One of the most valuable literary lenses in my classroom is the reader response, or reader, lens. This lens encourages reflections and connections to the reading. As a lesson planning framework, I connect learning lenses to engaging activities that help students apply the lens to the work. ...
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5 Ways To Increase Engagement In A Remote Lesson
Several years ago, I read the book, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking” by Susan Cain. Although it wasn’t initially written with a classroom management spin, it is one of the most influential books for my classroom management strategy. This book opened my ...
Opening Windows to the Wild for Children: Do You Like Wild Animals? by M.S. Gatto
Using picture books to teach students literary analysis skills is one of my favorite strategies to engage high school students. As a mom of two little readers, I usually find new lesson inspiration from their recommendations. Today, I am sharing a special recommendation from my daughters: "Do You ...
How to Introduce Diverse Perspectives in the ELA Classroom
Last week, I posted these seven strategies for adding diverse perspectives to your ELA classroom on my Instagram account. I wanted to give this information a permanent place on my blog. Plus, I had some great follow-up questions that I want to address here by giving you some specific examples and ...
How to Facilitate Awesome Literature Circles in Secondary ELA
I learned about literature circles way back in college when a friend who was an elementary education major asked me to help her practice a literature circle before her class "test." I had no idea what a literature circle was. However, as an English Literature major, I knew I had to find out. I ...
Six Unique Ways to Get Students Excited about Poetry
Back when I was in college, I took a course called Young Adult Literature. I was so excited to take this course because it was and still is my favorite genre. Before class started, our teacher posted the syllabus on our online classroom, and I remember being surprised to see a unit on poetry. At ...
