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!

Doug Savage's Savage Chickens "comics" are 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. Teaching satire in secondary ELA is a high-interest and humorous way to engage studen

Keep all of your lesson plans for the whole school year in one streamlined easy-to-access place with a Google Sheets Lesson Plan Template!

This blog post explores innovative and engaging lesson plans for any novel unit... ranging from task cards to book instagram pages to a novel podcast project. Student choice is key here, and students can find something they would like to complete in order to convey their reading, comprehension, and

Doug Savage's Savage Chickens "comics" are 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. Teaching satire in secondary ELA is a high-interest and humorous way to engage studen

You’re welcome! Here are 15 TED talks for the classroom that are sure to prompt discussion, writing, and reflection...

A lesson plan! A lesson plan! My kingdom for a lesson plan!

High school English lesson plans - intense, and often long. This is my creation process, and I hope it helps you along the way.

Full year lesson plans provide huge time savings to busy teachers. It is important to have lesson structures and assignments in your classroom that can be used all year.

Are you looking for quick, simple tips for teaching writing in high school English? These ideas totally changed the way that I teach and...

I read once that Albert Einstein remarked it is a miracle curiosity survives formal education. This observation has stuck with me: a pesky stone in my shoe. Somehow, amongst all the curricular demands, standardised testing, graduation requirements, examination preparation, and everything else which pulls at me, I desperately want to instill a sense of wonder, curiosity, and excitement in my students. I desire for them to love learning, to ask questions, to be curious about what they see, read, and hear. And one of the best – and simplest – ways I have found to do this, is the use of lesson openers which excite and engage. Inspired by the concept of provocations in the Reggio Emilia Approach1, I open learning experiences in an open-ended way which provokes student exploration, discussion, creativity, and ideas. This way, when we move into the content of the lesson, students are already engaged; their curiosity is hopefully piqued, and they’re more receptive to learning. Below are five simple ways I open classes in order to provoke engagement, discussion, and curiosity. Click here to get a downloadable version to stick in your daily planner, or on your desk as a reminder when lesson planning! INSTRUCTIONS: Place an object (which links to the lesson content) in the center of the room. For added intrigue and curiosity, place it under a cloth to ‘reveal’ when students are settled. Then use the exploration of this object to springboard into the lesson of the day: through a discussion, writing exercise, word association game, etc. For example: for a writing class about using varied sentence types, the object could be a bowl of sweets, and students write about the experience of eating one for the very first time. Or, it’s an informational text lesson, using a newspaper article on how social media impacts beauty standards, the object might be a pile of make-up, and students discuss their personal associations with these products. [Nouvelle ELA has a similar lesson for analyzing symbols: get it here] IDEAS FOR GOING FURTHER: Wait a while before you explain the presence of the mystery object: perhaps even have students spend time thinking about it and making predictions for why it is there (you may want to give them one or two clues). Equally, if appropriate, have the desks arranged in groups and place different objects on different desks. For example: in an introductory lesson for a unit on ‘Identity’ place different pieces of fruit around the room, and have students move to the one that most represents them, and then encourage them to explain their choice. WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE: Any time you add a little mystery or present something unexpected in the classroom, it will pique students’ curiosity. When they are intrigued and curious, they’re primed to engage and learn. Indeed, the emotion of curiosity has long been recognized as a vital motivating factor driving learning2. INSTRUCTIONS: Write a provocative statement on the board which links to the lesson content. (e.g. If you’re studying Romeo and Juliet: It is possible to fall in love the first time you meet someone. Or reading Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’? What about: Your dignity is always within your own control.) Then place tape, or indicate an imaginary line, across the room, with one end as “Completely Agree” and the other as “Completely Disagree.” Give students a minute to consider the statement and then have them stand on the line to indicate their opinions. [You might also want to check out the Daring English Teacher's blog post on Introducing Complex Ideas to Students] IDEAS FOR GOING FURTHER: Once students have taken their places, ask a couple of students on opposite ends to speak to each other: to debate and defend their positions. Or, have students turn to the person next to them and discuss, seeing if they really are in the right places, or if they should switch (if they feel stronger than their neighbor on the line). Finally, at the end of the lesson, why not do the activity again and see if any of them have changed their positions? WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE: This not only gets students thinking critically about key themes and issues, but it is also an effective way to make their thinking visible, and to push them to take a stand. Moreover, requiring