There are a few simple, easy things we can do to establish great relationships in our classrooms, which is the key to keep students engaged and excited to learn.  

It's way easier to teach Shakespeare by showing a film clip after your students read the text and do a close reading of a passage.  I'll talk about the famous balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet from PBS Great Performances and how it helps students better understand the emotions of the characters.  Visit pbslearningmedia.org and search for "Romeo and Juliet" to view the clip.  

No, not that kind of drama.  Performance.  This week, I'll talk about how you can get all your students into performing, not just the theater kids.  

A few people suggested that I teach Beloved by Toni Morrison, so I gave it a shot last year.  I'll talk about the book and some of the questions Morrison wants us to consider.  

Students love to read fiction so they can understand another world in another time, but they also read to understand the world they live in right now.  In this episode, Elizabeth and B.H. James will talk about writing A Sea of Troubles: Pairing Literary and Informational Texts to Address Social Inequality. 

It's important and also easy to talk about race and culture in school.  In this episode, I'll talk about racial literacy.  

Displaying student work not only adds to the literary culture of our classrooms and schools, but it builds confidence so students feel confident to share their ideas.  I'll talk about my experience advising my school's student-run art gallery and all the ways I display student work.  

An organized classroom makes life easier for everyone.  I'll talk about how to plan organized units, set only a few due dates, and keep track of student writing.  

Last year, we adjusted and still managed to offer a quality education to our students.  But now, let's look at the ways we can make teaching easy, exciting and excellent.  

Every year, I complete my final assignment, a video essay where students reflect on graduating, what they've learned, and the future.  This year, we focused on the topic of love, so I called the project "The Love and Stories Project".  This is the audio for the video essay.