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2013: The Best Stories Are True
The end of each year is always marked by a roundup or ranking of the year’s most memorable stories. 2013 was no exception. For example, CNN.com ran a poll on the top 10 news stories of 2013 which were...
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Starting “Of Mice and Men” in Song: “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
The English I Honors teacher in my department recently suffered a serious concussion; no reading or writing for several weeks. Her classes must go on, however, and the new unit on John Steinbeck’s Of...
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“You Say You Want a Revolution,” Animal Farm?
There are waves from England that reach America’s shores. There are literary waves. George Orwell’s Animal Farm was published in America in 1946. There are musical waves. The Beatles came to America in...
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Book Choice Questions
Independent reading in our school grades 7-12 means students read books of their own choosing, make recommendations, and keep records of what they read. Recently, however, one of the English teachers...
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Dr. Seuss, Philosopher, Asks “What Would You Do?”
March 2nd is Theodor Geisel’s (aka Dr. Seuss’s) birthday. March 2nd is Read Across America Day as well, and Read Across America is an annual nationwide reading celebration sponsored by the National...
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Precision Attended to in Toni Morrison’s “Beloved”
There is no surprise in reading the word “precision” in the language of the Common Core’s Mathematical Practice Standards. Mathematics requires precision: CCSS.Math.Practice.MP6 Attend to precision....
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Poetry Friday: Students Narrating this Man’s Art in Sonnet 29
Shakespeare’s sonnets are little one-act plays. I learned this one year when I was teaching drama to grades 9-12 and I discovered Will and Whimsy, Sixteen Dramatically Illustrated Sonnets of...
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The 17 Minute/Page 17 Rule-What the Book Will Really Be About
I was researching websites for the Film and Literature class when I first heard about the “17 Minute Rule;” a rule that suggests the real plot is revealed to the audience 17 minutes into any film....
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Hamlet, the Captain, and Today’s Soldier
There are several reasons the short discourse between Hamlet and a captain from Fortinbras’s army at the end of Act Four has become my favorite scene in the play Hamlet. There are 22 lines spoken...
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Braggin’ About Independent Reading: Our Proof is in the Pictures
Our 12 graders during independent reading- SSR How challenging is it for a teacher to run an independent reading program? Very challenging. That is the only thing thing that Newsweek reporter Alexander...
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Teacher’s College 87th Reunion: David Booth and a Thousand Stories
On the 87th Saturday Reunion at Teacher’s College, the author David Booth stood at the podium of NYC’s Riverside Church admiring the mosaic of teacher faces staring back at him. It was 9:00 in the...
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Disconnected Audiences: 2015 Oscars and English Classroom Literature
The Hollywood Academy released the 2015 nominations this past week, and their choices for best picture, best actor, and best director lit a firestorm on social media about the lack of diversity in...
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Carver’s “Popular Mechanics” in the AP Lit Classroom
In a well organized essay, explain how the author conveys his meaning. Be sure to consider structure, diction, setting, and point of view. Above is the prompt I used when I taught Advanced Placement...
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#Read Across America: West Haven Edition, Continued
March 2 was Dr. Seuss’s birthday, celebrated as Read Across America Day. In West Haven, Connecticut, planning for the event began in January when the Reading Department discussed how teachers were the...
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150 Year Old News Storytelling of Lincoln’s Assassination Will Engage Students
This April 1865 photo provided by the Library of Congress shows President Abraham Lincoln\’s box at Ford\’s Theater, the site of his assassination. Under the headline “Great National Calamity!” the...
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Magna Carta: The Scribe’s Pen is Mightier Still 800 Years Later
There are a number of people who are fundamental to our judicial system: Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence; John Jay, first Supreme Court Justice; William of Wilton, canon and...
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Sky Stories from the Perseids Meteor Shower
The conditions for the Perseids shower were excellent this week, a meteorological event unusual for Connecticut’s usually overcast conditions. The moon was in its new phase leaving a darkened sky for...
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Labor Day Informational Text: “Work is a Blessing” from This I Believe
Of all the national holidays, Labor Day is the most passive. It floats as the first Monday in September; it lacks a symbol, a song or ritual. Maybe that is not so strange for a holiday that has come to...
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Math, Patterns, and MLK’s “I Have a Dream”
Today is the third Monday in January, a national holiday commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr., and if you have not already seen Nancy Duarte’s visualization of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream”...
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Writers in Conversation: Colum McCann and Elizabeth Strout
Wednesday night, January 13. 82nd Street branch of Barnes and Noble Booksellers, NYC: After a full morning of delivering professional development to the K-12 grade literacy team combined with an...
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