Teach Essay Writing Skills without Grading Any Papers (Room 123) – solid activity for getting kids digging into literature, collaborating, and thinking and keeps you from grading essays. Sonnet Structure and Meaning by Kelly Herrera is a hands-on activity for teaching and making meaning of sonnets. Purpose Driven Discussions from Sarah Brown Wessling outlines a process that allows students the opportunity to focus and drive classroom discussion. A Micro Writing Unit by Rebekah O’Dell from Moving Writers uses picket signs for inspiration for writing. This activity can early be adjusted to different grade levels and texts. What Do High Schoolers Think about Peer Review on Writers Who Care shares feedback from over 500 high school students on what works and doesn’t with peer review. Poem of the Week: Citizenship by Javier Zamora

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Frinkin’ Packets by Cult of Pedagogy this post will be polarizing due to the video of the students (whose behavior I don’t condone but his point is valid), but there’s so much good stuff in this podcast and post that I had to share. Station Rotation Model: Grouping Strategies from Catlin Tucker gives different ways to group students and how to easily track groups. I am planning a station based unit after spring break and will be using this to guide my group set up and tracking of work. At First Glance: A Sentence Starter Adds Unexpected Rigor to Writing from Teach Like a Champion Blog is a small twist that really elevates student writing. Roll the Dice to Get the Story Started as explained on the Free Technology For Teachers introduces an app that could be really useful when teaching narrative or creative writing. Spring break is just around the corner; need ideas for reading? Reading Recommendations for Professional Development from NCTE has a full list of recommendations. I ... KEEP READING

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Happy National Poetry Month! Since we were on break last week, this is a week delayed, but I hope it’s useful. It’s National Poetry Month from NCTE is a great collection of resources for you to use to celebrate National Poetry Month in your classroom. Letter Play by Melissa Smith of #teachliving poets is a great ready-to-use lesson with links to poems, videos, and resources to discuss form, introduce students to contemporary poets, and get them writing some poetry. The 12 Days of Poetry by Jessica Salfia is a lesson designed around writing and peer feedback. The handout linked in this post is pure gold. What Makes a Poem a Poem is a Ted Ed  video that could easily be used as an introduction to poetry. The site also includes discussion questions and additional resources. I wrote the Ten Commandments for Teaching Poetry a couple of years ago but come back to it often to remind me to maintain balance between the beauty of versus the analysis of poetry. Poem of the Week: Ars Poetica by Archibald Macleish

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On Revision from English Teacher Resources provides some good thinking and talking points for students to consider. 5 Things Students can Learn from Blogging by Karla Hilliard unpacks benefits of blogging. This was my first year to have students blog, and I will definitely be doing this more in the future. I love Todd Finley‘s Brain Blasts; here’s his latest on How to Engage Resistant Classes. Sign up for his weekly newsletter which includes his Brain Blasts here. 7 Strategies to Make Grading Easier by Adrian Nester and myself are some ways we try to grade more efficiently and effectively. I would love to hear your grading tips and tricks. Creating Accountability in Group Projects with Google Forms by Meagan Kelly is a quick way to assess the participation of group members in a project; I know we have all struggled with this problem. Poem of the Week: The Home Team by Brenda Shaughnessy

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T minus 13 school days until the exam and counting. Where has this year gone? I wanted to reshare the videos made by readers after the 2017 reading and introduce you to new resource where you can share your favorite exam tips. Tia Miller created an AP Lit Help Fligripd with links to Flipgrids on each question, multiple choice, and general exam advice. A few grids are posted now, but I suspect people will be adding more this week. These quick videos are great to show during class or offer as a resource to students to watch as needed. Jump on in and share your exam advice. Reflections from last year’s reading: The Myth of the Poetry Prompt by Jill Massey When You Find Yourself in a Pickle by Susan Barber Taking the Mystery out of Question 3 by Sarah Soper and Melissa Smith The 2017 reader videos after reflections that refer back to the 2017 prompts but have general observations and principles for the question ... KEEP READING

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My Students Teach Me 5 Strategies by Shana Karnes at Three Teachers Talk features three of her pre-service teachers and lessons they introduced her to through their student teaching. Links to the five fantastic lessons are included in this post, so this is really a 5 for 1 link. The future of English ed is in good hands! Pin the Quote to the Literary Device by Brian Sztabnik is a hands-on lesson that moves students from identification of devices to the WHY behind them. This is what we’re doing in class today. I love that more and more people are moving to writing conferences and the door this opens for students to be involved in the feedback process. 5 Minute Writing Conferences by Jori Krulder provides structure for conferring.  Top Ten Reasons Students Plagiarize and What Teachers Can Do About It at Kappan Online is an interesting read about the WHY behind plagiarism with a solution-oriented focus. The Best 90s Screen Adaptations of Shakespeare at Lit Hub for the Bard’s ... KEEP READING

