drvan
218 Followers
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
About the store
I have over 20 years teaching experience in high schools, adult ed, university and private tutoring. I have also taught at learning centres for middle school and high school-aged students.
My background is in English Language Arts and Art History, incorporating cultural studies and literary theory. Like many English teachers, I teach short stories, novels, Shakespeare, poetry, grammar, essay writing, media studies, and career preparation and planning.
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Chapter-By-Chapter - Reader Response Writing Assignment (The Chrysalids)
This is a four-page, fully editable, Word .docx document. It is an ongoing reader response journal assignment that I give my students when reading John Wyndham's novel, The Chrysalids. This writing assignment is used for each chapter of the novel. [BONUS: This assignment is *easily* adapted to any novel, and will still provide rich self-reflection and learning for students.] Good readers... make connections, make predictions, and empathize with characters. This journal assignment will deve
9th - 12th, Adult Education
Close Reading, English Language Arts, Writing
Also included in: The Ultimate Chrysalids Bundle (Ten Resources In One)
Real-Word Editing Grammar Diagnostic/Worksheet/Quiz - Using Cinderella Fairytale
I've often asked myself, "How effective are grammar worksheet that focus in on one error?" I don't think they are very useful because they don't use any meaningful or real-world writing. When we ask our students to proofread their work, it isn't a worksheet, but a piece of writing in which many errors can be present. This five-page document uses the well-known Cinderella story to present a real-world text to students. Students read and must locate the twenty-five grammatical errors in the sho
7th - 12th
English Language Arts, Grammar, Reading
Student(s) of the Month - Quick and Easy Online Form for Nominations
Most schools have a Student of the Month recognition system to honour and acclaim those students who represent the qualities that their schools hold dear. This resource makes doing so much easier, in all its facets: Requesting nominations of staff;Easily have staff submit students for nomination;Organize, review and analyze the nominations in one place, easy to view, organize and edit.Present the selected Students of the Month to the larger school community.NOMINATIONS:I have created a form (b
Classroom Community, For All Subjects, School Counseling
Welcome to Grade 8 - How to Prepare & What to Expect from High School
This is a 26-slide Google Slides Presentation and one-page Accompanying Handout on "How to Be Successful in High School." The presentation template is fully editable, allowing you to tailor it to your school and include photos and information as desired. The presentation provides a useful format to guide the structure of your presentation, whether you go into Grade 7 elementary classrooms at the end of the year (as I do), or when you welcome in the new batch of Grade 8s in September. In my
7th - 8th
School Counseling
Sonnet Quiz - One-Page Quiz with One-Page Answer Key (Editable)
Here is a quick quiz I give my students after I teach them about sonnets. It is editable to meet your needs (to add or delete questions as the case may be). More often, I use it as a worksheet and have the student work in pairs to figure out the answers, using their cellphone or computers to research the answers. This quiz is made up of 11 questions: 2 questions specifically about Italian sonnets;6 questions specifically about Shakespearean/Elizabethan sonnets; and3 questions about sonnets more
8th - 12th
English Language Arts, Literature, Poetry
Poetic Terms Notes and Accompanying Quiz with Answer Key
In order to have students able to discuss poetry with meaning and intent, I have designed these poetry notes and accompanying quiz. As a class, we go over these notes, usually over four days (a page per day). Then students are told to study those notes to prepare for a quiz. What they do not know is the quiz will be these notes, almost exactly. All they will have to do is fill in the blanks. I have put this up as a Word document to allow for easy editing. For example, I often delete more
8th - 12th
English Language Arts, Literature, Poetry
Poetry Terms Quiz / Test / Worksheet
This is a one-page, twelve question (15 mark) Poetry Terms Quiz that I use for my Grade 9 English students as a general poetry terms knowledge assessment. I often have students work in pairs and use this as a worksheet or pre-quiz to get them ready for a more comprehensive quiz. It is Word document and, therefore, fully editable to suit your needs. The Answer Key is included. Two multiple-choice, four matching, four fill-in-the-blank, and two short-answer questions. Terms Tested: alliteration
8th - 12th, Adult Education
English Language Arts, Poetry, Vocabulary
Interim Incomplete Report (I-Report) / Notice to Parents
Here are two different versions of an Interim / I-Report (Incomplete Report) I have used in my classes. It is a fully editable Word .docx that can be changed to meet your needs. As some students struggle to succeed in a course, this I-Report can be used to help identify those areas / skills / behaviours that require attention in order for the student to have the best chance of success. It goes home to parent / guardians as a formal communication of their child's academic needs and as a way to
7th - 12th
For All Subjects
The Hokey Pokey: Shakespearean Style (PowerPoint & Worksheet)
A FUN Shakespearean one-off poetry lesson (with poetry/creative writing extensions, as well). As you know, Shakespeare’s tragedies are very dark; they showcase the worst aspects of human nature. So this is a light, amusing Shakespearean poem to break and ease the mood. Good this resource is appropriate for any Shakespearean unit. Contained herein: A sixteen-slide PowerPoint.Five pages in worksheetsThe PowerPoint offers a "slow reveal" of this amusing Shakespearean version of "The Hokey Poke
8th - 12th, Adult Education, Higher Education
English Language Arts, Literature, Poetry
Getting Students to "Rate the Teacher" at Semester / Year-End
~ Engage your students at the end of the semester / year.
