Resource Blog for High School English Teachers

Community Library     A community library (or even a school library) is a great resource for students. Libraries provide research materials, reading for enjoyment materials, and people who can be resources to help students learn how to use a library to find resources, as well as how to use the internet to find resources. Having a librarian come to the classroom for additional instruction on research and resources would be beneficial for students because it would give them a professional connection and resource they could always go to for help. Libraries foster a learning environment because they are resource-centered, depending on what each person needs. Libraries can be used for studying as well as research because they are a quiet place to work. This would be part of best practice because books and other materials for projects are numerous and offer a wide selection. This would also teach students how to find resources which they can use even once they have finished ...

“NEA - NEA Home.” NEA , National Education Association, www.nea.org/.     NEA is a website that offers professional development focused on public education. There are resources and tools for development, as well as lesson plans, teaching strategies, classroom management, and support for teachers. These resources are available for Pre-K-12th grade. There is a tab for Issues and Actions where current news about education can be found. This website gives resources and tools for every aspect of education and lots of support for teachers. This website also has grants and events that focus on education and recognizing teachers. This website is mostly focused on the support of teachers and education, but has many tools and resources that can be used in the classroom, other than just lesson plans. This website would be great for applying the social cognitive theory, where students can read about current education news. This would also support differentiated learning because of...

“NCTE.” NCTE , National Council of Teachers of English, www2.ncte.org/.     NCTE is a website that offers support to teachers and students in classrooms. There are journals, books, meetings, and web resources for teachers for professional development. There are also tools and guides for teaching writing and improving student and teacher writing. The lesson plans are linked through a website sponsored by NCTE, called ReadWriteThink. ReadWriteThink provides lesson plans, apps for the classroom, professional development guides, videos, and parent resources. There are lesson plans for grades K-12, with many different themes to choose from such as art, nonfiction, poetry, science, and many more. The lesson plans also have different focuses such as collaboration, comprehension, critical thinking, and others. These many options allow for teachers to choose what type of learning they want to teach with which topic. This is an important feature for differentiated learning exerc...

“Teacher Professional Development.” Annenberg Learner , Annenberg Foundation, www.learner.org/.     Learner.org focuses on the teacher’s development as a professional by offering current news and learning for teachers within different subjects. It focuses on teachers as learners, which shows that this website recognizes the importance of lifelong learning. Not only does it offer professional support for teachers, it also offers lesson plans and videos that can be used in the classroom for grades K-12, as well as college. The lesson plans for literature and language arts are few, but can be adapted for use in different pieces of literature. There are also interactive lesson plan ideas that include images, videos, and creating/writing to show knowledge. These would be great for station work. There is a section called “Learner Express” where there are videos for enhancement of student knowledge or professional development. This website offers lesson plans and activities t...