Enhanced English Teacher

I recently purchased Crafting Expository Argument by Michael Degen.  I am always looking for the magic book that will provide me with all of the answers to help me turn my students into writers.
In the “Foreword to Teachers,” Degen said a few things that all teachers of writing should note.
Too many teachers merely assign a [...]

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I recently started following author, Patrick Carman, on Twitter.  He wrote a vbook which is a video + book = The Whole Story.  You can view the book trailer at the Scholastic website.

I bought Skeleton Creek, and my 12 year old son immediately took it away from me to read, and he highly recommends it.  [...]

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My district asked that all English teachers turn in writing samples and the prompts that we used in our classrooms.  I decided to create a portfolio binder and write a reflection of how the year went.
I teach regular 9th grade English students.  If you are interested in reading my reflections, click this link:
reflections-regarding-student-writing-and-prompts11
At the end of my [...]

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I recently discovered the website Americans for the Arts. The purpose of the website is to promote art education.  The sponsoring organization has embarked on a National Arts Education Public Awareness Campaign.  The website provides links to the advertisement campaign to bring awareness to the Ten Simple Ways to instill art education in children today.
The [...]

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I am trying to introduce nonfiction text with each novel that we are reading in 9th grade English this year.  It is not always easy because I have to substitute the time we would use for close reading of novel passages to cover the nonfiction texts that complement the novel.  I always feel short of [...]

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I teach two regular 9th grade English classes.  I have some smart students who could be in Pre-AP classes if they pushed themselves, but that is the problem, lack of motivation.
We recently had a three day weekend for Easter.  I assigned two chapters in To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM) over the long weekend.  My students [...]

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My students just finished their last posts to our Romeo and Juliet Ning.  They enjoyed role playing as they posted in character.  Now we are going to use a Ning to post reponses to To Kill a Mockingbird at To Kill a Mockingbird Response Ning. I am trying to discover the best way to incorporate [...]

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I am always looking for a great book that will assist me in teaching literature and close reading to my students.  I can recommend several wonderful books.  The best book that I have discovered for teaching close reading is Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer.  How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. [...]

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To cite sources, my class used Citation Machine, but I have recently discovered that I like Easybib better.   With Easybib, my students can sign up for an account so that their sources are stored on-line.  This is convenient when research lasts several days or if the student would later like to re-visit their sources for [...]

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I am currently trying out Nings in my class.  I have created one for my Read the Net class, and students are posting on the Ning and sharing ideas to develop their personal philosophy using the This I Believe curriculum.    I have also created a Ning for my 9th grade English class.  We are reading Romeo and Juliet, so [...]

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