students to give reasons for why they picked where they did, helps them back up their opinions with evidence and reason. INSTRUCTIONS: Think about the content of the lesson, and then try to mimic something of the mood/setting/theme in the classroom environment. While pinterest-worthy classroom transformations are wonderful, that’s not what I am talking about here. You can set the mood in quick and easy ways, which will engage students’ senses when they walk in the door. For example: when studying Lord of the Flies, visually project a jungle screensaver on the board, with ambient sounds. This doesn’t have to be just for literature lessons: if you’re spending the lesson writing, have students enter with ambient coffee shop sounds, or stormy weather (great for writing horror stories!). Check out the website A Soft Murmur for this: go play around with their sound settings. IDEAS FOR GOING FURTHER: If possible, engage more senses: play with lighting, images, smells, touch, etc. Or – to really engage students’ imaginations – before playing the ambient noises, have them settle down, and close their eyes. Then give them a scenario to imagine as you slowly turn up the volume on the ambient sounds. For example: in a lesson on Emily Dickenson’s “The Railway Train,” start by playing the sound of a train and ask students to imagine this sound as an animal: what would it be and why? WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE: Engaging the senses is a powerful learning tool: when we create a multisensory experience in the classroom, not only does it pique students’ curiosity, but it can also make the learning more memorable. Indeed, when engaging multiple senses, we optimise the learning mechanisms in the brain, and tap into the many different ways different students learn best3. INSTRUCTIONS: It is as simple as this: play a current song or music video, show an extract from a current TV series, use a trailer for a recent movie: anything which links the content of the day’s lesson with students’ interests and lives outside of class. For example: before we studied The Great Gatsby (click for resources), I played Lorde’s Royals and asked students what the song meant to them. Before telling students anything about Lord of the Flies, we watched the trailer for The 100 and discussed what such a situation would be like. IDEAS FOR GOING FURTHER: Have students suggest the media you present: at the end of a previous class, explain the broad content of the next class (themes, main topic, etc.) and ask students to suggest appropriate songs, video clips, games, etc., which would make for engaging lesson openers. This way, they too are making connections to their learning, and you are making sure the references are highly relevant! WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE: When we incorporate students’ personal interests and entertainments in the classroom environment, their learning becomes more relevant, engaging, and multi-dimensional. The key here though is making sure it is really something which students’ are currently interested in: not just what we might assume they will be interested in! And the best way to ensure this, is to really spend time building relationships with students, finding out their interests, and knowing what’s currently popular. INSTRUCTIONS: Before class, think about the key theme, topic, or skill which you aim to explore or develop. Then, think of 3-5 key words related to this; write these on the board, or around the room. When students enter, draw their attention to these words, and instruct them to work in pairs to construct a question using the words. For example, before a lesson on Fahrenheit 451 (click for resources), you might use “knowledge” “future” “technology” and “books.” A possible question students might generate: In the future, will books become useless, as we use technology to access knowledge? And this doesn’t have to be limited to lessons on literature: in a lesson about essay writing, words such as “style” “structure” “opinion” and “voice” might generate some engaging questions. IDEAS FOR GOING FURTHER: Once students have formed a question, provide the means for discussing or answering the question: this might be through small-group discussions, through accessing online sources, or through analysis of a text. The key here is you need to be flexible and open to going where students’ questions take the lesson. Why not even ask them how the class should proceed in terms of answering their questions? WHY IT IS EFFECTIVE: Too often, by the time they reach middle/high school, curious questioning has been replaced by incessant answering: students become adept at answering questions, but often lack opportunities to inquire and question. Developing this ability to ask questions will help with developing critical thinking skills, and engaging discussion proficiency. Moreover, students will be hooked from the start of class, and invested in finding out the answers to their questions. So that's it: if you have ANY questions, please feel free to reach out: come find me on Instagram, or email me at [email protected]. Looking for other high-interest, provoking lessons to excite and engage? Check these out: Active Learning Exercises for Reading & Writing by Room 213 READING Escape Room (Activities, Trivia & Puzzle Games for High School ELA) by The Classroom Sparrow MAKER CHALLENGE - Team Building Activity by Presto Plans RESOURCES: 1Strong-Wilson, T., & Ellis, J. (2007). Children and place: Reggio Emilia's environment as third teacher. Theory into practice, 46(1), 40-47. 2Markey, A., & Loewenstein, G. (2014). Curiosity. In International handbook of emotions in education (pp. 238-255). Routledge. 3Shams, L., & Seitz, A. (2008). Benefits of multisensory learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12(11), 411–417.