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My Grammar Journey by Katelynn Giordano on NCTE‘s site this week parallels my grammar journey as well; lots to think about in this post. Eulogy Writing as a Way to Employ Rhetorical Strategies from Three Teachers Talk is a creative summative assessment that can be tweaked to measure several different skills; I loved this creative idea. 5 Key Beliefs that Motivate Student Writers by Dave Stuart Jr. explores motivations – a conversation I just had with a teacher this morning. I love digging into the WHY. Embracing the Identity of Teacher Writer by Dave Premont explains why students benefit from having teachers who write. How to Read Poetry Like a Professor featured in The Guardian has some great reminders for reading poetry. Poem of the Week: to the notebook kid by Eve Ewing (I had the pleasure of hearing her share this week – amazing!!). And a bonus – I had the chance to share with Coweta teachers of the year last night and spoke about Lies Teachers are Told. I wanted to share with you ... KEEP READING

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The week of the AP exam both excites and terrifies me. I’m excited to think about the growth of my students and what all we’ve accomplished in a year, but I’m terrified because even though I know that a single test doesn’t define a person, on Wednesday my kids will answer 55 multiple choice questions in an hour over difficult texts and write three essays in two hours on passages and subjects unknown to them beforehand. And I will sit in my classroom waiting and waiting and waiting some more wondering if I properly prepared them. Monday will be my last day with my students before the exam due to our schedule for state standardized testing. My goal for Monday is to build confidence. We will briefly talk through the 2010 poetry and prose prompts, walk (yes walk) through from open prompts revisiting points from my Strategy Review, and watch the following videos: (You may ... KEEP READING

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Reverse Planning for Goals Can Help Students Succeed in School from Linda Flanagan is an interesting read as I think about planning for next year. I tend to plan backwards, but this article makes me want to rethink all of my units through this lens.  Thinking about Process versus Product from Melanie Meehan offers some good ideas for end of the year reflection. I will definitely be using some of these. Students Led Mentor Text Talks by Tricia Ebarvia at Moving Writers lays out a template for students to break down a text. I love these easy to plan lessons that still provide students digging deep into the text. How to Become a More Credible Writing Teacher by Dave Stuart Jr. gives three practical ideas to help teachers be a more credible writing teacher. It’s easy as 1,2,3,. Bringing the Great American Read into the Classroom from NCTE has resources linked to the 100 most-loved books according to the Great American Read. This is a fantastic resource! Poem for Teacher ... KEEP READING

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Many classes of literature feature teachers who have been given the gift of time after the AP exam. The gift may be a few days or several weeks and may require great mental or imaginative faculties, collaborative efforts, or reflective emotional exercises. Offer students a gift which is a meaningful way to end a complex year. This gift should not be a burden or a handicap. You may choose a gift from the list below or another gift of comparable merit. Do not merely give busy work. Senior Footprint Project by  Karla Hilliard This is hailed as a “no fail” project for seniors with a 2-3 week duration.  This idea was taken from David Theriault who describes this project in the following words: “If the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything is 42, than the answer to senior malaise and everything wrong with the last few weeks of school is ... KEEP READING

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Do you know about #booksnaps by Tara Martin? Some of my teacher friends have used these across different grades and level, and I am incorporating them into my summer work as opposed to having students annotate. I’m excited to try something new! I love this idea of assigning a One Pager as a Culminating Activity from the Daring English Teacher and plan to use it with my freshmen next week. Vocabulary Activities from Emily Aierstok has 5 different vocabulary activities to download and ready to use. These are great! 20 Questions to Reflect on Your Teaching This Year so Next Year is Better by Terry Heick is just that – reflective questions. I will couple this with my anonymous student course surveys to reflect and plan for next year. 100 Days of Summer Writing at Moving Writers can be used by students or teacher who want to exercise their writing muscles over the summer. Writing teachers need to write, and these 10-minute activities will help you with your writing and teaching. ... KEEP READING

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Thanks to our new writers this year: Matt Brisbin, Beth Nakamura, Lindsey Schneider, and Amy Smith; we’re looking forward to learning more from you in the future. And many thanks to Amy Adams, Julie Adams, Karla Hillard, Jori Krulder, Jill Massey, Tia Miller, Adrian Nester, Roy Smith, and Melissa Smith for their continued contributions.  If you have a great lesson, favorite book, or classroom tip that you are willing to share, email me at susangbarber@gmail.com. Be sure to check out the Talks with Teachers Summer Book Club; it’s a great way to read and learn with friends. Enjoy the last few days with students and have a restful and enriching summer.  

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This post is a collaboration between Susan Barber (italicized) and Adrian Nester (non-italicized) who both read for Question 2 at the 2018 AP Lit Reading.  While many students felt like the prose passage was the hardest of the three prompts this year, most students were able to find something to say about Zenobia. The most successful essays realized that the relationship between Zenobia and the narrator was complex…as human relationships (and all AP prose prompts) often are. Below are a few observations from the reading: _______ diction This year’s prompt did not list any specific literary devices as suggestions; however, many, many students chose to discuss diction. Sometimes they put an adjective in front of diction or sometimes just said, “the author uses diction” which is essentially saying that the author uses words. Yes, yes he does. This also applies to syntax which several students also chose to write about but failed to characterize. (Other common ... KEEP READING

