Stop wasting your planning time looking for creative lessons and activities for high school English! You'll find the best...

Pretend you're an alien from outer space ...

Much like students who spend more hours on the hook of an essay than they do the bulk of an essay, I often found myself with a case of English teacher writing block when it came to planning my first day of school activities. Though I have ten years (x two semesters each) of ... Read More about First Day of School Activities for High School and Middle School English

Short short stories are the perfect medium for high school English. Here are 9 reasons you should use them.

Now that the 2017-2018 school year has come to a close, I am spending some time reflecting on my practice as an educator. While there were some lows of the

There’s just something so magical about looking at learning as an adventure, and that’s the exact notion I wanted to highlight in this travel-themed classroom. I worked with the classroom decor that this room already had, so I was able to put together a high school adventure-themed classroom in just one day! When I saw ... Read More about Adventure Themed Classroom: An Eclectic Travel Classroom with Boho Vibes

Have you been wanting to try stations in your Secondary ELA classroom but aren't sure where to start? Read through this quick post where we share 8 station ideas and how to use them with your ELA students.

Trying to find a meaningful way to scaffold students' understanding of literary analysis? Here are some tips for reading and writing in middle and high school ELA.

In today’s society, it is important that students can use their critical thinking skills in their everyday lives. The perfect place for students to learn how and to practice critical reading, writing, arguing, and even listening is the high school English classroom. Here are 10 critical high school English lessons and skills that teachers should be teaching their students!

This will be your new favorite go-to short story review activity! Whenever I teach freshmen or sophomores, I always begin the school year with a short story

When you were a kid people told you "sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you." Wrong. The one word project...

This past school year was a great one. With every school year that passes, I like to take a moment and reflect on activities that were successful in the

This past school year was a great one. With every school year that passes, I like to take a moment and reflect on activities that were successful in the

Looking for games to play with a classroom? This list of English games in the classroom is exactly what you need to engage students!

When you’re preparing to teach over 2,000 years' worth of British literature to high schoolers, you’re going to have to make some tough decisions about how to do it. Sometimes, the choices are made for you (i.e. a prescribed curriculum or a textbook). On the other hand, you might have absolute free rein to the point

Strugglig to engage your reluctant readers? Check out these contemporary short stories for high school ELA.

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the benefits of assigning a collaborative writing assignment in the high school English and middle school ELA

Teaching Literary Analysis Through Archetypes A few years ago I found myself beginning my journey into teaching World Literature to 10th graders. The first 2 weeks of school can be challenging. You…