Answers May Vary

As a teacher, deciding which plays to teach is a rite of passage all its own. Will you stick to the classics or branch out and try something new? Will you transform your classroom into a mini-theater and have students perform scenes? Will you have students read parts or will you show the pretty faithful film adaptation? It's not easy and where you're at in your career, how much you enjoy student performances, and quite fr...

In this episode of the podcast, we're discussing whether traditional ELA instruction provides our students with the skills they most need outside of high school, or if we're long overdue for an update. We don't think we're out of step with most ELA teachers in saying English classes are in need of an update, while also recognizing there are ELA skills that are still completely relevant in today's society. 

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Ideally, we'd like to have all of our students participating in class discussion.  When too many students aren't participating, we start wondering if the discussion is a waste of time or if anyone is learning anything. In this episode, we're talking about class discussion strategies you can use to get everyone in class participating. We've got ideas for those who are shy or lacking in self-confidence, as well as...

The difficulties posed by challenging students and classes can really wear a teacher down. Our misery will often make us desperate and open us to all kinds of classroom management ideas and suggestions in the hope we will find the magical "cure" to our woes, but sometimes we don't want solutions; we just want to commiserate with those who also know the "challenging" student struggle so we feel a little less...

Do you dread those days when you're expecting your students to read in class? If your students don't like to read: not independently, not collectively, not at all, it's likely they lack reading stamina. They can't stay focused on a text for any length of time, they're easily distracted, and those who are easily distracted distract others. 

While it may feel like an uphill battle to turn a nonreader...

How do you feel about your level of parent-teacher communication? Is it something you've got down? Is it your teacher superpower? Or, are you like this week's listener, who feels overwhelmed by the level of communication parents (and probably administration) expect and struggles to find time to fit it in to an already bursting-at-the-seams schedule? We're sharing our thoughts on parent expectations,  the reality abou...

March is, arguably, the worst month for teachers, though October certainly puts up a good fight for itself. We’ve been teaching the same students for eight months, high-stakes exams may be approaching, everyone is tired, and somehow we have a 31-day month WITH NO HOLIDAYS?!?! No wonder the memes and gifs of bedraggled-looking teachers clinging desperately to their mugs of coffee are flying this time of year. If you relate, you are ...

Many students are overwhelmed by the seemingly insurmountable task of writing a research paper and emerging writers often shut down because there's just too much to think about. As secondary teachers with nearly 40 students in each class, we, too, were overwhelmed. How could we make sure our students learned the skills they need to perform research if we didn't create a situation that enabled students to fulfill specific ...

Do you feel like you’re trying strategy after strategy to improve your students’ writing . . . and none of them is really working? You’re not alone.

Teaching writing is one of the most challenging (yet most important) things we do as English teachers. There are so many resources and strategies available, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start and frustrating when these highly-touted resources don’t seem to work ...

Have you found a NEW text that you want to add to your curriculum?  First of all, congrats! Introducing students to books (they will hopefully love) is one of the most exciting things about being an English teacher! But if this is the first time you’re preparing to do this, you may be wondering where to start when it comes to getting approval from an administrator. We’ve got you covered. In this episode, we’re sharing tips and tric...

This week's dilemma will be a familiar one for any teacher who has been teaching the same prep for a few years: “I want to change the novels I’m teaching second semester: I need a break from the ones I’ve taught the last few years. Any suggestions on what to add? What to avoid?”

We’re attempting to address this week’s dilemma by sharing books we’ve enjoyed teaching . . . and books we haven’t enjoyed teaching. So much of what we...

Traditional grading, standards-based grading, grade floors, it’s all enough to make any teacher’s head spin.  What does a student's grade represent? What does it measure? How do we find a balance between student mastery and effort when we’re assigning grades? We want to reward those students who work hard, but we also want our grades to be a reflection of how prepared students are to meet the demands of college-level work.

We’r...

We've all been there before. At some point during the fall semester, the wheels started coming off the bus, the train went off the tracks . . . fill in your favorite metaphor to describe the feeling of losing control of one (or more) of your classes here.  You decide the only hope you have for making it to the end of the year is a hard reset. Whether you're looking to refocus your students, or just to stop dissolving into...

Grades. Pressure. Anxiety. For us, these three words were inextricably linked with December (and May) for years. We started to feel the nasty pangs in late November (or late April) and by mid-December (or mid-May), we were complete wrecks! In this episode of the podcast, we’re responding to a teacher who is feeling under pressure to “fix her grades” (as though they are "hers" and can be "fixed") in these last we...

Cheating in the classroom is as much a part of the school experience as bad cafeteria lunches and popular cliques you're not a part of. It doesn't make your life any easier or more enjoyable. 

While most schools have policies for cheating on tests and essays, lots of administrators will ask (or quietly beg or loudly shame) you to take a different approach with day-to-day assignments, homework, or work they don&a...

A lively and engaging whole class discussion. We imagine ourselves sitting perched on a stool, steaming cup of coffee in hand, listening to our students share thoughtful, relevant insights about challenging works of literature. And then reality hits. We realize a third of the class isn't actually participating and two students can't say something even remotely correct if their lives depended on it; we've got to make ...

Whether it comes from parents, students, counselors, or administrators, as a teacher, you will inevitably hear criticism about the decisions you make in your classroom.  Depending on who is doing the criticizing and how that criticism is delivered, it can be really hard to hear and we often feel our fight or flight response kick in. Before making any decisions, let's take a breath. We’re talking about strategies we’ve found wo...

Managing the grading load is one of the worst parts of teaching, especially in the ELA classroom where the stacks of essays seem only to grow the longer you procrastinate grading them. After years of trial and error, some failures and some successes, we’re ready to share our best strategies for grading papers without losing your mind!

Related Blog Post: "How to Create a Helpful Rubric"

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The flipped classroom model has a lot to offer teachers and can be a great benefit to students, but many are reluctant to give it a try. We get it;  we were, too! While we didn't do a full flip, we did find a happy medium that we believed worked best for our students. In this week's episode, we talk about ways flipping our classrooms helped our students be more productive, allowed us to get more one-on-one time with stude...