How Robots in English Class Can Spark Empathy and Improve Writing

Posted onJuly 28, 2016

Mention robots to many English teachers and they’ll immediately point down the hall to the science classroom or to the makerspace, if they have one. At many schools, if there’s a robot at all, it’s located in a science or

Books Teachers Share: Ray Salazar and The Alchemist

Posted onJune 17, 2016

Educator and blogger Ray Salazar, who teaches junior and senior AP English in Chicago Public Schools on the Southwest side, said a book that has been significant to his teaching was The Alchemist, by Brazilian writer Paolo Coelho. The short

How Can Schools Better Identify Gifted English Language Learners?

Posted onApril 12, 2016

Of the 3 million students identified as gifted in the U.S., English Language Learners are by far the most underrepresented. And nobody knows that better than 17-year-old Alejandra Galindo. “It’s just kind of hard to not see people who look

Why Teachers Shouldn’t Ignore Literature’s Emotional Lessons For Students

Posted onApril 8, 2016

Sometimes English class can seem like an endless litany of literary devices and structured argumentative essays. But that’s not why most English teachers love what they teach — they love the way art reflects real life in all its confusion,

How to Cultivate Student Agency in English Language Learners

Posted onApril 4, 2016

Excerpted from Navigating the Common Core with English Language Learners: Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills by Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull-Sypnieski, published by Jossey-Bass. This section is from the chapter, “Creating the Conditions for English Language Learners to Be Successful in the Common Core

Apply to a U.S. Online Graduate Program as an International Student

Posted onMarch 25, 2016

Consider English language proficiency requirements and whether there’s an in-person component requiring travel, experts say.

Why Listening to Podcasts Helps Kids Improve Reading Skills

Posted onMarch 18, 2016

English teacher Michael Godsey is an early adopter of podcasts as a teaching tool in his high school. At first he used episodes of This American Life and Serial because he was impressed by the critical thinking and engagement he saw

Rubrics: An Undervalued Teaching Tool

Posted onFebruary 15, 2016

English teachers know a few things about managing the paper load. But managing isn’t leading. We should do more than manage the load; we should lead our students through the writing process (invention, drafting, and revising) to help them become

The Creative Writing Assignment

Posted onJanuary 26, 2016

High school English teacher Alexa Schlechter was used to having a mix of students — those who really wanted to learn creative writing alongside kids who were just looking for class credit. Like many teachers, most of her attention was dominated by

What Can Be Done To Improve Parent-Teacher Communication?

Posted onNovember 17, 2015

It’s not that high school English teacher Mike S. is opposed, exactly, to communicating with the parents of the kids he teaches. It’s just that the idea of calling or emailing parents directly, in the absence of a compelling need,