The Teaching ELA Podcast

• What others think about me is 100% about them.
• I was made for this.
• Fear is no big deal.
• I am capable.
• The worst that can happen is a feeling.
• I have my own back.
• My potential is limitless.
• Failure earns success.
• The better I fail, the more confident I am
• Worry only pretends to be necessary.
• So what??
• What I make it mean is the worst that can happen. It’s just a thought.
• I can do hard things.
• I’ll figure it out.
• I can’t fail unless I stop trying.
• Add your own! Make them believable and feel good.

1. Students’ interest in Edgar Allan Poe establishes not only the probability that teenagers are weird but that students will fight through reading complexity if they find interest in the stories they are reading.
2. Help reluctant students fight through the complexity by helping them with the story openings.
3. Although primarily known for suspense, Poe stories are also excellent for teaching just about all literary elements.

1. Poe Lesson Plans Collection
2. “Masque of the Red Death” lesson plans
3. “The Cask of Amontillado” lesson plans
4. “The Tell-Tale Heart” lesson plans
5. “The Pit and the Pendulum” lesson plans
6. “The Fall of the House of Usher”  lesson plans
7. “The Black Cat” lesson plans

1. Students love stories with irony and there are a ton of them.
2. The understanding irony lesson plan can be used with any short story that contains irony. It will help students master the standard of citing textual evidence to support analysis.
3. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” is easy to read, easy to teach, and serves as a great short story for teaching irony.

1. Irony Lesson Plans Collection
2. “The Necklace” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
3. “The Interlopers” theme lesson plan at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
4. “The Story of an Hour” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
5. Short Stories for Teaching Irony at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
6. More Short Stories for Teaching Irony at elacommoncorelessonplans.com

Last week we talked about thought management as it related to time. A lot of people call this time management, but last time I checked time goes on at the same exact pace no matter how much we try to manage it.

We approached the subject of time management from a thoughts management perspective. That is, the time we have as teachers remains constant. It’s a neutral circumstance. We can think of it as a lot or as a little. We can think we don’t have enough time to get what we need to get done or we can think of it as plenty of time to get some things done.

1. The more you plan the more free you are and the more you are in control of your life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard teachers boast about their spontaneity. That’s bull. We can be spontaneous only when we have a plan. Planning brings confidence. Planning allows us to be spontaneous because we don’t have to worry about what we’re doing next. Do you really think being spontaneous during your planning time helps you with your planning time? Of course not, that’s silly. It doesn’t help you with class time either.
2. Planning delivers results, helps you enjoy free time more, helps you feel more in control, helps you create the classroom you want, the lessons you want, and ultimately the life you want.
3. Planning creates time. Remember when I said we don’t really manage time. Well, I’m going to contradict myself. If you have 90 minutes and you need to prepare lesson plans for the next day, you can give yourself a 45-minute task to get your next unit ready. During that 45 minutes, you promise to focus on that unit and nothing else. You will eliminate distractions and just do it. Or you can start your 90 minutes without a definite plan of what you want to do and it will take you the entire 90 minutes to get that unit done, if you ever get around to working on it. So by planning you just doubled the amount of time you have.

We must approach our planning time with an abundant mindset, that we are capable of getting done what needs to get done. And this can be done through planning. 

1. Create time by planning: Decide firmly how you’re going to spend your planning time and take massive action. Just do it.
2. Honor the plan no matter how you feel. Not feeling like doing it is never a reason not to do it. If you plan, for example, that you will write a short story unit during today’s planning time, then write a short story unit during your planning time, no matter how you feel. Emotional adult vs emotional child.
3. Focus on one thing at a time. Give examples.
4. Practice saying no.
5. Delegate if necessary.
6. Stop trying. That’s the whole Yoda thing.
7. Stop distractions.
8. Busyness is mental laziness. It’s how much you are thinking, not how much you are doing.

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss a classic short story from one of America’s most famous short story writers, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London. I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving imagery and sensory details. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make teaching this story easier, teach students Naturalism and get them to cite textual evidence to support literary analysis. I discuss this along with suspense, theme, cause and effect and writing a literary analysis.

3 Takeaways

1. "To Build a Fire" provides excellent examples of imagery--especially touch sensory details.
2. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story, go with Naturalism. It will naturally lead to the story’s themes and other elements.
3. "To Build a Fire"  provides opportunities for a good cause and effect breakdown.

