Today’s guest post is from K. Keener. K. Keener (www.kakeener.com) has taught English in a variety of contexts across four continents and all levels for 21 years in total. She began as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe and most recently taught at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York. Currently, she is taking […]
Catch up on my series this fall. Last month I shared mini-mentors for review writing! Sadly, some students only write in response to prompts in English class. Whether it’s daily journaling prompts or larger essay prompts, these students miss out on one of the toughest parts of an authentic writing practice: developing ideas. Still, both […]
Mentor Text: Denialist Glossary by Daniel Heath Justice Techniques: Critical thought about Word Choice Deconstructing language use Background – As I write this, a group of teachers at my school has been prepping a series of lessons to deliver to our student body around next week, as we recognize Truth and Reconciliation Week here in Canada. […]
One way to provide an entry point for students who often feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the climate crisis is to explore a text pairing that puts ideas in conversation with each other. This juxtaposition can bring key concepts into relief, as well as help students articulate the priorities of each writer because there […]
A mentor text doesn’t have to be an entire article or lengthy passage. Sometimes just a couple of sentences provides a writer with the guidance and inspiration they need to move forward as a writer. This year, I’m continuing to use a few full-length mentor texts in each unit of writing, but I am also […]
Abigail’s first beat of the year takes you through a lesson you could do tomorrow. Discovering the importance of place and how through observation growing a deeper understanding of why place matters in our writing.
In Sharon Olds’ poem “Ode to Dirt,” the speaker opens with an apology, explaining I thought you were only the background for the leading characters—the plants and animals and human animals. Thinking about parts of nature in isolation from other parts is an all too familiar tendency. The act of overlooking the role of soil […]
Ever heard of the Enneagram? How could implementing personality types into ELA help your students better analyze characters and create authentic characters? I take you through some moves in this MW piece
My beat this year is about taking care of the grownups, and well, this year that’s turning out to be even more of a monumental task than I could have imagined it would be. It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot that I can say about professional learning that would even scratch the surface of […]
Mentor Text: Various dystopian short stories Techniques: Social commentary Short story Background – I think I’ve shared this here before, but I teach all my core English courses thematically. There are many reasons for this, but at the heart of it, I love that it gives us a focus for our looks at literature. Each course […]
