7 Diverse & Powerful Poems to Teach Tone

Looking for FRESH and diverse poems to teach tone? Teacher friends, I’ve rounded up a good one today! Below, I have 7 poems to teach tone that are not typically taught in the mainstream ELA curricula (but should be!). They are all written from diverse authors and publishing dates range from 1995 to 2022. Want to know the best part? These poems are totally teacher-approved through CommonLit, and you can access them for free. You don’t need a district-paid account to access the poems, guiding questions, and other basic features. 7 Poems to Teach Tone Before you dive in, using daily poetry bell ringers and/or an introductory video like this one might strengthen your student’s understanding of tone analysis in poetry. You can also use the engaging activities in this stellar poetry bundle to introduce,

Carina Assayed October 3, 2023

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10 Video Games to Use in Secondary ELA

Video games can be helpful tools to help students gain a deeper understanding of literature. Here are 10 video games to use in Secondary ELA. Using video games for mentor texts is a great way to connect with students who are reluctant to analyze elements of literature. Since so many students already love video games, these texts are an excellent way to leverage their interests. I also have a new resource (2023) that has 15 lesson plans analyzing pop culture short texts, like video games, TV episodes, songs, short films, and more! Check out the 15 Pop Culture Analysis Activities resource here. Using video games in the classroom You can harness the goodness and power of video games without turning your classroom into a gaming den. In the blurbs below, I recommend specific scenes you

Danielle Hall March 22, 2022

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5 Perfect Short Texts for Teaching Characterization in Literature

Looking for short stories (and other short texts) you can use to teach characterization in literature? This post is for you! If you’re a fan of using short texts to teach literary concepts and more, I have a new resource (2023) that has 15 lesson plans analyzing pop culture short texts, like TV episodes, songs, short films, and more! Check out the 15 Pop Culture Analysis Activities resource here. Teaching Characterization in Literature Are you tired of teaching the same short stories over and over? Today I’m sharing 5 texts – four contemporary and one classic – that you and your students will love. Analyzing characterization in literature is a vital part of understanding an author’s purpose, and one tool I love to use when teaching characterization is interactive notebooks. I even have a resource

Danielle Hall February 15, 2022

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Teaching Suspense & Pacing with Short Stories

These 5 short texts for teaching suspense and pacing will help make your lessons on literary elements less daunting and more memorable! While they’re both fundamental elements of storytelling, students will often struggle with identifying elements of suspense, or examples of pacing in a specific work. As you may have noticed, I love using short stories and other short texts when teaching literary elements! I find that using shorter texts can make a new concept easier to digest for students, and they’re also perfect for reviewing multiple elements in a short amount of time. Note: A big difference in teaching suspense in middle school as opposed to high school is how graphic or frightening your content can be. This post features example texts for teaching suspense that aren’t overly scary. You can find many more

Leila Hobbs October 19, 2021

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Using Short Stories to Teach Setting

I love using short stories to teach setting! Shorter texts are more approachable to students, and allow you to provide more examples. Short Stories to Teach Setting Setting is one of the earliest literary elements we understand as readers, since we know the difference between the feel of a creepy house in the woods and the warmth of Grandma’s house. Using short stories to teach setting is a great way to move those reading instincts into honed reading skills. Here are two short stories to teach setting that I love: “No Me Dejas” by Mark Oshiro, found on Slate.com This story takes place inside a futuristic hospital. Our unnamed protagonist is preparing for “the Transfer,” a procedure which will allow him to receive all of his dying grandmother’s memories. During the procedure, he experiences a

Danielle Hall September 7, 2021

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Teaching with Short Films in Middle & High School ELA

Teaching with short films in ELA is a great way to strengthen reading skills and increase students’ literary analysis. Why use short films with students? Much in the same way that short stories can help reach reluctant readers, short films are excellent for demonstrating literary elements in ways that are approachable, memorable, and engaging. They’re also a fantastic choice for ELLs since many of them have little to no dialogue, and therefore rely on more universal means of communicating their message. I’ll share some specific tips for the short films I’m shouting out, but here are some activities you can use with any short film: Practice writing summaries. Since short films are just that (short), they’re easy to summarize in a paragraph. You can make it more fun and challenging by asking students to write

Leila Hobbs May 25, 2021

Teaching Symbolism with 3 Short Stories

Do your students struggle to identify instances of symbolism in a text? Yeah, mine too. So today I am sharing some contemporary short stories, plus additional resources, to help you plan a unit on symbolism that is both compelling and memorable. Teaching symbolism with short stories helps students practice their analytical skills. The first way I found to engage my students was to bribe, uh, I mean, reward them with candy. Candy was the perfect way to help my students finally get symbolism. But the biggest positive change I made when teaching symbolism with short stories was to revamp the texts themselves. I was getting burned out on using the same old stories. (And teachers, if you’re getting bored, you can bet your students are too.) Plus, “Masque of the Red Death” and “The Pearl” (a

Danielle Hall March 16, 2021

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