Last spring, we presented Building a Reading Culture at the MCTE annual conference because we wanted to share our passion for fostering a love of reading with our students and because we felt like we had a few tips, tricks, and ideas that might come in handy for other teachers. However, we learned just as … Continue reading Building A Reading Culture: A Labor of Love and a Shared Passion for All Things Literacy by Katie Laugen and Kelsey Didrikson
Using Film to Teach Style by Susan Decker
The elusive concept of style is all around us – from those HGTV buzzwords like “Dutch colonial” and “farmhouse” to the revolving door of fashion trends like vintage, couture, and athleisure. However, despite our constant engagement with style, our students have a difficult time identifying an author’s particular style, often simplifying their observations to bland, … Continue reading Using Film to Teach Style by Susan Decker
Offering a Hand Up: Insights and Aid for First-Generation Students by Whitney Jacobson
*Essay adapted from a 2022 MCTE Spring Conference presentation I have taught at the university level for over nine years. I’m the editor of Confluence (formerly CLArion), the annual newsletter of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I’m also an assistant editor of Split Rock Review, a … Continue reading Offering a Hand Up: Insights and Aid for First-Generation Students by Whitney Jacobson
Story Train: A Strategy for Retelling, Summarizing, and Sequencing by Jongsun Wee
Reading is not an easy task for young readers. Children need to practice various reading strategies to become skillful readers. A lot of reading strategies have been shared with educators through professional books and websites.[1] Simple keywords searches on the internet will also bring many resources for teachers, including how-to videos and downloadable worksheets. Indeed, … Continue reading Story Train: A Strategy for Retelling, Summarizing, and Sequencing by Jongsun Wee
Reimagining Teaching Middle School English with Digital Tools by Cami Christman and Lan Vu
The touch of a keyboard replaces the turn of a page, just one of the many ways that digital tools have transformed the educational landscape. Today’s educational experience is saturated with technology. Screen time has become a normal part of the school day for sixth grade students everywhere, and often replaces the use of pencil … Continue reading Reimagining Teaching Middle School English with Digital Tools by Cami Christman and Lan Vu
Using Mnemonics to Comprehend Narrative by Evan Vargas
Stories are everywhere; they seem to be things we gravitate to. As teachers we see the importance of narratives, for they allow us to make connections to the world and deepen our understanding of ourselves. Teaching students how to both enjoy a story and notice patterns that help them better connect to the world, however, … Continue reading Using Mnemonics to Comprehend Narrative by Evan Vargas
The Over-Simplified Guide to Creating Courses, Unit Plans, & Lessons by Jean Prokott
Congratulations! You get to write your own course. What happens next? Here’s a list of ten steps that will make this whole process look a lot easier than it is: RESEARCH What is the name of the course, and what are the state, district, school, and department objectives for the course? What is the theme … Continue reading The Over-Simplified Guide to Creating Courses, Unit Plans, & Lessons by Jean Prokott
Didn’t I See That Before?: Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” Seen in Saw & Saw IV by T. Madison Peschock
For the past decade, the humanities have been on the decline, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) courses have been on the rise. As recent as February 2020, InsideHigher Ed.com reported that many “humanities programs had been frozen in line with what [is] described as a national trend of declining student interest in these … Continue reading Didn’t I See That Before?: Edgar Allan Poe’s “Cask of Amontillado” Seen in Saw & Saw IV by T. Madison Peschock
What Matters in the Classroom? A Pre-Survey by Jean Prokott
(Download a .docx version of this survey here) Below are various factors that make a successful classroom. Please rank them in the order of which you think is most important (1) to less important (12). On the back of the sheet, justify your order/explain your process. Then, create a graphic organizer that represents how each … Continue reading What Matters in the Classroom? A Pre-Survey by Jean Prokott
From Café to Class: Bringing Book Clubs Into Your Classroom by Hayley Vetsch
It’s easy to discuss books if you like to read. Hobby reading comes easily to most of us English teachers, but I’d wager that it is one of the hardest things to teach in the classroom. In a time where longform is not the popular choice and 140-character essays reign, you can almost hear the … Continue reading From Café to Class: Bringing Book Clubs Into Your Classroom by Hayley Vetsch
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