The Teaching ELA Podcast

When I was in high school I borrowed my friends headphones and broke them. Instead of doing the right thing and replacing them, I avoided him and his mom for weeks. I think Madame Loisel from “The Necklace” should have followed my example.

Emotional Intelligence Moment

An attitude of entitlement is easy to spot in others. But in what ways are we feeling entitled? The next time you start to complain, ask yourself if there’s an attitude of entitlement present. 

Entitlement stops growth. It gives power to forces we have no control over. So take back control.

Links

• “The Necklace” Blog Post
• Short Stories for Teaching Irony Lesson Plans
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

You’ve all probably heard the statistics on what happens to Lottery winners. A majority of them end up no better or even worse off than before their victory. In the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, it’s clear that everyone who wins this town’s lottery ends up worse off than they were before.

How many things do we continue doing just because it’s how they used to be done or they were done that way when we were in school?

Links

• Teaching “The Lottery” Podcast Episode
• “The Lottery” Blog Post
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

Today’s literary quote of the day involves an ironic short story from a great writer of ironic short stories. It’s from Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour.”

It seems cruel that Mrs. Mallard would find joy in the death of her husband, but an understanding of the social limitations on women during this period makes this story and Mrs. Mallard’s reaction more understandable. She is now free to do as she wishes without the weight of being subservient to her husband.

Links

• Teaching Irony Lesson Plans
• “The Story of an Hour” Blog Post
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

Sanger Rainsford thinks he’s pretty cool as he rides his yacht to go hunt in South America. In response to a fellow hunter’s observation that animals experience emotions like fear, Sanger Rainsford responds, “Be a realist. The world is made up of two classes--the hunters and the huntees. Luckily, you and I are hunters.” 

Now I suppose Rainsford is right. It is better to be the hunter than the hunted. Rainsford discovers first hand what it’s like to be the hunted.

Although I’m not sure the importance of showing empathy to animals in the wild, but it’s something Rainsford now has. This reminds me of one of my favorite novels, Ender’s Game. What makes Ender such a fierce warrior, despite being only 10 years old, is his ability to empathize with his opponent, to understand exactly what his opponent is thinking or feeling, to love his opponent…right in the instant he kills them.

Now I would hope we don’t try to empathize with others so we can kill them more effectively, but the emotional skill of empathy would solve a lot of what ails our schools and our society. Check out the short stories for teaching empathy lesson plans in the show notes.

Links

• “The Most Dangerous Game” Podcast Episode
• “Most Dangerous Game” Blog Post
• Short Stories for Teaching Empathy Lesson Plans
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

ELA Teacher Links

• Teaching Emotional Intelligence: Short Stories for Teaching Empathy
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

Today’s literary quote of the day involves the master of suspense and a student favorite with young scholars. It’s from Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Set the scene: The narrator finds himself in a dungeon, strapped on a board as a scythe slowly descends. He realizes that unless he escapes from the bands that secure him, the scythe will slice him in two at the heart. That’s when he comes up with a clever, yet disgusting plan, to rub the food he has nearby on the straps to attract the resident rats to come chew the straps.

Let’s talk about the power of positive thinking. You have to admit the narrator finds himself in one heckuva bad situation, yet he continues to think of a way out. Most people would have given up by now, but not our narrator.

So in what ways are you giving up? What if we succeeded and tried no matter what?

Links

• “Pit and the Pendulum” blog post
• The Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe Lesson Plans
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

Prioritize sleep - When we think about health and fitness, most people point to exercise and diet. What many people neglect is sleep. Your body needs to rest in order to function physically, emotionally, and mentally.

This is kind of a little talked about hazard of teaching. We start work super early. If you find yourself dragging, short-tempered, or unmotivated, it might not be what you’re doing at work that’s causing it. It could be what you’re not doing at home.

Why sleep is such an important part of mental and physical health.

1. Sleep boosts immunity. Mmm? I’m trying to think if there’s been any viruses going around lately. One way to boost immunity–even more so than a silly cloth mask that ends up on our chin more often than not–is to get enough sleep. Now what constitutes enough sleep depends on the individual, but to aim for at least 7 hours and up to 9 hours is a good goal.
2. Sleep boosts mood. It doesn’t take scientific research to recognize that a lack of sleep negatively affects mood. You will enjoy your day more when you’re well rested and not being Mr or Mrs Grumpy because you didn’t sleep enough last night.
3. The third benefit to enough sleep is energy. Don’t lurch for the caffeinated beverage for energy. Lurch for your pillow at a decent hour.

I think we all know that sleep is important, but how can we get more of it. Here are suggestions.

Takeaways

1. Sleep might be the secret to establishing a successful classroom.
2. The key to getting enough sleep has more to do with night time habits than morning habits.
3. Start simple habits and experience the joy of more sleep.

Resources

• Teaching Emotional Intelligence: Short Stories for Teaching Empathy
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

I mentioned in our last mental health podcast episode the dangers of self-criticism. So I want to share with you how to change your thoughts without telling what your brain will recognize as an obvious lie.

Remember our thoughts create our emotions, which influence our actions, which determine our results. So if we have thoughts such as I suck as a teacher or I can’t control my class, or nothing I do matters, or I do all this work and see no results, or the principal doesn’t appreciate my work.

How do these thoughts make us feel? What emotions do we experience when our thoughts are that we suck at teaching? I can’t imagine we feel very good. I can’t imagine we experience positive emotions and I can’t imagine our actions are going to be actions that will bring us success.

So how do we change that thought?

ELA Teacher Links

• Teaching Emotional Intelligence: Short Stories for Teaching Empathy
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

There are times when you are going to say the wrong thing. You might give a lesson that just isn’t very good, You might hurt or disappoint your students or colleagues, hopefully unintentionally, but maybe sometimes on purpose.

It’s because sometimes, you suck. We all do, and it’s OK.

Takeaways

1. Sometimes we suck and that’s ok. Forgive yourself.
2. When we resist the emotions that come with making mistakes we lash out at ourselves and others.
3. Stopping and analyzing the situation from a place of humility and charity will turn the situation around–at least in your own head and that’s all that really matters.

ELA Teacher Links

• Teaching Emotional Intelligence: Short Stories for Teaching Empathy
• Short Story Catalog at ELACOMMONCORELESSONPLANS.com
• Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com

When Mr. Vinny and three others new teachers dropped down into Mr. Ravine’s classroom, they entered a jungle thick with tangled ungraded papers and rumors of what might have happened to the dead teacher’s body. The paper trail was slick and, in places where it had fallen away, flat-out dangerous. In the midst of the paper pile, Mr. Vinny found what he had been looking for: A Character Analysis Lesson Plan for “The Ravine” by Graham Salisbury.

• Character Analysis Lesson Plan for “The Ravine”
• “The Ravine” blog post
• Short Story Teaching Guide Central
• Short Stories for Teaching Empathy Lesson Plans