Teaching the Research Paper – A Practical Approach

I have taught English at the 11th grade level for over ten years and quite frankly I have been through many different plans when teaching students how to write a research paper. In my opinion, the research paper (namely a paper using source material for support) should be taught to students much earlier in their

The Day Job

School has been in session for a week and a half now and I must admit I am somewhat overwhelmed at times.  I have decided to start out the year teaching 11th graders a hard and fast course in grammar. The first week was nearly a wash in that we had two days of orientation,

Back to School – Fresh Paint and Fresh Ideas

Monday is the first day of school for my students, but I have been at the school for seven working days.  Thursday and Friday of last week my awesome wife came to my classroom (at my request) and put a fresh coat of paint on my classroom walls.  I asked her if I could pay

For the Teachers: 5 Awesome Websites!

School starts back in a few weeks for me, and I spent the summer attending some really cool conferences (mostly Advanced Placement).  One of the most important things I discovered at these conferences was the websites that the teachers use to enhance their classroom learning environment.  Sure, you could pay some website a lot of

Friday Flash Fiction: The Question

On the third thursday of his physics class at the University of Oklahoma Andrew sat in complete silence as Dr. Parker explained yet another concept that was somehow beyond his reach. He knew that this would be one of those classes that would be difficult to maintain a moderate grade, a grade that would be

Teaching: Why It Is Not What It Used To Be

Today’s letter on the A to Z Blogging Challenge is “T”, and if there is something that has been on my mind lately it is teaching.  A few weeks ago, a retiring teacher Gerald Conti posted to Facebook about the teaching profession as it stands today.  The letter went viral.  In it, Conti cited the

Language Is Not Learned In Whole But In Part

As an English teacher I have noticed that there is one method of teaching children to read that needs to be completely eradicated from every elementary curriculum in the country: the whole language reading method.  The Whole Language method that is often taught in elementary is a method of sending large lists of “sight words”

Common Core Reading Simplified

Since today’s blog must begin with the letter “C”, I must write about the newest craze in education: Common Core State Standards. I have been teaching reading and writing for 15 years and for most of that time I was given a set of standards by the State of Oklahoma called the PASS guidelines.  These

Student Writers Living In Poverty

In the many years I have spent in the classroom, I have been through several modes of thought as a teacher and most of these modes were originally brought on by the way I was raised. I grew up in a home with parents who did not graduate from college but who had a high

Get Your Bluff In: 5 Scams Used By High School Students

I would like to begin this post by saying that I am not trying to bash students at all, but expose some of the lies that student tell teachers to either (A) get out of doing work or (B) blame their mistakes on others.  Most of my students are hard working, inquisitive, and caring people