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Scores are out, and teachers are talking. The reality is we cannot ignore data, but at the same time we cannot let it define us either. I purposely choose to not post my stats publicly (but enjoy private conversations with friends who can help me unpack my scores) because comparison is a trap for me with me either feeling better  or worse about myself as a teacher or person than I should. Maybe I’m the only who struggles this way. More important than the score is what can we learn from our scores. Here are some questions to guide reflection: What do these numbers reflect Numbers and specifically information from the instructional report can show strengths and weaknesses in student performance which can be useful for curriculum planning. Are my numbers consistently low in pre-20th century poetry? I may need to spend more time focusing on older poems throughout the year. Do my students consistently score well ... KEEP READING

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School is starting soon (Wednesday, August 1st for me), and I want to dedicate the next few weeks showcasing resources that will help you start the year successfully. Today’s topic: #teachlivingpoets community and the #teachlivingpoets Twitter chat Melissa Smith founded #teachlivingpoets as a way to bring contemporary poetry to the classroom. She writes, “#TeachLivingPoets is more than a hashtag; it’s a movement of teachers who believe in the importance of teaching modern poetry. . . Through reading living poets, students are exposed to a prism of diverse voices. Poetry helps us to make sense of our world; it can put into words feelings that students may be having, but aren’t sure how to express. Poets can put language to experiences in our lives, and also help us to see into experiences that are different than our own. I believe that poetry absolutely affects societal change, and I hope students will find poetry as ignition to ... KEEP READING

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I am a jump in and get to work teacher who passes out the syllabus at the end of the first day but doesn’t address it until the second or third day. Many teachers believe that the first day should be about going over the rules, class expectations, and reviewing policies. I believe, however, that students know the expectations and “rules” through experience when the first day is set up as a normal class day. I change my first day activity each year and this year found inspiration from  Denise Trach on the AP Lit facebook page in a thread about first day activities. Denise posts, “Here’s what I do: I cut up the poem by Emily Dickinson–Faith is a Fine Invention–word by word. Put the poem into little ziplocks and group them in two or threes (randomly). I ask them to assemble the poem. I have the poem’s words on the smart board, too. ... KEEP READING

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Editor’s note: If you don’t know and follow Shanna Peeples, you’re missing out. Her work and voice in education since serving as the 2015 National Teacher of the Year continues to be solution-oriented and teacher-focused. And she’s one of us – an English teacher. When I heard that Shanna had a new book coming out about student questioning, I asked if she would be willing to share about this project with us. Here’s what she shared: During my first year of teaching high school, I had a class after lunch that was almost comically chaotic and difficult. Every 50-minute period was like an episode in a bad teenage movie. The students had their own agendas, didn’t seem to like each other, or me, or books, or school. What, I wondered, would happen if I set up an anonymous system for students to share what was going on inside them? If they could just see how ... KEEP READING

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Editor’s note: After taking the summer off and starting back to school, the weekly installments of Articles of the Week are back for the 2018-2019 school year. I’m excited to get back into the routine of reading and sharing articles. If any of you would like to be a help me curate information, please let me know at susangbarber@gmail.com. On a personal note, I changed schools this fall and am now teaching at Grady High School in Atlanta. I loved my time and learned so much at Northgate High School but needed a change to push me more in my personal and professional growth. If you’re ever in the Atlanta area, let me know; I would love to connect in person.  Don’t Grade Every Piece of Paper: 8 Strategies for More Efficient and Effective Grading from Bespoke Ela is at the top of my playlist this year. As Kelly Gallagher says, “students should be writing more than we ... KEEP READING

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Have you tried spotlight reading? It’s a great way for students to read like a writer and also allows them to dig deep into a text. Roy Smith explains how spotlight reading works here. Deeper Class Discussions posted by Cult of Pedagogy featuring a method that Marisa Thompson uses called TQE – thoughts, lingering questions, and epiphanies – to aid students into rich class discussions. This is simple but very effective. Students Learn More When They Do the Work by Catlin Tucker provides an excellent model of how students can do the heavy lifting in writing. If your students are not provided with opportunities to self assess their own work, they are missing out. The Cell Phone Solution from Talks with Teachers is a great approach to handling phones in the classroom. Keep your eyes on the prize. Literary Fun: 7 Ridiculous Book Anagrams found on the Parnassus Books website is a fun way to spend an extra five minutes in class – or have students do ... KEEP READING

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Protect Your Literacy Life is an open letter to students from an English teacher; if you only read one article this week, it should be this one on the Heinemann Blog. Using Google Sheets to Create Electronic Reading Logs from Free Tech for Teachers gives specific directions for keeping track of reading through Google sheets. I personally don’t use reading logs, but this seems so easy for both the students and teacher. Helping Students Read Like Writers by Allison Marchetti on the Moving Writer’s blog details how to scaffold activities for students to read like a writer. These ideas can be used for whole class lessons or broken down for warm up activities. Why We Need Libraries – An Essay in Pictures by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell is not only true but beautifully illustrated. Sometimes the simplest ideas have the biggest impact on teaching; this is one of those ideas to measure student progress during independent work. Poem of the Week: alternate names for black boys by Danez Smith in honor of ... KEEP READING

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