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

Check out the following ESL lesson plans and lesson plan templates to get your teaching on in style! It's English teaching made easy!

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I've always been of the opinion that high school English classes should run a True Crime unit. There is a reason mystery is one of the highest selling genres in print and on screen. True crime is a captivating form of storytelling that provides students with the opportunity to delve into the past while exercising

Whether your lesson plans are detailed multi-page documents submitted to your administration each week, or they’re mostly post-it notes with concise bullet points, effective lesson planning requires strategy and intent. Great lessons need clear direction, purpose, pacing, and solid pedagogy. (Side note: If you are looking for engaging step-by-step lesson plans for the ELA classroom – especially for sub plans – check out my ELA Lessons Bundle with over 60 individual plans). While planning such successful, well-balanced, dynamic lessons takes time (think of all those observation lessons), if you get into a strong habit of working through a few key steps, it simplifies the whole process. And, as with all habits: the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Soon you internalise the steps and find yourself doing them without even realising it. Below are the four simple steps - G.A.D.E - I go through in my mind every time I plan a lesson. Do I always write them out in detail? Nope, but I still always work through them as I plan. What do you want students to be able to do, know, or understand by the end of the lesson? The most effective way to plan a route for a journey, is to start with knowing where you are trying to get to, right? Instruction is most effective when you, and your students, have a firm idea of the goal. When they know what they are working towards, the lesson is far more purposeful. Your goal should be able to be expressed in a single sentence or two: the more focused it is, the easier it is for students to digest and understand. I even suggest writing this on the board at the start of the lesson, for students to be able to see and reference. Examples of Goals: - Students will understand the impact of varying sentence patterns, in term of creating tone. - Having read chapter 5 of The Great Gatsby, students will be able to explain how an author develops a character in a narrative through the use of indirect characterization. - Students will be able to effectively back up their thoughts and ideas with appropriate textual evidence. [Grab a free lesson plan template here] How are you going to break down the substance of the lesson, to help students reach the goal? This is the nuts and bolts of the lesson: the lecture, activities, exercises, etc. Ask yourself: What are the most effective methods to help guide students to the goal: A lecture? A group discussion? A reading exercise? Worksheet practice? A video? A writing exercise? Station work? The key here is breaking the lesson down into varied, manageable chunks: rarely should you plan a 60 minute lesson with just one single activity. You want to think about dividing the class up into 10-20 minute segments with varied activities and modes of learning: all geared towards the overall goal. [Check out Room213's helpful blog post on how to build in time for productive struggle when lesson planning.] Examples of Segments for a 60 minute lesson: 5 min: Provocation - some sort of hook for the lesson to pre-test knowledge, or incite intrigue and interest. 10 min: Paired work 15 min: Teacher-led lecture and discussion 20 min: Individual work to practice a skill 10 min: Reflection and assessment of learning How will you, and your students, know if they have achieved the goal? This does not always have to be a large assessment task: that would perhaps be a unit goal. However, you should be able to place small milestones in every lesson to assess whether or not students are gaining knowledge, or developing their skills, and this need to be intentional. It may be a summative assessment task, but in the daily lesson it would likely be formative assessment. This should be a conscious decision when planning the lesson. Examples of Opportunities for Demonstrations of Learning: - Ask strategic questions: “How do you know that? Why did you write that?” - Use exit slips - Have students produce something which requires them to use what they have learned - Anonymous class polls or quizzes (or Kahoots!) - Self-reflections or evaluations - Written work / Projects What do you physically need to do, to facilitate the learning? Once you know the purpose of the lesson, and have a firm understanding of the activities and elements of the lesson, think about what you need to do to prepare. While this might be gathering resources, photocopying, finding passages, etc., it also should be about the space of the classroom: how best to facilitate the most effective lesson for your purpose. Think about desk layout, visual displays, seating arrangements, etc. Example of Environmental Elements - Move the desks into groups / pairs / individual etc. - Print, layout and organize materials - Have a specific song playing which relates to the lesson, for when students enter. - Create spaces around the room for station work or gallery walks etc. FREE TEMPLATES: If you are looking for a template for lesson planning: Click here to access a FREE editable Google Docs template (just go to “File” and “Make a Copy” to save the document to your own drive for editing). Want a printable copy? Click here to access a printable lesson plan template. Do also check out: If you are looking at planning a whole unit of study, read this great post by The Daring English Teacher.

