Language Arts

Compare and Contrast Movie Trailers Over Time

Here's a movie made in 1977, and its trailer is barely watchable! In fact, it almost made me not want to watch Star Wars, a movie I know almost by heart. Perhaps we're onto something interesting for our students to analyze.

Matilda – Book Study Ideas

Roald Dahl's Matilda, a childhood favorite of mine, opens up some fantastic discussions about adults, being brave, and how power can be used and abused.

What Makes An Antagonist Effective?

It's really fun to take an already good sequence, tweak it, and get something even better!

The Tragedy of the Commons

Imagine that we all share a common resource, but no one is really in charge. How do we maintain order without an authority? This is a fantastically fuzzy situation for students to dig into.

Taking A Zoologist Across Disciplines

All I did was ask students to list and explain three "disciplines." Let's take it a bit further!

Finding the Fun in “It’s” vs “Its”

How do we differentiate a dull lesson like "its" vs "it's"? I decided to push it to an extreme (and include some unexpected novelty).

Creating Better Research Questions

Once students have a topic they'd like to research, how do we help them form more interesting questions?

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler – Book Study Ideas

Here's how I'd wrap a big idea around our study of "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler". We'd investigate the paradox that people want to both fit in and be unique! A quote from the author, E. L. Konigsburg, will be our entry point.

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