A while back, I did a workshop for teachers from the former Soviet Union. I wanted to do a warmer, so I pulled one of my favorite quick icebreakers out; say one interesting fact about themselves. The first teacher said, “My name is Elena and my interesting fact is that I am from Karaganda, Kazakhstan.” Now this was not in fact an interesting fact in the way that I meant interesting. Everyone in the room was from Kazakhstan. Most of them were born in the same region of the country. Unless you were born somewhere far away or exotic,
I’m a big proponent of getting to know you activities, not only on the first day of class, but beyond. However, you should definitely do icebreakers or warmers mindfully. Getting to know you activities are really for building community in the classroom. Sometimes that means you have to tweak your planned icebreaker to turn it into a classroom community building activity. That’s why I love this article with a good set of questions for choosing and implementing classroom community builders or other icebreakers. Or if you’re like me, you love to create your own activities. In that case, this
I got this amazing feedback from an educator about one of our drama books and how teaching pragmatics resonates with her students: I introduced the idea of using [Her Own Worst Enemy] in the classroom to my principal, and she loved the idea! I also did a tiny lesson on pragmatics with some of my ninth graders, and they seemed to enjoy it. A few weeks after the lesson, a special needs student was able to connect pragmatism to another lesson we were doing. There are powerful things for students to learn in this play! This is why we
Producing a play in class can be an amazing learning experience. Drama is more than just a way to cover a book or a fun treat! Plays are a powerful too for teaching speaking skills, particularly natural, authentic English conversation. And producing a play is a great group project, a fantastic example of project-based learning. However, doing a play can be a challenge. So our author, Alice Savage has provided her extensive and valuable experience in how to do a play with ESL students! She produced her own original play, Rising Water, with her community college students. You may
Our latest book, Stories Without End by Taylor Sapp, came out last week. In case you missed it, or the subtitle “24 open-ended stories to engage students in reading, discussion, and creative writing,” wasn’t clear, the Stories Without End is a collection of 24 short stories that end on a cliffhanger. Students read short stories, discuss them, and then write their own endings: It’s an innovative and interactive way to teach reading and writing. The stories themselves are pretty intriguing and creative themselves, so they generate a lot of discussion. Some have a science-fiction flavor and ask what life
Looking for a Christmas Activity with “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”? This reading activity on the famous editorial from The Sun Newspaper, has students read and discuss the editorial. It’s a great way to introduce Santa Claus and the idea of the spirit of Christmas. Students discuss belief in Santa Claus and what Santa Claus symbolizes. Although focused on American views of Christmas, the activity definitely crosses cultural boundaries as every culture has imaginary characters, people who like to believe in magic, and others who think we should be more simplified. Materials The original text of the “Yes Virginia”
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 not teaching. I started playing with it in 2012 because I kept hearing my students talk about it. That’s usually how I find out about all the fun games. So I figured I’d give this Minecraft thing a shot. I really liked it and so I’d chat with my students about it, too! Sharing common hobbies is a simple way to build some rapport
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 my favorite thing to do, to get students up and talking. I know some teachers struggle with that. I see teachers on social media all the time asking about how to get students to speak in class, and engage in discussions. To me, asking the right questions is key. So I thought I would share two things here: What DOES NOT work to get
When you buy ebooks through the Kindle store or iBooks or a similar marketplace, you can open and read them quite easily. However, when you download epubs from a website like ours, you have to download a program or import them to your usual ebook reader. Here’s a list of programs that allow you to read ebooks on your PC, Mac, tablet, or phone. This is by no means a comprehensive list! Please share your favorite EPUB or ebook readers in the comments! Adobe Digital Editions: Works on Windows and Macs as well as iPhones and Android Phones.
Looking for a Christmas Activity with “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”? This reading activity on the famous editorial from The Sun Newspaper, has students read and discuss the editorial. It’s a great way to introduce Santa Claus and the idea of the spirit of Christmas. Students discuss belief in Santa Claus and what Santa Claus symbolizes. Although focused on American views of Christmas, the activity definitely crosses cultural boundaries as every culture has imaginary characters, people who like to believe in magic, and others who think we should be more simplified. Materials The original text of the
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 one of my favorite short stories, especially for the Christmas season. I’ve been teaching it to my students for years, and now I’ve compiled 15 different “The Gift of the Magi” lesson plans, activities, and resources for you. It’s 108 pages of activities, handouts and worksheets that cover vocabulary, irony, the moral of the story, character analysis, close reading, critical reading skills, and a lot more.
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 of emotional fatalism. So, I was interested in reading Ryan’s book but at the same time, a bit skeptical. After all, teaching is usually seen as a caring profession, one where we think about the attitudes and motivations of our students all the time. I wondered, “Is Stoicism really relevant to teaching?” As I read, I found myself won over very quickly. I realized
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 similar marketplace, you can open and read them quite easily because the store and the reader work together. However, when you download EPUBs from an ebook selling website like ours, you have to download a program or import them to your usual ebook reader. It may seem confusing at first, but reading EPUBs is actually easy to do if you have the right program.
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 my favorite thing to do, to get students up and talking. I know some teachers struggle with that. I see teachers on social media all the time asking about how to get students to speak in class, and engage in discussions. To me, asking the right questions is key. So I thought I would share two things here: What DOES NOT work to get
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 not teaching. I started playing with it in 2012 because I kept hearing my students talk about it. That’s usually how I find out about all the fun games. So I figured I’d give this Minecraft thing a shot. I really liked it and so I’d chat with my students about it, too! Sharing common hobbies is a simple way to build some rapport
$5.00 incl tax
$5.00 incl tax
$5.00 incl tax
$5.00 incl tax