Begin each of your classes with bell ringers or warm up activities that your middle or high school English students will love!

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Whether you’re looking to explore more of what TeachArgument has to offer, or you’d simply like to receive awesome lesson plans in your email all year long, you’ve come to the right place. Simply enter your information below to begin receiving our highly engaging, rigorous, and awesome pop culture lesson plans in your email immediately! You can expect ELA lesson plans that: Are aligned to the newest and most rigorous standards! Lend themselves to the upper echelon of the newest teacher-evaluation models! Bolster the skills demanded by next-generation tests! Will save you hours and hours of planning time! Are so engaging, your students will be thanking you!

Check out these fun games and activities for teaching was were to English learners, along with worksheets & lesson plans.

This post explores the connections between Classic texts and modern texts. They explore the following connections: Lord of the Flies & Hunger Games, “The Necklace” & Nonfiction Pairings, Macbeth & Long Way Down, Night & Between Shades of Gray + Salt to the Sea, The Scarlet Letter &

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

Using in class discussion is a perfect way to foster critical thinking in high school English classes. Whether it is the Socratic Method...

These ELA podcast pairings will help you design engaging text sets for you middle school and high school English classroom!

10 ideas for planning engaging novel units: creative, engaging lesson ideas for your next whole-class novel unit

Do you struggle with finding interesting ways to teach ESL listening skills? Maybe you have an activity or two already but you want to be able to mix it up and keep things interesting. By the end of…

