When I talk about certain works of literature, I can hear the words of my own professors coming out of my mouth. I truly received a good English education at my college, and I look back in fondness at my college classes, perhaps none more so than the very last one I took, Twentieth Century…
Laura Diamond at the AJC’s education blog Get Schooled discusses a sticky problem: teachers who use poor grammar in communication with parents. Many of us admit we have poor grammar and horrible spelling skills. So why do so many of us get concerned when we see these same faults in teachers? Can you respect a…
Last week, I participated in a Teaching Shakespeare Mini-Institute with the Folger Shakespeare Library. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in one of Folger’s institutes, seize the opportunity. You will not only learn great practical methods for teaching Shakespeare and learn about Shakespeare and his plays, but you will also develop professional ties…
I e-mailed my adviser at Virginia Tech with a question about registration. She wrote back in what I thought was an unnecessarily irritable way because I had used the wrong e-mail address to contact her, and because she was upset about that one detail, the tone of her whole reply made me feel as though…
I wrote this last night thinking of submitting it to the Faculty Room, but I realized I misunderstood our focus question, and I didn’t want my post to go to waste. Thus, here are my thoughts on some choices teachers ought to have about their profession and environment. Teachers have differing degrees of choice in…
In our high school literature studies, we often stick to tried and true classics, which is fine. There are very good reasons why these books are classics. But what if you want to read something newer, but somehow related to a classic? What if you want to extend learning for your students and want to…
Today was a professional development day, and we had an interesting guest speaker on the topic of discipline. I wanted to share part of what he discussed today with edubloggers in hopes that we can contribute to the dialogue. Do you think teaching is harder today than it was for your teachers when you were…
For those of you looking for a few good resources for teaching Homer’s Odyssey, you might want to check out the following: Victoria Allen’s Teacher’s Guide (pdf) — I worked with Vicki at Warner Robins High, and she’s top-notch. So is her Teacher’s Guide. My UbD plan for The Odyssey (printer-friendly version) Homer@Web English Teacher…
Carol, I wrote you back, but my e-mail bounced back to me. The five I’s of Romanticism are Imagination, Intuition, Inspiration, Individualism, and Idealism. Download this accompanying Power Point: Romanticism Introduction.
On Tuesday, I participated in a parent/teacher/student conference with one of my tenth graders (I also taught her last year), all of my colleagues who also teach her, and the guidance counselor and learning specialist (in addition to, obviously, the parent). I had recommended that this student read Stephenie Meyer’s novel Twilight, as I thought…
