Resource Blog for High School English Teachers

Kirby, Dawn Latta., et al. Inside out: Strategies for Teaching Writing . Heinemann, 2013.     Inside Out is a book all about teaching writing. It touched on all different types of writing, how to teach voice, how to write about literature, and how to get students interested in writing. This book used a lot of instruction techniques to explain how to teach students about how to write and become good writers. It didn’t focus on the writing part to start with but rather focused on students’ voices and thoughts that formed their writing. It discussed helping students find their passion and the reason they write, and then how to use that to become good writers. This book gave tips and tools to use in the classroom to encourage students to write and to get them thinking about their writing. There were also tips about how to help ELL students with their writing. This doesn’t use specific rules to teach writing, but rather focuses on writing as specific to each student. This b...

Showalter, Elaine. Teaching Literature . Blackwell, 2014. This book discusses exactly what the title says: Theories of teaching literature. This included topics such as what literature is, why we teach literature, what we want our students to learn from literature, how we should teach literature, and how we should be as teachers. While discussing why we teach literature, there were many points that were made to support the idea that teaching literature isn’t just important in education but also in life. When deciding what we want our students to learn, Showalter discusses the idea that teachers should guide and facilitate student thinking and learning, not just tell students what they will learn. The book also talked about the skills that teaching literature should focus on, such as language use and the distinction between different language usages, connecting what we read to cultures and the outside world, and how to inform our knowledge and understanding of the world using literat...

hooks, bell . Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom . Routledge, 2010.     hooks discusses the importance of reading literature by racist and sexist authors, and the importance of teaching and using critical thinking when reading literature. This book opens up the conversation for the importance of reading some controversial works that teach students different lessons, even though those lessons may be on uncomfortable topics. hooks also discusses how critical thinking can change discussion and learning. Critical thinking  encourages a student-centered learning environment because students are doing the thinking and discussing about topics. By having students think critically, they can apply this information to their own lives and see how the literature affects them. This can also integrate other subjects in the curriculum because much of the literature read is based on or related to events in history, which can then be taught through a history lesson. This ...

Gallagher, Kelly. Deeper Reading . Stenhouse Publishers, 2004. In this book, Gallagher discusses the components of deeper reading and how to use them in the classroom. One of the main things she talks about is using discussion with literature to foster a learning environment of critical thinkers. She also uses 5 points to guide students’ critical thinking, which include: What does this book mean in terms of my family; What does this book mean in terms of my peers? Why should people my age be concerned with the issues presented in this book; What does this book mean in terms of my community? How do the ideas in this book affect both my community and others; What does this book mean in terms of thinking about my country? What relevance does it play in relation to our national well-being; What does this book mean about the human condition? What can I learn about humanity from reading this text? What are the universal truths it contains? These questions connect the literature back to th...