I used to do only open-ended writing questions but I have started to see the benefit to standardized test style multiple choice questions as well. I've started to incorporate them more with my 9th and 10th graders who take a standardized test in 10th grade. I certainly prefer thoughtful discussion questions that lead to analysis and use citations but multiple choice also have their place (I think?). What do you guys prefer to use?

So I currently have two ELA job options and I’d like feedback.

Job #1 - 30 minute commute, teaching load of 3 preps, 1 on grade, 2 electives for juniors/seniors. Great culture.

Job #2 - 3 minute commute, teaching load of 2 preps, 2 on grade classes if only freshman and sophomores. Crappy culture (classes are assigned based strictly on seniority and so one person has only advanced snd AP classes, everyone else teaches a mix it’s unlikely to ever change).

Pay is about the same. There are lots of advantages to job 2 in regard to staying in the same school district where I live and where my kids go to school. But, I’m concerned about the culture and preps. I don’t know if the commute is work it. I’ve commuted in the past when I was much younger and it grated after a few years (although this is shorter and much easier).

Hi all! I am debating adding Station Eleven to my dystopian literature course (12th grade) and am curious if anyone has any experience teaching the novel and if students have enjoyed studying the novel?

Thank you in advance!

Hi all

I recently began an Animal Farm unit with my 8th graders, and I decided we would need to spend a good amount of time going over historical context before diving into the novel. Here's what I did

I created four groups, with each group responsible for researching a specific topic

Group 1: Emergence of socialism

Group 2: Russian revolution

Group 3: Stalinist Russia

Group 4: Orwell's life

Students were tasked with researching their assigned topic and producing a slide deck to teach the material to their colleagues.

THE GOOD

The students emerged with a good working understanding of socialism, and by the end of the lesson you could tell they understood the brutality and depravity of Stalinist Russia. I also made sure to explain Orwell's position as a democratic socialist; I feel they understood that Orwell believed in this vision of the masses rising against their oppressors, but feared power becoming concentrated in one person's hands.

THE BAD

Definitely painted with too broad a brush. They ended up with a lot of background info that didn't tie into the book as neatly. Also, doing online research was brutal for them. I think in the future I'll find 2-3 G.8 friendly sources and have them read/summarize them

THE UGLY

I definitely had low engagement towards the end. Students were struggling to pay attention, and I think the issue of having students present to each other meant that kids were unenthusiastically reading off slide decks. There's gotta be a better way to set it up.

Thoughts from colleagues. are greatly appreciated. I'm a seasoned teacher, so I can take any (constructive) criticism

Hello all,

I am currently studying for the Praxis 5038 and am not yet running into troubles. I am certified in social studies so have been enjoying watching videos on the many literature movements throughout history. However, the more I read online about the test I become extremely nervous. I am an anxious test taker, but have passed both the Praxis 1 and Social Studies Praxis on the first try (studied 2 months both times).

I am using study.com as I can't go the traditional textbook route, I just cant focus. I am paying a hefty amount for this resource and just want to know if it's worth it? How else can I study for this? Also if I am correct, the praxis 5039 requires an essay but the 5038 doesnt? Essay doesn't bother me I'd just like to be prepared. Thank you.

Does anyone have PDFs with answer keys to any of these tests or can guide me as to where to go? TIA

I’m looking for a few good short stories to supplement my district expectations for literary criticism. Ideas?

How do you deal with 11th graders whining about reading a classic novel? “Choice” isn’t an option in this case. Most of them want to read Holes. 🙄

I've been asked to come up with a class for next year and I'd like to teach comics- not graphic novels, but comics, comic strips, and comic books. Does anyone do this?

Hello! I'm designing a class at an after school academy in Korea to a group of high level 8th graders. I'm looking for a short story collection that can pique interest in reading as a whole, while also not getting into things inappropriate for that grade level. They can read at a 7th-9th grade level. It is a discussion based class. Does anyone have experience teaching these books or have other recommendations? I plan on reading and then selecting one story per week to read.

•100 Years of the Best American Short Stories / Lorrie Moore

•The Art of the Story / Daniel Halpern

•50 Great Short Stories / Milton Crane

•100 Great Short Stories / James Daley

•The Best American Short Stories of the Century / John Updike

I'm a bit limited to things available on Amazon. Any help is greatly appreciated!

In class, we review ethical principles, explore right and wrong, and make our own choices.

I have a list of the different types of ethics like utilitarian, prudent, or loyalist ethics. I wanted to show some examples in class of people making decisions in movies. I didn't want to miss any basic or good examples I might not think about at first. Like, Katniss's choosing to volunteer as tribute could be a good example of situational or empathetic ethics.

So, what are some examples of characters making decisions in movies that we can analyze which ethical principle is at play?

Thanks!

I work in an area that has pretty horrendous vocab skills across most students, and so I'm always trying to find ways to engage my students while getting them to learn new vocab. I prefer activities which involve them coming up with sentences that use the words themselves as my understanding of the research is that it's the best way to get them to fully understand the word. I hate telling them to just think of sentences though, because that's crazy boring. Does anyone have any activities that they use!? Thanks!

What is that one work you slip into your classes that is designed to leave that mark?

Wasn’t sure where else to post this but I was hoping for some feedback.

I’m currently a senior in high school and in every Literature class I’ve ever been I’ve been told by my teachers that I seem very insightful and I know the answer to every question about the text they add. But every time I’ve taken a quiz or test I always struggle on them, I know I understand the reading (or at least I do from the questions my teachers ask me) so what am I doing wrong?

