When Ryan contacted me about publishing his book, The Stoic Teacher, I was intrigued. I had heard of Stoicism, but I didn’t know much about it. I always associated it with keeping a stiff upper lip, a kind […]
How to Read EPUBS
I get a lot of questions from customers who download our ebooks in EPUB format, and want to know how to read EPUBs. When you buy ebooks through the Kindle store or iBooks or a […]
Engage Students in Discussion With the Right Questions
Asking questions happens to be one of my favorite things to do. I used to run a discussion club in Kazakhstan where students could just come and chat about some topic or another. It was […]
Using Minecraft as a Teaching Tool
This post is part of my work in the 2022 Minecraft EVO MOOC, some reflections on using Minecraft as a teaching tool. My own journey with Minecraft has always been tied to my students, if […]
Teaching the Osage Indian Murders
This post describes one of the real historical mysteries discussed in our latest book, History’s Mysteries. This book includes 40 unsolved mysteries from history. Students read a text, discuss and analyze, do research on their own, […]
Logical Fallacies and Critical Thinking
The History’s Mysteries project is about more than just giving students topics to write about. It also teaches students the critical thinking tools they need to evaluate information and find good sources. That includes distinguishing […]
Alphabet Publishing’s Most Popular Posts of 2021
My most popular posts of 2021 feature Minecraft, Excel, drama, self-care, and classroom community. Sounds appropriate for 2021!
Direct Instruction Works
There’s an ongoing debate about whether direct instruction or discovery learning works best in ELT. Direct learning also known as explicit learning is when you give students new information explicitly. For example, you tell them […]
The Gift of the Magi Packet
This 100+ page “Gift of the Magi” lesson and activity plan packet has taken me years to compile! I’m pretty proud of it! “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry is without a doubt […]
Using Videos in Class: A Framework
I know, I know. We’ve all done it: pressed play on a movie so we don’t have to do a real lesson! But using videos in class can be very productive for teaching spoken language! […]