Links

1. Naturalism Lesson Plans Collection
2. “To Build a Fire” at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com
3. “To Build a Fire” Movie
4. “To Build a Fire” Movie Lesson Plan
5. Overview of Naturalism

You’ve got enough stress without falling victim to these ELA lesson plan myths. Top 12 ELA Lesson Plan Myths that cause you stress and waste your time.

1. I Don’t Have Time to Plan
2. I Don’t Need to Plan
3. I Am Spontaneous without a Plan
4. I Have to Cover the Material
5. I’m the Only One Who Needs to Know the Plan
6. Standards are for Administrators
7. Each Lesson Covers Only 1 Standard
8. Each Lesson Must Cover Multiple Standards
9. I Only Need to Teach a Standard Once
10. Differentiation Requires Multiple Lesson Plans
11. Lesson Plans Begin with Standards
12. I Can Ignore Standards

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss a classic short story from one of America’s top female short story writers of the 20th-century, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving imagery and sensory details. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make teaching this story easier, teach students Naturalism and get them to cite textual evidence to support literary analysis. I discuss this along with suspense, theme, cause and effect and writing a literary analysis.

Takeaways

1. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story, I would go with symbolism. I provided a 2-minute lesson for teaching symbolism in this podcast.
2. Speaking of Symbolism, the lottery is the story’s symbol that holds the key to understand the story’s themes, which include the randomness of life and the silliness of sticking with traditions and superstitions.
3. Don’t miss this opportunity to teach irony.

Links and Resources

1. Assorted Short Stories with Irony Lesson Plans 
2. “The Lottery” Lesson Plans Collection at ElaCommonCoreLessonPlans.com (Includes links to lesson plans and videos)
3. Analyzing Irony in Literature Lesson Plan

“Most ELA teachers feel they don’t have enough time to get everything done that needs to get done. That’s why every lesson plan at ELAcommoncorelessonplans.com is ready to use right now. That means you can leave on time today and still have a great lesson tomorrow.”

In that statement I recognize the number one pain point that ELA (and pretty much all teachers) experience: They don’t feel they have enough time to get everything done.

My primary goal on my website is to help teachers gain back that time by providing ready to use lesson plans.

I solve an external problem: the need for good lesson plans.

I solve an internal problem: wanting to spend more time at home and less time at school without sacrificing teaching quality.

I also solve a philosophical problem: Teachers should not be expected to spend hours after school each day and on weekends doing a job that contractually only requires them to work for a specific amount of time.

That’s precisely what I’m going to be talking about today.

Takeaways

1. Time Management isn’t real. Thought management is the key to getting more done in less time.
2. Look at the time you have during your day and create a plan that helps you get done what needs to get done.
3. Establishing time-saving habits will increase your productivity.

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss one of my favorite short stories to teach, “The Interlopers” by Saki. I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving conflict. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make teaching everything else easier or no longer necessary, teach students to cite textual evidence to analyze irony. I discuss that along with the suspense, theme, and a look at the literary movement known as Naturalism.

Takeaways

1. Use a conflict 3-column analysis chart if you need a lesson plan right now.
2. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story, go with irony. It will naturally lead to the elements of Naturalism and the story’s themes.
3. This is one of the more popular stories I teach

Links and Resources

1. Selected Short Stories with Irony Lesson Plans Collection
2. “The Interlopers” Page at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com
3. Conflict in “The Interlopers” Lesson Plan
4. “The Interlopers” Text
5. “The Interlopers” Movie
6. Another “Interlopers” Movie
7. “Interlopers” Movie Lesson Plan

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, we discuss “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. After a brief summary, we take a look at teaching conflict, suspense, and other literary elements that make this classic a great teach for an ELA classroom. We also look at two ideas for writing a comparison essay using “The Most Dangerous Game” as inspiration.

Three Important Takeaways

1. A Wordsplash Lesson takes about 2 minutes to prepare. You can use it right now!
2. The Super Bowl of Hunting: Teaching Conflict in “The Most Dangerous Game” is the one thing to focus on that makes teaching the rest of the unit easier
3. There are a couple opportunities for writing comparison essays.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

1. “The Most Dangerous Game” Teaching Page at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.COM
2. Suspense in “The Most Dangerous Game” Lesson Plan
3. 4 Conflict Lesson Plans/Handouts
4. Link to Context Clues Challenge
5. Most Dangerous Game WordSplash