In July, The National Council of Teachers of English released the results of a survey that had many readers talking. According to the survey, “The list of the most taught books remains largely unchanged from 35 years ago.” Some ELA teachers and I got a chance to talk about these results with a ...
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The story behind my new AP Lit essay template
In my 20 years of teaching, I’ve avoided the use of essay, thesis, and other writing templates. I know that students like them and they’re popular teaching tools, but I have always felt that they limit a student’s natural writing curiosity and creativity.
However, I’ve noticed something in the ...
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Your Favorite Poems to Teach in AP English Lit
I’ve written two different blog posts with my favorite poems and poem lessons for AP Lit. But I wanted to create a database of strong poem suggestions for new and veteran AP Lit teachers. In this list, I combed through suggested poems from the AP Lit Facebook group as well as poem suggestions from ...
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Instructional Changes to Make in the Age of AI Writing
One of the most common requests I get when it comes to blog posts is how to combat AI. I’ve been putting it off for a long time, not because I don’t disagree it’s an important topic. It’s because I don’t have the answers and am still not sure how to approach learning in the age of AI.
If you ...
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AP Lit Then and Now: A 20 Year Reflection
Tomorrow I begin my 20th year of teaching, both AP Lit and teaching in general. There have been many changes in that time, both in the course and in my teaching strategy. As I entered my first classroom in 2006, I never would have guessed that this class would awake something inside me, leading me ...
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Reading For Pleasure: My 2025 Summer Reading Roundup
I am trying to enjoy one more week of summer before I get back to blogging and back to school strategies. Here’s a rundown of what I read this summer (get ready for some more Stephen King!), a quick synopsis of each book, plus my review.
This post contains affiliate links which can earn me a ...
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