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

By Presto Plans I first realized the power of bell ringers years ago, thanks to a particularly unruly class that would bounce off my walls after lunch. After consistently wasting the first ten minutes of class getting students seated, settled, and ready to learn, I decided to give bell-ringers a try. They were immediately a classroom game-changer. Bell-ringers—sometimes referred to as “warm ups” or “do nows”— are questions, tasks, or other warm up activities that students complete at the beginning of class (or when the bell rings, as the name suggests.) They jump start student learning, calm classroom chaos, reduce uncertainty, and make transitions smoother, all the while allowing the teacher to maximize their time and maintain their sanity. I’m here to share the benefits of using a bell-ringer routine in your classroom, tips and strategies to implement them effectively, and answers to your most commonly asked questions. I'm also sharing free bell-ringers that will last you a couple months! 1) Extra time at the beginning of class Bell-ringers give teachers the gift of time. In those 5-10 minutes, you can take attendance, get papers ready and/or passed out, prepare tech, catch up with students who have been absent, or even prepare for your next period. 2) Improved classroom routine and classroom management As students transition from class to class, they tend to get amped up from hallway antics. Bell-ringers improve the transition back into the academic setting and establish a consistent routine and minimize classroom management issues. There is a lot of uncertainty in a teenager’s world, and though they may not admit it, students crave predictability and routine. After the routine is established, you’ll even find that students will get started on the bell-ringer BEFORE the bell even rings, as they know exactly what is expected of them. 3) A chance to practice ELA skills and assess and review standards By using bell-ringers at the start of class, you are taking advantage of an extra opportunity to practice the ELA skills and meet standards you have been diligently working on throughout the year. Bell-ringers are perfect for putting what you’ve taught to the test in a creative, fun, low-pressure way. Given that they aren’t heavily graded on the bell-ringers (or not at all), the pressure often associated with other tasks is alleviated. 1. Mix up your bell-ringer each day If you are using the same bell-ringers every single day, students will likely grow tired of them. I like to have themed days for each of the bell-ringers that will address a specific skill. Below are some of the types of bell-ringers you might consider using: Improve word choice Locate figurative language Have a short discussion with a partner Watch a short video clip and write a personal response to a prompt Infer the meaning of new words in context Correct grammar errors Have a mini-debate with a partner Use a picture to spark narrative writing I liked to use each of my year-long volumes of bell-ringers to have different activities for each day. You can try four free weeks by clicking on the image below to see if they might work for you. 2. Give students a fun challenge Another way to mix up your bell-ringers is to set a challenge at the start of the week and have students progressively work towards a solution on Friday. My favorite way to do this is with escape room bell-ringer challenges. When you use an escape room bell-ringer, students are given a back story on Monday where they find themselves in a situation (dungeon, alien planet, military bunker, scientist study etc.). They work with their group for the first 5-10 minutes of class to progressively move through different floors, rooms, chambers, and cells each day to solve ELA related puzzles. Their goal? To successfully escape by the end of the week. Want to try a bell-ringer challenge with your students? Grab a free figurative language bell-ringer activity below as a fun way to start one of your classes. 2. Model a Good Response Spend the first days explaining the daily bell-ringer activity for that day and even show them what a strong response looks like for each different bell-ringer activity you do. Taking this time at the beginning will get you better responses from the students as the year goes on. 3. Set specific expectations and procedures From day 1, you’ll want to demonstrate exactly how things are going to play out. Start by literally walking them through the process of entering the classroom and retrieving their bell-ringer booklets or binder. Once they are completed their work, you might think of getting them to hold onto their booklets and putting them back at the end. I would recommend not doing this as typically someone will accidentally take it home or the booklets will get destroyed since they all are eager to leave and are throwing the booklets on the shelf (real life teaching, right?) That’s why I would suggest you establish a system for collecting the bell-ringer booklets after they are done, and go through it with them a few times to practice. You wouldn’t think something as simple as collecting the booklets would be an issue, but having a plan makes things run so much more smoothly. If you use a standard classroom set up (desks in a row or pairs): Have each row turn around to collect the booklets from the row behind them and move them all forward until they are in the front row. Select one student to collect them all from the front row and put them back in the proper spot. If your desks are set up in groups: Have one member from each group be responsible for collecting the booklets, and have all groups pass them over to the group closest to where to store them. Have one person put them all back. On the first day, I practice this 2-3 times and set a timer to see how fast they can do it (I tell them they are in competition with the other classes). This makes it fun, but it also establishes a routine, and set a precedent to strive for throughout the year and it makes collecting the booklets quick and efficient. 1. Should I grade bell-ringers? Won't that make more work for me? Listen, the LAST thing I want to do is add more paper to an English teachers' pile! Bell-ringers are a type of formative assessment that do not need to be graded. They are a quick way for students to practice and develop ELA skills. I did add a quick check rubric on the bottom of some of my student handouts because I personally used this to keep students accountable and motivated to complete the work to the best of their ability. I would tell them that one week out of the month would be graded, but they wouldn't know which week (insert evil laughter 😉). This lessened my grading, but I also liked peeking at them monthly to see who was completing the work well and where I needed to focus my instruction. 2. How long should you spend on bell-ringers? For me, bell-ringers would typically take an about 5-10 minutes to complete. The time will vary depending on what type of bell-ringer you are completing. Some people like a quick 5 minute bell-ringer, others like to dive in a little deeper and spend more time as it pertains to their lesson. If students are improving the word choice in a passage or practicing labelling figurative language, it may only take a quick 5 minutes. However, if they are discussing an ethical prompt or watching a video clip and writing a response, it may take closer to 10. It's important to remember though that sometimes your students will be totally engaged in a bell-ringer, and you may end up spending more time than you thought on it. This is not wasted time! The content still relates to your curriculum and helps students hone their writing, reading, speaking, and listening skills. Sometimes an unplanned part of a lesson is where the best learning happens. 3. How do you manage all the paper? Here is my fool-proof system. A word of caution: don't let them take their bell-ringer binder home! It's an absolute nightmare waiting to happen 😂. Have each student purchase a small 1 inch binder to hold all of the bell-ringer response sheets (or use a three-clasp folder). Have students write their name in big bold letters on the spine (or the front if it is a folder). Having a variety of colors of binders/folders is better so they can find theirs more easily. Put a bookcase somewhere near the door of your room. Assign each class an area of the bookcase. Tell students they will grab the binder when they enter, and it will go back on that shelf when the bell-ringer is done.! This makes it easy to find their binder the next day. 4. Will using bell-ringers help my classroom management? Yes, routines are your friend! I learned fairly quickly in my teaching career that expected procedures are necessary for survival when it comes to classroom management. Bell-ringers set the tone in the first few minutes of class and help students transition back into work mode after a break period. I was literally wasting the first 5-10 minutes of class quieting my students down and preparing to get started. After starting a bell-ringer routine, they immediately started working when they entered! 5. Should I do bell-ringers every day or just on some days? Personally, I think it is better to bell-ringers every day and stick to the routine. When you are always skipping the bell-ringer or only doing them here and there, students lose that consistency, and you won't see the classroom management benefits. You can certainly make it work if you don't want to do it every day, but if you do this, I might suggest writing on the board or projecting a slide to say if there is a bell-ringer that day. This way you don't have to constantly answer the question, "Is there a bell-ringer today?" Still have questions about using bell-ringers successfully in the classroom? Don't hesitate to reach out! I'd love to hear from you. Need more bell-ringer ideas? The bloggers of the coffee shop have you covered! Growth Mindset Bell Ringers from The Daring English Teacher Daily Career Writing Prompts from The Classroom Sparrow Independent Reading Prompts from Room 213 Bell-Ringer Journal Prompts from Tracee Orman Collaborative Bell-Ringers from Nouvelle ELA

