Do you take time to focus on speaking and listening skills? A lot of lessons and activities often focus on literature, reading, spelling, and writing. Sometimes the speaking and listening skills get lumped into lessons, or we realize we’ve really been lax on the speaking skills the first time we have students give a presentation. However, students need to have dedicated opportunities to practice speaking and listening. Read on for activities you can incorporate into your classroom. Create Anchor Charts Have a lesson on appropriate ways to have an academic discussion and conversation. Make sure students are also contributing to the list created with the anchor chart. This is also a good way to develop classroom culture, as everyone will be on the same page regarding conversation expectations. You can have varying anchor charts to help in all parts of the discussion, such as paraphrasing what someone says for understanding, asking for a rephrasing, honoring revisions, building upon a p...

In today’s society, it is important that students can use their critical thinking skills in their everyday lives. The perfect place for students to learn how and to practice critical reading, writing, arguing, and even listening is the high school English classroom. Here are 10 different high school English lessons and skills that teachers should teach in 2023! 1. Rhetorical Appeals When students learn about rhetorical appeals and can identify them in a text, students gain a much stronger understanding of the text, its purpose, and why the author wrote it. Learning about and understanding rhetorical appeals also helps students become stronger writers themselves. This unit includes a presentation for direct instruction and student activities to use throughout the school year. Rhetorical Appeals Teaching Unit 2. Logical Fallacies Students need to know about logical fallacies. Students need to be introduced to logical fallacies, they need to be able to identify logical fallacies, and they...

As an English teach, I can tell you that when I first learned about Chat GPT, I was frustrated, upset, and even feeling a bit defeated. As an English teacher, I pride myself on being able to provide my students with step-by-step writing instruction that helps them build their skills and confidence. For years, I focused on teaching writing as a process and using class time for writer’s workshops. With ChatGPT, I plan to continue that teaching philosophy. And now that it seems as if ChatGPT isn’t going anywhere, it is time to view it as a helpful, time-saving teacher tool. Here are five Chat GPT uses for teachers. 1. Use ChatGPT to write emails home to parents Sending emails home to parents takes time, but it is an essential part of the job. Teachers can save some time by using ChatGPT to generate emails home. Here is a look at several examples that I was able to generate using AI technology. PROMPT: Write an email from a teacher to a parent about the student using their phone in class d...

When my students complete a formal essay in class, I make it a point to go through the entire writing process with them. Once students have brainstormed and selected the main ideas for their essays, it is time to write the thesis statement. Since the thesis statement is such a crucial part of any academic paper or essay, I make sure I spend some time on each essay teaching my students how to write their thesis statement. When I teach my high school English students about the thesis statement, I tell them that it is a roadmap or framework sentence that encapsulates the entire main argument or claim of the essay. I have my students write their thesis statement at the end of their introduction, and I like to have them keep it to one sentence. For middle school and high school students, writing a thesis statement can be a challenging task. Here are some steps that I walk my students through to help them craft a strong thesis statement . 1. Identify topics, supporting arguments, and main re...

Getting to the end of a novel is exciting. I love when all of our ideas and discussions come together. I feel like we can have “meaty” conversations and the students see there was a method to my madness. However, if you’re tired of passing out an end-of-novel exam or essays, consider one of those activities. End of Novel Activities Socratic Seminar Facilitating a Socratic Seminar in the classroom is a great way to discuss, review, and analyze literature. Students partake in discussions and voice their own questions and opinions. Socratic Seminars can be used for any novel. You can accommodate by breaking your class up into smaller group sizes, so if you have a large class or vastly differening abilities, you can create better opportunities for students to have open discussions. This Socratic Seminar resource is great for teachers who are looking to assess a student’s understanding of literary analysis. Comic Strip Analysis A comic strip analysis activity for the end of a novel is not ...