Ken Wolfe
160 Followers
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
About the store
30 years' experience teaching English/Comm. Arts in the middle school, high school and collegiate level. Courses range from standard Middle School English courses to exploratory courses ("Great Productions" video production, "Books with Spines" advanced literature study for Middle School scholars, etc.) to High School varieties (Science Fiction, Satire, Horror, English Lit., Western Lit., etc.). College courses include Storytelling, Satire, Media Literacy and Speculative Fiction.
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Locker Cleanout! Making Inferences in the Hallway
If one's scholars are struggling with making inferences or deductive reasoning, this activity may be of help. When a scholar works with "Locker Cleanout!", she/he will review the contents of sundry fictional scholars' lockers, then answer question based on the evidence presented.
For example, one of the scholar's locker contains:
• Several LEGO mini-figures
• An encouraging note from his mom
• A picture from his dad's deployment
• Wrist and shin guards
• A beat up Physics text
• A pristine
6th - 8th
English Language Arts, Other (ELA), Reading Strategies
The Hero's Journey in Film
As your class examines the ancient story pattern, The Hero's Journey, your scholars will find it useful to see the pattern in our modern context of film. This worksheet is a companion to whatever Hero's Journey-related film you plan to screen, and can be used during pauses of the screening or afterwards in discussion with equal effect.
The Hero's Journey in Film by Ken Wolfe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
6th - 9th
English Language Arts, Literature, Reading
Grimmer Grammar - Types of Sentences
Of course, grammar instruction is necessary, but must it be so normal? Must our scholars endure such vanilla, run-of-the-mill, generic material? Honestly, if I see one more "[dull name] went to the [dull place] to get [dull objective]" sentence I really will have to thrust my entire head into a vat of warm pudding.
Grimmer Grammar is here to stave off the everyday, pedestrian material that blunts the scholars' senses until they loathe learning grammar. Using entertainingly weird, light-hearted
6th - 9th
English Language Arts, Grammar
Critique Directions - Peer Editing
This handout, meant mostly for creative pieces, gives detailed and helpful goals or peer editing and writing critique. Divided into two sections, "Stuff to Look For*" and "Stuff to Do", this page gives the scholars helpful perspective on the things for which they are searching and their important purpose and duty when giving their perspective on a colleague's piece of writing.
The handout is presented in a whimsical fashion, keeping the ideas light and accessible, but underscoring that this ta
6th - 12th
Creative Writing, English Language Arts, Writing-Essays
JabberCube
A tool for the kinesthetic learner in pursuit of memorizing Jabberwocky. The scholar decorates the sides of the cube in various directions, fonts, styles, colors, etc., surrounding the correct text of one stanza for each side. Having made sure it's accurate, the scholar cuts out the box along the pattern, folds along the lines and tapes/glues at the tabs.
In their fingers is, then, a cube with each stanza represented (and the seventh repeated on the first side. Clever.). As she/he turns the cu
6th - 8th
English Language Arts, Literature, Poetry
Stretch Your Voices
The concepts of Narrative Voice (Point of View, that is; 1st Person, Third Person Limited, Third Person Omniscient) and Conflict (internal and external) take time to be able to discern and intentionally create. "Stretch Your Voices" is both a review and writing activity, bundled in one.
Once your scholars have tackled the concept of narrative voice, "Stretch Your Voices" will give them a chance to create their own short scenes based on three scenarios provided on the first two pages.
The thi
7th - 10th
English Language Arts, Reading, Writing
Your Brands & You
As an introduction to a discussion of "emotional branding," this worksheet is useful for bringing the concept home to the scholars' own lives.
The scholars list their favorite brands in several categories from shoes to phones to brands of deordorant, then consider and list the special qualities, the "mojo," that makes the brand so very attractive to them. Once decided, the scholar will consider what their use of the brand "says" to others about them.
This worksheet prepares the scholars for
7th - 9th
English Language Arts
The Silence Project
As a culmination or introduction to the concept of media literacy and consumer awareness, this exercise challenges the scholars to defy their cultural expectations of constant movement and mental stimulation.
