Author: Lauren Crowley
Interpreting Imagery with Harlem by Langston Hughes
My students of all ages have a difficult time incorporating textual evidence into their writing. Once we get past the punctuation hurdles, not to mention choosing evidence that actually works as suc... Read More
Make a Metaphor Task Cards
When teaching students about metaphor, simile, and personification, I try to encourage them to incorporate these descriptive tools into their own writing, not just to identify them in a poem. This t... Read More
Using Participles to Describe
When teaching students to write descriptively, I make sure to model for them different grammatical constructions for them to implement in their own writing. I try to limit the amount of grammar jar... Read More
Combing Sentences With Present Participles
Always encouraging my students to write in more concise sentences, I find it helpful to show them various ways to combine sentences while maintaining clarity. One way to do this is by using particip... Read More
Keep Track of Independent Reading
If your school requires that you keep track of students’ independent reading, if you want to encourage budding new readers with choice reading, or you want to reward students for doing copious a... Read More
How to Use Mentor Sentences in a Secondary ELA Classroom
When teaching grammar, I have often been guilty of teaching concepts in isolation and then drilling students with worksheets and the occasional game. Or I will have students do a quick warm up or ex... Read More
The Sniper: Writing for Pacing
The Sniper, by Liam O’Flaherty, is a great short story to teach the basic elements of a story, including setting, climax, resolution, and plot twist. I also find it an excellent story to intro... Read More
Of Mice and Men Unit Reading Packet and Activities
Of Mice and Men is one novel that I have had consistent success teaching to students of many different backgrounds. I’ve taught this book to ELLs, struggling readers, gifted readers, reluctan... Read More