C.+Reading

Cool American Literature Textbook Features Okay, this may sound silly, but I'm commenting on my textbook here. I've found that some English teachers use the textbook simply as an anthology of literary works, which it is. However, there are some other resources in there that can really help in the classroom. The book I'm using right now is Prentice Hall's Georgia Edition of The American Experience: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes (ISBN 0130624578). On the artifacts page of this wiki, I linked a lesson to introduce American Literature. Here are some things I've pulled from the textbook to assist in my creation of the PowerPoints there: 1. Timelines: the first one is on pages 2-3. There are many others throughout the text. I find that referencing these timelines often helps students to put the literature into context. 2. Introductions to time periods with historical background: the first one in our book is on pages 4-11. Again, I think this is something many teachers skip but can be a useful resource in contextualizing the literature that comes later on in the book.

Vocabulary Resource I've found the book Painless Vocabulary by Michael Greenberg (ISBN 0764132407), and it teaches vocabulary in a way that is fun and easy for students at most secondary levels. It takes those words that we assume our students already know (and in many cases don't know) and focuses on them, rather than on huge multisyllabic words the students will never again see.

Writing Resource I'm going to try using this book as a supplement this year for GHSGWT. Hopefully, it will help - it looks great! It's called Writing in 15 Minutes a Day and is published by Learning Press (ISBN 9781576856635). I think the lessons will take longer than 15 minutes, but they do a great job of breaking down the writing process and making it simple for the students.