Language Arts Education Articles for Teachers - Page 4
Differentiating Fact and Opinion in Today's Information Overload
What used to be a lesson for the elementary years will most certainly need to be extended into middle and high school. Learning to evaluate information will be more critical than ever as we are exposed to more of it. To start, it will be helpful for students to have a clear understanding of the d...
Rediscover the Lost Art of Letter Writing
December is Write to a Friend Month. During the time of holiday celebrations and recognizing the special people in our lives, taking advantage of the opportunity for old-fashioned correspondence can be a worthwhile tradition at home and in the classroom. Living in the technological age of social ...
Effective Writing Prompts: Getting Beyond the Dark and Stormy Night
It was a dark and stormy night when I realized that my writing prompts were not engaging students and achieving the results I wanted. The problem was that the half of my kids that pounced on the prompt were not the half that needed to be engaged. They were the ones who did whatever was assigned t...
Playing with Language
Teaching the eight parts of speech is an essential component to any middle school language arts curriculum. Not only do pupils need to comprehend what each part of speech is, they also need to identify and correctly manipulate each one effectively in both written and spoken language experiences. ...
Celebrate Family Story Month
A subject continually increasing in popularity is genealogy, or discovering one’s ancestors. In the spirit of celebrating our roots, the month of November is National Family Story Month. During a time traditionally set aside for gathering with people we cherish, the upcoming holiday season makes ...
It's All Greek and Latin to Me!
A primary key to unlocking a world of vocabulary is through studying Greek and Latin root words. Each year, I am amazed at how students are able to apply their newly acquired knowledge of these roots to other content areas. They discover new vocabulary over the course of the school year, and they...
Books That Stand the Test of Time
As children, we find books that seem to stay with us and never leave our side. We love them like old friends. These are books that stand the test of time, the ones we pass on to our children, and read aloud to our students, knowing that at least one of them will take that same book and make it a ...
Celebrate Halloween through Language and Literature
Celebrating Halloween provides an enjoyable and creative focus for both reading and writing activities, assignments, and projects. From review activities, to cross-curricular projects, the autumn holiday provides opportunities for pupils to utilize and demonstrate their learning. The following ar...
Raise Awareness for National Learning Disabilities Month
Establishing an environment that is both equal and safe for all learners is the responsibility of all professional educators. This means creating a place where each learner is given a voice and all students are encouraged and supported in risk taking. Accomplishing this scenario requires a carefu...
The Pumpkin: An Outstanding Teaching Tool
Ah, the noble pumpkin. Its wonderfully round shape, its hue that shifts from green to bright orange, and its potential as an effective and motivating teaching tool. As fall approaches, towns across the country will begin displaying and selling these lovely vegetables at very reasonable prices. Wh...
Alice in Wonderland Plays upon Words and Numbers
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a book for children of all ages. However, reading the text as a child may be quite a different experience than reading it as an adult. For instance, one of the most amazing aspects of Alice in Wonderland is the relationship that Carroll crafts between langua...
Rockin' Picture Books
Subject integration allows students to use concepts and skills from multiple content areas. It can range anywhere from designing lessons, to class projects, to units of study. For example, the language arts classroom is an easily adaptable setting where learners can combine reading and writing sk...
Learning with Roald Dahl
An author once wrote, “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” A little nonsense, a dark and sinister twist, rich dialogue, and a way to capture the imagination of children all over the world, that is Roald Dahl. He was born September 13, 1916 and has penned some of the mos...
Labor Day in the Classroom
If you ask someone what Labor Day is, what kind of answer do you get? Some might shrug and respond, “I don’t know,” but many will tell you it’s a holiday that they have free from school or work to give workers a day off. Labor Day is also a day for barbeques and an indicator of the end of summer....
Adapting Literary Learning Methods with the Grimm Fairy Tales
I remember being exposed to “Hansel and Gretel” as a child. I recall how I feared the cannibalistic old witch and vicariously learned the lesson to never leave my parents’ home. Using “Hansel and Gretel” and other Grimm fairy tales, we as educators, can teach our students how to analyze literatur...