Greetings this Monday morning. It’s March—the month of Spring Breaks—and teachers could not be looking forward to anything more after some long months to start the year. May your breaks be restful and productive for YOU, and may you find time to rejuvenate to make it all the way to the end of the school […]
Tag: literary analysis
Using Artificial Intelligence for Differentiation
Show of hands… how many people feel that the need to differentiate in your classroom has become more intense? Here at my public high school in New York City, in the Bronx, working with students who are over-aged, under-credited, working with students who’ve had some disruption to their education…the differentiation needs have become overwhelming. What do […]
HEA All Day
If you’ve paid much attention to BookTok or even the shelves at your local bookstore, you’ve probably realized that romance is having a moment. And that moment extends far beyond the days of grocery store paperbacks with Fabio on the cover. Whether through cozy holiday stories, contemporary meet-cutes, or sweeping romantasy series with swords and […]
Putting on Your Game Face: Card Games for Building Literary Analysis
I’m a frequent teacher, sometimes poet and occasional gamer. Once in a while, these identities collide. One such collision produced what I’m sharing today: Explicate, The Poetry Analysis Card Game. Before we get into the details, let me say, this is free to download and use here. But, if for some reason, you want to […]
Back to School: Analysis Building Blocks
I know that I am “preaching to the choir” as we say in the South, but the start of school gets earlier and earlier every year. So let’s get moving quickly into something you can start working on DAY ONE with students. Most state tests ask students a variety of questions rooted in analysis, specifically […]
Build Your Bookshelf: Young Adults Literature and Their Maps
Kelly E. Tumy is a consultant in Texas, former president of TCTELA, one of five editors of the journal English in Texas. She was a 20-year high school English teacher, 8-year district coordinator, and a 6-year county-wide curriculum director. You can find out more about Kelly here or connect with her on Instagram @kellyreads_tx What draws your attention […]
Poetry Throw-Down
by Kelly E. Tumy It’s my birthday today, so I thought I’d post one of the most favorite lessons I taught-ever! It really started out not as a lesson, so let me explain. I do love poetry; it took me a while to develop a good way to teach it to any grade level, though. […]
Scene Study for Idea Development
Honoring the in-between–those stretches of time between reading a story and writing about it–requires respect for how idea inspiration may arise. Conditions that advance the writing life involve elements that nurture the “seeds”: nurture prewriting time. Soil: space and time rituals for turning over the memory fossils in the ground. Air: room to let the […]
AI Meets AP: A Collaboration Between Top Writers and ChatGPT
Like most English teachers, my AP Literature and Composition students have a special kind of scorn for AI writing. And it makes sense: They are some of the most skilled writers in the school, and likely they feel threatened by technology that claims to replicate the skill that helped propel them to academic success, often […]
Delving into Text with Purpose and Focus
We’re thrilled to introduce you to another new contributing writer, Kelly Tumy. Kelly is a consultant in Texas, former president of TCTELA, incoming editor of the journal English in Texas, and one of the people in this biz that I trust them most. You’ll adore her. You can find out more about Kelly here or […]
moving writers 