The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Education:How To
Last week I received this email from Shannon, a teacher with questions I think we can all relate to. Here's what she wrote...
"I am in my 8th year of teaching, and while I love aspects of it, I work 10-11 hours a day and am burning out. And, I feel that I'm on an island sometimes at my school—I have to re-teach skills that they should have been taught in earlier years, etc.
I have one foot out of the door of the teaching profession. I find myself awake at night trying to figure out how to do a good job teaching both reading and writing, and getting in all the skills.
How do you do whole class novel units? And teach all the skills? Say, I want to teach Gatsby, and focus on character contrast and figurative language. Is it ok to focus on just a few skills each unit? How do you make sure they get practiced sufficiently, while also making sure to have time for current events/reading informational text stuff? How long do you spend on a unit to make sure you can test them and build background prior? Do you have them write a lot of literary analysis essays?
How do we then factor in teaching all of the types of writing--expository, argument, narrative, while we have to teach all these reading skills?"
Today and next time on the podcast, I'm going to do my best to answer Shannon's questions, because I think they're ones we have all faced as teachers. How on earth are we supposed to cover all. the. things?! And teach them well?
Today we'll look at the big picture - how to plan the year to cover what you want to cover without getting overwhelmed. Next time we'll zoom in on planning a single whole class text unit, and how to make all the decisions that go with it.
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033: The Quick Guide to Genius Hour
032: Shakespeare Activities for Any Play
031: Using Murder Mysteries, Ted Talks, and SNL Clips in Class
030: The Simplest Method for One Pager Success
029: A Beginner's Guide to Teaching Abroad
028: Empower your Students, with John Spencer
027: Turn your Class into a Discussion Panel with Audience Tweeters
026: My Teacher Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
025: The Best of ELA this Year
024: A Beginner's Guide to Student Blogging
023: Why you Need Discussion Warm-Ups
022: 10 Top Books for your Classroom Library
021: The Best Websites for ELA Teachers
020: Authentic Audiences for Student Work
019: Active Learning outside the Classroom Walls
018: A Simple Trick to Cut Grading Time
017: Get Started with ELA Escape Rooms
016: ELA Maker Spaces
015: Building Professional Community as a Teacher
014: Creative Secondary Decor
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