Finding great resources online is the best! In this post (and podcast episode) I’m sharing my favorite sites for free creative lesson plans and teaching ideas online. Listen in below, or read on to learn about my favorite online resources.

Looking for study skills worksheets for high school or upper middle school? Check out these 10 study skills worksheets.

It can be difficult to get students excited about learning grammar, and even more difficult when you don't feel comfortable teaching it. In this #2ndaryELA Twitter chat, middle and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed approaches to teaching grammar, topics covered, avoiding boring lessons, and incorporating grammar into other aspects of ELA curriculum. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.

Ready-to-use in minutes! Get these critical thinking preschool worksheets and help your child develop such important life skill.

Read about how ChatGPT can help streamline your teacher life!

The Socratic style of discourse lends itself quite well to establishing critical thinkers due to the fact that Socrates believed that enabling students to think for themselves was more important than filling their heads with knowledge. With so much talk about the Common Core standards and truly increasing our student's argumentative powers and critical thinking skills, I decided to launch a Socratic Seminar style of instruction in my sixth grade classroom this week. Our Seminar The Text My approach began by engaging in a guided reading of a novel titled I Can't Believe I Have To Do This by Jan Alford. Throughout the course of the week we read the novel and discussed story events and critical vocabulary associated with the readings. The Questions Students were given a Socratic Seminar "Prep Sheet" at the beginning of the week. The sheet asked the students to do the following: #1. Summarize the assigned reading #2. Identify 3 compelling quotes or statements from the reading #3. Develop one Knowledge based question #4. Develop one Application style question #5. Develop one Synthesis style question Download at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Socratic-Seminar-Packet The Set Up I then arranged my room in a double horseshoe configuration and assigned five students to be the inner circle. The inner circle students were slated to be the ones discussing and interacting. The outer circle of students were slated to observe and reflect and provide a 'backchannel'. The Discourse Relinquishing control was the MOST DIFFICULT thing!! Once the seminar began I truly had to force myself not to jump in and facilitate. Initially, it was truly awkward. Students nervously giggled and looked down at their papers. No one seemed willing to emerge as a leader. Once they realized that no one was coming to their rescue, the dialogue began and WOW. DID YOU KNOW?? A website called blockposters.com can take any .jpg or .gif image and turn it into a larger printable poster with overlapping edges for assembly?? Backchannel To occupy my outer circle, I distributed 5 ipads (1 for every 3 students) and allowed them to connect on todaysmeet.com. There they posted thoughts, questions, comments and even prompts to assist the inner circle. This back channel scrolled on the Smartboard throughout the seminar. (Admittedly, I didn't love the lack of grammar conventions demonstrated in the statements below.) Reflection/Assessment Without a doubt, we will do this again. Once the awkwardness ended, the dialog went FAR beyond what I've ever experienced with this novel. Students shared events that related DEEPLY to the characters, the character's choices and experiences. They also extrapolated character traits and applied them to new situations. As an assessment tool, each student completed an Exit Slip paragraph where they exercised their argumentative writing skills by completing a one paragraph reflection on the grade they deserved as a result of their participation in the seminar. Socratic discourse....making the kiddos use THEIR Smarticles!! All of my materials are available at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Socratic-Seminar-Packet

“Everyone is telling me to teach grammar, but no one has told me HOW yet! There’s so much information and so many ideas, and I’m just overwhelmed!” If you’ve ever...

