English Education Articles for Teachers - Page 5

It’s well known that there’s a slip from the last day of school to the first day of the following school year, and it’s pretty easy to understand why. Kids spend much less of their time reading and writing. They trade their pens and books for flip-flops and video games. Teachers and parents can w...

Do you remember the first book you read by Ernest Hemingway? Most likely, the experience was a memorable one that led you on a journey to explore the author’s other works. For me, this moment came when I read The Sun Also Rises. I fully immersed myself in the world that Hemingway created. I could...

In most textbooks, after each short story, poem, or play, there is a short blurb about the author, listing his or her achievements and briefly detailing his or her life. When working with the textbook, I often skip or skim over this part, dismissing the importance of an author’s life and the impa...

There is a tendency for teachers to give students a handout with a list of must-read books and ask them to get going. While this is a necessary practice during the school year, summer reading should be more flexible; giving students a chance to explore new genres.  One way to encourage your ...

When expert readers read a complex text, and even a simple text, they do a number of things other than simply read. They note the main ideas, pose internal questions, make predictions, notice new and unknown terminology, pick out their favorite and least favorite parts of a text, and more. These ...

A Change in Careers: From Tech to Teaching  If I were to choose a word to describe the first forty-three years of my life, spent in the same small town in New Jersey, it would have to be consistent. I frequented the same supermarket, gas station, and deli. I even watched the same DVD’s ...

I still remember the first time I read "The Tell-Tale Heart" and realized that I was listening to the unreliable narration of someone who was clearly insane. Since then, I have always enjoyed stories where (as one of my college professors was fond of saying) you see "crazy from the inside ou...

We usually discuss metaphors in our English classes during a poetry unit or as a persuasive technique. When we teach metaphors, we explain that their purpose is to make a comparison between two unlike things in order to bring clarity. When covering how to use metaphors as persuasive techniques, i...

Whether they are part of advertisements, on the Internet, in a magazine, or in a newspaper, most of our pupils see photographs every day. But what goes into these publications before the images are ready to be viewed by the public? Inform your class about technology and visual representation with...

This summer, Baz Luhrmann’s long-anticipated adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby will be in theaters. While Baz Luhrmann can sometimes be controversial due to the liberties he takes, particularly with his anachronistic soundtracks, his visual style seems very complementary t...

For many of us, animals hold a symbolic and personal importance in our lives. This importance is reflected in the way we include them in our everyday routines, and in the way we write about them in literature. While animals become symbols and form parts of complex allegories and comparisons, they...

I listen to music every chance I get, and my love for this absence of silence began back in high school. Play off your pupils' love for music by bringing music into your classroom to develop their understanding of literary devices and the effect they have on the written word. Better yet, prepare ...

For high school seniors, this time of year is all about prom, senior skip day, final exams, scholarship applications, friends, senior pictures, family, caps and gowns, and graduation plans. Add these all together and sometimes it equals the well-known, but dreaded, SENIORITIS. We were all seniors...

Many historians believe that William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564. This often-quoted poet and playwright’s legend extends over centuries and across cultures. The mystery surrounding his life, as well as the debate over authorship of some of his works, only add intrigue to this literary ...

While this may not be the case in every eighth grade class, I know that in mine, when I mention that we are going to read, there is a collective groan. And yet, when I say we are going to watch a movie, most of the class whispers, “Yes!” I want my students to read and enjoy reading, and I would l...