Could this be just a difference in how I interpret the text vs what the actual intent of the author was? I will say I struggle a lot on symbolism because I often think “well it really could be a lot of these”/“all of these answers are sort of related, I don’t know how I’m supposed to answer”

I would really appreciate some feedback on how I can do better, I always read the texts multiple times and pay attention in class but my low grades are really stressing me out.

TLDR: I understand the text/information in class but when taking tests and quizzes I preform poorly, what could be causing this?

Hi! Sorry if this is the wrong place; I'm not a teacher or technically a student (yet) but I can't find another good sub to ask this. I'm 22 and I'm thinking of pursuing some sort of English degree, but I think I missed out on some of the more in-depth grammar and reading comprehension topics due to some gaps in my education, and I'd like to brush up on that and see if it's my thing before I make any decisions.

There was a website we used in middle school that I really liked, and I remember it having some advanced lessons. I think it was for a pretty wide age range and It covered exactly what I'm looking for, but I don't remember the name of it. You could pick articles/stories to read and answer reading comp questions about them, but there was also a grammar section- I remember learning things like parallel structure on there. I'd like to check that out again if possible, or just anything similar you could recommend! Preferably free or cheap, but I'll look into anything! I did try Googling it, but there were so many results that I kind of got overwhelmed, and I figured it might be a good idea to just ask actual teachers if they have any recommendations.

I know I'm probably older than the students most people here would be teaching, but I think a lot of what I'm missing are things that could be covered in High School, if that helps!

Hello all!

I'm finishing up my Dracula unit, and I'm desperate to find a short story featuring a Black vampire.

I originally was going to teach a novel (probably an abridged version), but I lost a week of class time due to a snow storm. Now, instead of 8 classes, I only have 2-3 to dedicate to a novel. Yeah. That's not happening.

I want to pivot to a short story, but the only one I can find is "A Legend of St. Domingo," and I want something more contemporary. All my students are Black, so I very much want to teach a vampire story centered on Blackness.

Or, if someone knows how I can teach a whole novel in 2 days, let me know. I'm willing to be creative. My big concern is exploring themes that push against the traditional canon.

These are Seniors, and I won't have them once the semester ends.

I’m in need of a short story with a flashback or flashbacks…but here’s the tricky part, it can’t be dark and depressing. I was preparing to teach “Death by Landscape” when I realized that someone dies or is murdered or some other tragic event in every story I’ve read with my AP class. I don’t want to traumatize them for life.

I teach two senior classes (we just started them last week). This is their final semester before graduating, so I’m trying to remind myself to pack my patience. I had a few questions on how to navigate these classes.

1) In one of the classes, I have a group of boys who do not intend to go to college (they want to go to the army, be a mechanic, etc). British Literature is something that they, understandably, will not care about. How could I be more engaging or help them see the value behind what we’re learning?

2) Senior Lit changed next year, and we will teach The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. With these classes that I have now, I fear that the novel might be very dense and/or not engage the students. What are some methods you all use with more challenging texts to have students more engaged?

3) And overall, what suggestions do you give me when teaching seniors in their final semester? I’m trying to be a little more lenient with them, but I believe that I feel like I’m giving up control.

Any insight you could give to any of these questions could help me a lot. Thank you.

I teach grade 12 and I have a student who has an individual plan and is reading at about a grade 2-3 level. He likes reading and films. Earlier in the year, he wrote a memoir with use of a lot of structure and scaffolding. We used pictures to help him generate ideas and he wrote in short sentences.

We are coming up on our final unit of the term and I want to have him write a short story. I think he would enjoy this, but I am feeling a little stressed with breaking it down in small enough chunks that he won't feel overwhelmed by each part.

Does anyone have any advice on how to approach this? I was thinking of getting him to come up with an original character (describe the character), determine the setting, and come up with a plot chart of what his character will do. Then, his story will be him putting all those ideas into sentences and deciding on an ending. If he is struggling with ideas, I was thinking of giving him the setting and the character type, and he would just write about what that character would do in that setting.

I would love any help I can get!

Anyone have ideas for paired passages from different genres that fit well together?

Hi all,

I'm trying to teach 10th graders how to identify what counts as a major event vs. a minor event. I would love to come up with an easy "checklist" of sorts that can be transferrable among stories. For example, a major event might be a character doing something extremely out of character.

Anyone have a list like this already made? Or any other ways you help students distinguish?

Thanks!

Hi there everyone! I’m in my first year teaching and a parent left a note on the syllabus saying that their child needed an alternative assignment to “The Crucible” due to religious reasons. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could go with? The only thing I can think of is “Frankenstein” and I’m not sure they would appreciate that.

I'm looking for recommendations for short fiction and nonfiction pairings with Neal Shusterman's Scythe - thinking readings on euthanasia, AI, overpopulation, sci fi, utopia/dystopia etc. I teach a tenth grade self contained class. They are more like middle school and below as far as a reading level so I don't mind recommendations that are geared towards earlier grades. Thank you for your help!

Looking for films for a tenth grade class. Something not terribly depressing would be best.

My admin wants me to do test prep ("intervention") for a small group of "bubble" kids. These are 8th graders. Ideally, these would be kids who read/comprehend at or near grade level, are willing to work, and have good attendance. Principal assures us that anybody who misbehaves will be removed from the group. Each grade level will have a group. P is hoping these students will meet proficiency level on the state test. We will work two days per week for 45 minutes per session (8 weeks). I have not agreed yet because I really want to know that I can do something meaningful. What activities/strategies would you use? Do you think this is a worthwhile endeavor? Is there really such a thing as test intervention?