The Reflective Reader

Do these thesis statements look familiar? - This essay will be about.... - Harper Lee does a great job showing that empathy is important... - Have you ever thought about what it takes to be courageous? How to Write a Literary Analysis Thesis Statement will give your students the framework to help them craft powerful, arguable thesis statements. And it will save you from tearing your hair out after reading "In this paper, I will discuss..." thesis statements! This 2-page handout walks st

When my students write about fiction and nonfiction, I strive to get them to move beyond the boundaries of the book -- what is the author telling us about ourselves and the world around us? This document helps students build paragraphs around that idea. They must first identify an author's stylistic and rhetorical choices and then connect them with the author's overall purpose and meaning. Most writing instruction for paragraphs includes the three major ingredients in a well-constructed body

Even some of our brightest kids will inevitably ask us, “Why do we have to read this? It’s so boring!” These reading prompts aren’t the typical study guides that merely ask students to read and answer a series of questions after looking at a list of vocab words. It’s nice if students can tell us what Scout’s full name is in To Kill a Mockingbird, but is that really what we want them to take away from reading such a powerful book about justice, racism, and the power of empathy? Let’s face it. T

If you're teaching Mary Shelley's Frankenstein you need this 57-page reading guide for your students! This guide covers all three volumes of the novel with reading activities that will keep your students engaged and challenged throughout your unit. My reading guides are organized into three key sections: pre-reading background, reading focus, and post-reading activities. The pre-reading background (seen in the “Background” sections of each reading guide) introduces essential context, helping

This simulation project immerses students in the totalitarian regime envisioned by George Orwell. Students spend the day with limited rights, compete for points, and engage in spying - some are even the Thought Police! This is a great opportunity for students to truly understand the beauty and power of speech and freedom. It's a fun way to bring Orwell's dystopia to life! Includes: * Teacher Instructions * Student Handout with rules for simulation * Faculty/Staff Handout with rules for simulat

A frequent question we writing teachers get is how to write a paragraph. Most writing instruction for paragraphs includes the three major ingredients in a well-constructed body paragraph: the topic sentence, support, and a concluding sentence. What these guides fail to show kids is what "support" looks like and how to go about crafting it. This guide gives them concrete, clear instruction how to write those supportive sentences. I've also included a sample paragraph based on Of Mice and Men.

It's tough to be objective when you're grading essays. These rubrics give you and your students a consistent framework. No more "guess what the teacher wants this time" for students! These essay rubrics take the mystery out of how to write top-level essays by describing exactly what's expected in sophisticated writing. Each level on the 9-point scale offers detailed descriptions of strengths and weaknesses. I use these in my sophomore honors and AP Lang classes. My students appreciate the consis

Congratulations! You’ve just made a huge step in demystifying reading for your students! As English and reading teachers, most of us are natural readers who intuitively pick up on the mysteries of good writing and engage in reading. We want to know what comes next. We love seeing our predictions come true or get wildly twisted. It’s natural to us. Not so for many of our students; even some of our brightest kids will inevitably ask us, “Why do we have to read this? It’s so boring!”   That’s wher

Even some of our brightest kids will inevitably ask us, “Why do we have to read this? It’s so boring!” That’s where reading prompts come in. These guides aren’t the typical study guides that merely ask students to read and answer a series of questions after looking at a list of vocab words. It’s nice if students can tell us what Scout’s full name is in To Kill a Mockingbird, but is that really what we want them to take away from reading such a powerful book about justice, racism, and the power