~ Allow students to provide you with meaningful (anonymous) feedback on your classroom instruction.
~ Learn what worked well (and not so well) from students’ perspectives, and incorporate that feedback into your best teaching practice in the future.
~ Fully Editable Word Document, so that you can alter it should you need to, in order to meet your own personal needs.
Although it may seem rather scary to do, I find it invaluable to allow
8th - 12th
English Language Arts, For All Subjects
Ongoing Journaling Assignment — The Easiest English Marking of Your Career!
Fully-editable Word .docx Students need to write more than their teachers need to read (and evaluate) their writing. I say this not to be glib, but to highlight the reality, there is great value in the doing. How does anyone get to be a better writer? By writing, and writing a lot. And yet the teacher does not need to read every word a student produces in order for that student to improve. Rather, it is by having students write, write, write —sprinkled with lessons on writing skills, strat
7th - 12th, Adult Education
Creative Writing, English Language Arts, Writing
Counselling Appointment Slips (in pdf & Excel file-format)
This is a series of appointment slips used to make counselling appointments with your students. The series includes a generic version that you can immediately print off (4 to a page) with no editing required. The others are in Excel format, and you can include counsellors' names, school names, and even include your school logo, if you wish.What I like about these slips is that they act as a communication tool between counsellor and teacher, requiring signatures from each.PROCESS FOR COUNSELLIN
8th - 12th
School Counseling, School Psychology
Quick and Easy Individual Novel Response - Written Summative Report (any novel)
Not every book report should be laborious for the student to write, nor onerous on the teacher to mark. The love should be in the reading! So, I designed this fast and easy book report which keeps students accountable to their reading, while not punishing the teacher to reader "yet another book report ." The skills here are not new: students will practice what good readers do: Good readers VISUALIZE. (Task: Draw the protagonist; draw a new title page.)Good readers SUMMARIZE. (Task: Summarize
6th - 11th
Literature, Reading
Form for Student-Request Letter of Reference
Whether as a teacher, a school counsellor, or an administrator, you have likely been asked to provided a reference letter to a student, either for post-secondary education or for a prospective employer. This four-page product creates a valuable teaching moment, and places more responsibility into the hands of the student. When asked for a letter of reference, simply hand the student this document and request that it is filled out. Included is a list of questions that will highlight their stren
10th - 12th, Adult Education, Higher Education
For All Subjects, School Counseling
The Kite Runner: Five Illustrations Assignment (QUICK TO MARK)
This a different way to have students demonstrate their comprehension and deeper understanding of the novel, The Kite Runner. It is a five-part assignment where students visually represent the novel at five scheduled intervals while they read. With each part, students write an accompanying paragraph to explain their illustrations. This is a handout to give and go over with your students. It explains the assignment fully and provides a RUBRIC for the visual and written work. What I love abou
10th - 12th, Adult Education
Close Reading, English Language Arts, Literature
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About the store
Experience
I have over 20 years teaching experience in high schools, adult ed, university and private tutoring. I have also taught at learning centres for middle school and high school-aged students.
My background is in English Language Arts and Art History, incorporating cultural studies and literary theory. Like many English teachers, I teach short stories, novels, Shakespeare, poetry, grammar, essay writing, media studies, and career preparation and planning.
Teaching style
My philosophy of education centres on interdisciplinary studies and the development of critical reasoning skills. I believe that as modern life becomes increasingly complex and interconnected the need to teach how all subject areas interact is ever more important. As such, I habitually infuse my lessons with visual and popular culture, demonstrating how the material is relevant to students’ lives and thereby making it more accessible. Similarly, I contextualize the source material to its socio-political milieu to facilitate learning while students uncover how a text’s meaning changes over time.
Awards & shining teacher moments
Outstanding Teaching Practicum Award
My own education history
B.Ed., B.A., and M.Ed in School Counselling.
Additional biographical information
I'm a nineteenth-century boy, stuck in a twenty-first-century body.
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