I don’t know how finals work at your school, but I'm required to give some kind of final at the end of each semester. This final counts as 10% of the students’ semester grade. In the past, I’ve given many cumulative exams. To me, that made the most sense: it’s a semester final, so why not give a ...
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The Hottest New Quiz is a Sparknotes Quiz
Oooh...I'm not usually one for a spicy title, but that one is provocative! Please don't scroll away yet just because I said "Sparknotes!" I've got such a great lesson for you! If you’re looking for a quiz that:Then keep reading!InstructionsI first heard about a SparkNotes quiz a few years ago on ...
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English Books for Students Who (Might) Hate English
I’m an English baby, of course. But few who don’t know me personally would guess that I’m married to an accountant. He hated English classes in high school, scoffing at students who could validate an interpretation and still be called “right.” (Which is funny, because that is one of the reasons I ...
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Five Action-Based Things I Learned from the 2023 NCTE Conference
Let’s get this out of the way first—yes, I was there was Tom Hanks spoke. Yes, it was as good, nay, better, than everyone says. But that’s now what I’m here to talk about.Aside from the attention and consideration of Tom Hanks, the 2023 NCTE Conference was filled with many teacher-led sessions. I ...
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Creating Rubrics That Inform Students and Save You Time
I recently led a professional development session for my colleagues on a workshop day. In it, we compared rubrics for different types of assignments. It ended up being quite informative, so I’ve synthesized the information into this blog post.Comparing rubric typesAs we all know, not all rubrics are ...
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My 7 Favorite Short Stories For 9-10 Grades
I recently finished work on my Short Story Unit for 9-10 grade ELA. Rather than pick stories and pair skills with each, I decided to pick skills and allow YOU to pick a story for each. As I created the unit, I noticed a trend as I was making short story recommendations. There were some that seemed ...
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