Student choice is a cornerstone of student engagement. When students can take charge of their learning and can pursue topics of interest, they will be more engaged and more inclined to do the work, and their work will become more meaningful. This blog post explores different ways to integrate studen

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Get students engaged in The Pearl by John Steinbeck with storyboards at ❰StoryboardThat❱ ✩. Activities include summary, literary conflict, characters, vocabulary, & more.

High School Homeschool Curriculum for the 9th-grade. Check out these core curriculum and elective resources for your teenager's freshman year of high school

Serial Podcast Season One by Sarah Koenig is a fantastic way to teach literary nonfiction, rhetoric, bias, and the power of storytelling. This podcast is so engaging that even your most reluctant students will be enthralled with the true crime content! This Serial unit plan will provide you with literary nonfiction activities that help students analyze the production of the podcast, discuss bias from multiple angles, examine rhetoric from a real-world perspective, and so much more. All of these updated Serial podcast activities are standards-aligned and designed to teach listening as literacy. You will get these updated Serial lesson plans: ⭐Serial Introduction stations to engage learners from the start ⭐ True Crime Color and Chronicle Booklet to keep students focused ⭐ Serial Episode 1 activity : Analyzing Literary Style and Voice with an Agatha Christie pairing ⭐ Serial Episode 2 activity : Exploring the Literary Nonfiction Genre ⭐ Serial Episode 3 activity : Distinguishing mood and tone with an Edgar Allan Poe pairing ⭐ Serial Episode 4 activity : Practicing speaking skills in a Socratic Seminar ⭐ Serial Episode 5 activity : Exploring podcast purpose with a Crime Junkie pairing ⭐ Serial Episode 6 activity : Contemplating claims, counterclaims, and rebuttals ⭐ Serial Episode 7 activity : Skipping or coloring in the booklet ⭐ Serial Episode 8 activity : Analyzing rhetorical appeals ⭐ Serial Episode 8 activity : Exploring characterization with a Sherlock Holmes pairing ⭐ Serial Episode 9 activity : Considering wrongful convictions with a Criminal pairing ⭐ Serial Episode 10 activity : Analyzing the art of rhetoric with Rabia Chaudry pairing ⭐Serial Episode 11 activity : Discussing the ethics of true crime with Truman Capote pairing ⭐Serial Episode 12 activity : Exploring author's choice and angle ⭐Serial Rationale and standard alignment ⭐ Serial pacing guide ⭐Serial essay prompts ⭐Serial test ✍Download the preview for an overview! ✅Editable to fit your needs ✅ Can be used digitally or print ✅ Answer keys for all What teachers are saying: ❤️ Kids LOVE this unit. They love finding evidence (never thought I would say that). The socratic seminar layout was also been super helpful. ❤️This is such an engaging podcast, and I love all of the literary elements tied into this unit! My seniors loved it. ❤️What a fantastic unit! I'm using this with my AP Language and Composition class since we still have a good month of school left after the test, and they are enjoying the story and analyzing rhetoric in an engaging and new way. ❤️ This resource made teaching this unit to my elective class enjoyable, engaging, and rigorous. I greatly appreciate the thought that was put into this to make it something that students can engage with in a meaningful way. ❤️ I used this with my English 12 kids who were going through a serious bout with senioritis. It pulled them in and was easy for me to use.

Are you looking for ways to make learning more meaningful in your Secondary ELA Classroom? Check out these twenty five creative project ideas that I have found to be meaningful and successful while also motivating for learners.

I would like to suggest this four-skill comprehension worksheet for business students that is adapted for upper intermediate and advanced levels. Your students have to watch a job interview video to identify mistakes (bloopers) Nicole makes and try to suggest correct answers. The video has two versions (success & failure). There´s also a note-taking task based on a talk and a vocabulary matching exercise related to the 2nd video. But guess what the treat is! You´ll find a whole lesson plan to follow throughout. The activity is both professional and fun. What´s more? it´s authentic. Find the 3 video links included in the worksheet. Have fun teaching. - ESL worksheets

Unit 1: Introduction to School of this middle school and high school newcomers curriculum hits the ground running with 36 new words or phrases, 5 important basic sentences or greetings, and an introduction to singular and plural nouns, pronouns, and the simple present tense.

Looking for grammar lesson plans on how to teach sentence structure? Teach simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

Find out the top picks for ESL games and activities for teaching contractions, along with lesson plans, worksheets, and online practice.