It’s not that there aren’t female characters in mythology.  It’s just that they’re often getting abducted (Persephone), blamed (Pandora), lusted after (Aphrodite) or all three (Hello, Helen). Not really role models for our students. Continue reading →

Last time on Next Time Teaching, we were talking about poems that work really well for teaching literary analysis skills for the AP Lit exam.  But you may teach younger kids, or kids who aren’t ready for that level of close reading.  So today I want to talk about poems that work well in the ELA classroom to get kids interested in poetry.

Do you have kids who dislike (even–gasp–hate) poetry?  Again, I wouldn’t shy away from teaching literary devices.  I know a lot of times with struggling readers we focus on their reactions and opinions.  But if I don’t like poetry, and don’t feel like I understand poetry, and then get asked “how does this poem make you feel?” I’m not going to have much to say.  Especially if there’s a right answer buried in the question (like the poem is supposed to make you feel sad, not angry, even though you have every right to feel angry for being asked that!). Continue reading →

image credit: Steve Johnson

What makes a poem great is a question that has, of course, been discussed for ages.  But I’m more interested in “what makes a poem great for teaching?”  And there are different teaching situations–great for having students see that poetry can speak to them, great for getting kids writing, great for extending the conversation about a longer work that you’re reading.

Today I want to focus on poems that are great for teaching the skills of reading poetry.  I’ve called them AP Literature poems because I think that’s often the class where we focus in the most depth on poetry reading skills.  But I’ve found that kids in a variety of classes really appreciate poetry reading skills.  A lot of them feel like poetry is something they don’t get, but they’d like to.  

So how do you teach them to get poetry?  I don’t shy away from poetic devices because I think they can be empowering tools for students.  What is a speaker and how is it different from the poet?  What does rhyme actually do to a poem?  Why do poets choose line and stanza breaks? These are all questions we tackle in a hands on way.   Continue reading →

image credit: Jerry Kirkhart

I love teaching storytelling!  The kids are motivated and love the opportunity to talk about themselves.  Writing comes naturally.  There are so many great connections to literature from The Odyssey to The Things They Carried.

Honestly, the biggest problem I’ve ever had with storytelling is teachers from different years fighting over who gets what in their curriculum because everyone wants a storytelling unit.  But given the right resources, there are a lot of different approaches you can take to storytelling, so that everyone can have their own unit.

So here are a dozen storytelling resources: Continue reading →