reading, Lesson Planning, Literature Articles, Poetry, Writer's Notebook
Meredith Dobbs
The Romantics vs. the Imagists: A Comparison ...

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

The Romantics vs. the Imagists: A Comparison of Two Different Styles
Lesson Planning, Writer's Notebook, Holidays, Close Reading, Poetry, Bundles & Units, Best Practices
Meredith Dobbs
The Complex Themes of Winter Poetry: Creating ...

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... 

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

Common Core

, , , ,

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.

, , ,

TEN Children's Books for Secondary ELA

, , ,
TEN Children's Books for Secondary ELA

Children’s books can be deceivingly “easy” and “childish.” But upon closer observation, many children’s books contain enough complexity to make them relevant texts to use as teaching tools for literary elements, techniques, and analysis.

, , , , , , ,

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.

, , , , , ,

Five ESSENTIAL Questions to Guide Textual Analysis

, , , , , ,
Five ESSENTIAL Questions to Guide Textual Analysis

Textual analysis can be very confusing when it is anchored or bogged down by esoteric terminology, jargon, and specific devices. This terminology can make textual analysis and close reading and intimidating process for students.

, , , , , ,

How to get Started with Mentor Sentences

, , , , , ,
How to get Started with Mentor Sentences

Mentor sentences are an excellent tool to use in the secondary ELA classroom to model essential skills from grammar to literary devices.  They reinforce quality writing skills from published in authors in a positive way rather than the traditional sentence correction method that modeled negative traits.  

, , , , ,

8 Ways to Help Students Break Through Writer’s Block

, , , , ,
8 Ways to Help Students Break Through Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is real.  It can be the brick wall that stands between success and failure.  And it can be the force that prevents students from completing writing assignments.

, , , ,

Tone Tunes: Using Music to Teach Tone in Poetry

, , , ,
Tone Tunes: Using Music to Teach Tone in Poetry

Being able to decipher the tone of a piece of writing is crucial to being able to decipher the thematic message of a text.  This is absolutely true for analyzing poetry.

, , , , , , , , , ,

The Art of the One-Pager

, , , , , , , , , ,
The Art of the One-Pager

One-pagers are all the rage these days. When students process their learning in this fun visual style, the results are powerful.

, , , , ,

Satire Through Subtlety-- Using the Comics of Savage Chickens to Teach Satire in High School English

, , , , ,
Satire Through Subtlety-- Using the Comics of Savage Chickens to Teach Satire in High School English

I am a HUGE fan of Doug Savage's Savage Chickens "comics."  Savage Chickens is a single-frame comic drawn on a sticky note that illustrates the life of chickens whose experiences reveal the "savage" truths of the human existence.

, , ,

Jack the Ripper + "Mack the Knife": A Nonfiction Lesson on Deciphering Tone and Bias Through Diction

, , ,
Jack the Ripper + "Mack the Knife": A Nonfiction Lesson on Deciphering Tone and Bias Through Diction

Murder stories are highly engaging topics for secondary students… and for all students alike. But bringing the crime story of Jack the Ripper into secondary ELA is a sure-fire way to keep students engaged and motivated. Crime stories even motivate at-risk students through engaging content. Jack the Ripper is one of those iconic mystery stories that captures the imagination. Crime stories provide an excellent means to engage the writing process.

, , ,

Famous Love Letters: A Unique Approach to Rhetorical Analysis and Creative Writing for Valentine's Day in Secondary ELA

, , ,
Famous Love Letters: A Unique Approach to Rhetorical Analysis and Creative Writing for Valentine's Day in Secondary ELA

Valentine's Day is a polarizing holiday-- people either love it or hate it.  But no matter how you feel about the holiday, Valentine's Day provides an opportunity for students to focus on the most powerful emotion behind literature and art:  LOVE. 

, , , , ,

The Five Most Important Argumentative Essay Topics of 2018

, , , , ,
The Five Most Important Argumentative Essay Topics of 2018

As we kickoff 2018, the media is already reporting upon key issues that will define the new year.  These issues include women's rights, sexual harassment, DACA, the tax code, healthcare, unions, prescription drug abuse, cryptocurrency, and many others. 

, , , ,

6 Christmas Commercials to Analyze for Literary Elements and Techniques this Holiday Season

, , , ,
6 Christmas Commercials to Analyze for Literary Elements and Techniques this Holiday Season

The Christmas holiday season is the most popular retail season of the year.  Companies hire ad agencies to compete against all of the sales of the season in order to attract attention to their products and services.

, , , , , ,

Three Famous Christmas Speeches to Inspire Writing

, , , , , ,
Three Famous Christmas Speeches to Inspire Writing

It's the "most wonderful time of the year" once again!  Every year, the holiday season inspires new movie ideas, and some of these movies go on to become some of the most beloved films of all time with some of the most well-known movie speeches in film history.

, , , , , , ,

Thanksgiving & Abraham Lincoln: A Rhetorical Analysis Activity

, , , , , , ,
Thanksgiving & Abraham Lincoln: A Rhetorical Analysis Activity

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to go back to the roots of our celebrated "Turkey Day" to address the fact that the original Thanksgiving had nothing to do with pilgrims or turkeys at all.

, , , , , , , , , , ,

The Logline: A Screenwriting Tool that Helps Students with Textual Analysis in both Fiction and Nonfiction

, , , , , , , , , , ,
The Logline: A Screenwriting Tool that Helps Students with Textual Analysis in both Fiction and Nonfiction

In screenwriting (writing for movies and TV), the logline is key to brainstorming story ideas and also selling them or "pitching" them to buyers.  Crafting loglines can help the writer to flesh out new plot ideas before writing the entire script.  It's much easier to revise the logline rather than an entire hundred page script!  

, , , , ,

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?

, , , , ,

Writing is Recursive, NOT Linear: Free Task Cards Included!

, , , , ,
Writing is Recursive, NOT Linear: Free Task Cards Included!

Writing goes all ways: forwards, backwards, sideways, over there, and over here.  In fact, the only piece of the writing process that occurs at a set point in time is publishing.