HC English Department

ease in to inquiry

reading non-fiction as inquiry - plug in author for scientists in the chart to add an inquiry angle to the text.

"Consider this a public-service announcement in the wake of Monday's National Grammar Day. Here are seven rules you really (really!) don't have to worry about following."

Tips for creative instruction

"McPhee has now published more than thirty books, work that first appeared in the pages of The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1963. He's written about Alaska (Coming into the Country), the Swiss Army (La Place de la Concorde Suisse), and an island in Scotland's Inner Hebrides (The Crofter and the Laird). His subjects have included the atomic bomb, the environmental movement, the U.S. Merchant Marine, Russian art, and fishing. Four books on geology. Three on transport. Two on sports. One book entirely about oranges. He has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Annals of the Former World, his comprehensive survey of North American geology. His work has inspired generations of nonfiction writers, and he has distinguished himself especially as a teacher of literary journalism." This is an interview with him about writing and teaching.

Homework studies - how much should kids do?

Good overview of competency grading - common assessment use and PLCs

Love this idea. Is there a way to get names from the school-based counselors of students who need a love letter, and have our classes write letters to those particular students?

How to handle the writing load - comments to students

A teacher website with vocabulary games and unit design resources

Simple blog on what we all aspire to in our practice

Inquiry learning classrooms and supports for them

Simple descriptors of project-problem based learning and inquiry

For those of you who do the six word story - this lesson focuses on close reading and word choice.

Great reading and writing strategies blog

How to balance technology and key skill development

"In the 1990s, the National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading Association established national standards for English language arts learners that anticipated the more sophisticated literacy skills and abilities required for full participation in a global, 21st century community. The selected standards, listed in the appendix, served as a clarion call for changes underway today in literacy education."

Possibly an article to use with The Crucible.