The Silence Project requires that, during the course of ten days, the scholars find five minutes a day in which to be alone, alert and silent. Those three are the operative words. They are to be without company or distraction (including pets, books, electronics, etc.), sitting up with head
6th - 9th
English Language Arts
The Gift of the Magi - Vocabulary Matching Exercise
O. Henry's classic tale of mutual sacrifice for the sake of love is a fine piece of literature to introduce to one's scholars. Depending on the age and reading level of those scholars, this great short story can challenge scholars with examples advanced vocabulary.
Preloading vocabulary aids in scholars' comprehension by providing understanding of difficult or unfamiliar words before the scholar is reading the piece, turning stumbling blocks into paving stones.
This exercise (a companion pie
7th - 10th
English Language Arts, Short Stories, Vocabulary
The Magic Nine of Active Listening
The Magic Nine of Active Listening is an exercise and application of the scholars' ability to take QuickNotes during a video, audio or live presentation. QuickNotes are words, short phrases, and snippets that are easy to jot down without losing one's thread of attention to the presentation.
Having collected thoughts and ideas from the material, the scholars express three items that they have learned, formulate three questions that they have, and draw three conclusions.
The format of the work
6th - 8th
English Language Arts, Informational Text
The Little Giant Book of Literary Terms - PDF/Cards
A PDF collection of widely accepted definitions for thirty literary terms formatted in a charming, old-fashioned style. Suitable for posting around the room, copying into a booklet or reducing to flashcards.
The formatted terms include:
Alliteration
Allusion
Atmosphere
Character
Conflict
Connotation
Denotation
Dialogue
Drama
Essay
Fiction
Figure of Speech
Flashback
Foreshadowing
Imagery
Irony
Main Idea
Metaphor
Nonfiction
Onomatopoeia
Personification
Plot
Poetry
Point of View
Setting
Simile
St
7th - 12th
English Language Arts, Other (ELA), Vocabulary
The Little Giant Book of Literary Terms - PDF
In PDF form: a collection of widely accepted definitions for thirty literary terms formatted in a charming, old-fashioned style. Suitable for posting around the room, copying into a booklet or reducing to flashcards.
The formatted terms include:
Alliteration
Allusion
Atmosphere
Character
Conflict
Connotation
Denotation
Dialogue
Drama
Essay
Fiction
Figure of Speech
Flashback
Foreshadowing
Imagery
Irony
Main Idea
Metaphor
Nonfiction
Onomatopoeia
Personification
Plot
Poetry
Point of View
Setting
7th - 10th
English Language Arts, Literature, Vocabulary
Showing 1-12 of 12 results
About the store
Experience
30 years' experience teaching English/Comm. Arts in the middle school, high school and collegiate level. Courses range from standard Middle School English courses to exploratory courses ("Great Productions" video production, "Books with Spines" advanced literature study for Middle School scholars, etc.) to High School varieties (Science Fiction, Satire, Horror, English Lit., Western Lit., etc.). College courses include Storytelling, Satire, Media Literacy and Speculative Fiction.
Teaching style
Neo-Classical, fortified and enriched with humor, ritual, storytelling, lots of strange accents, year-long spiraling content, long-term projects and random, edifiying scholar activities.
Awards & shining teacher moments
Best of Brentwood, 2005
My own education history
Baylor University, B.S.Ed., 1991
Webster University, M.A.T. (Storytelling and Creative Drama), 2001
Additional biographical information
By day, Ken Wolfe has spent twenty-eight years teaching St. Louisan middle and high school scholars mastery in the ways of English. By night, it's been narrative lies and tall tales to anyone who will listen and pay him. He's a champion of the middle school underdog, four-time winner of the Missouri State Liars Contest, a leading professor of storytelling at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, a published poet, a regular in the hip St. Louis storytelling scene, a unicycling coach, and a nascent author of darkly droll adolescent spy fiction. (Wun, a story of the crumbling ruins of a Bond-esque villain's lair in the jungles of Brazil and the boy who, on a mission trip to the same region, stumbles upon it to find the evil scheme it houses still active and malevolent.)
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