James Holzhauer, the reigning champion of Jeopardy!, cited some of my textbooks as one place where he gathered some knowledge for his record-setting streak on the popular gameshow.
This post will focus more on how to use script-stories in your classroom!Implementing a new style of learning (even for a single lesson) may seem daunting at first; however, script-stories are not difficult to use. In fact, they streamline the oral reading that most teachers do already. Many teachers read aloud to their students, and many also call on their students to read aloud. Script-stories simply streamline that process by dividing the story into parts. This breaks up the work for the teacher while engaging the students on a deeper level.
A trip through Hell may seem like an awkward topic to navigate, but don’t abandon hope all ye who enter here: Teaching the Infernois one of my favorite units of the year. So here are five reasons to teach Dante’s Inferno.
Just because in a traditional classroom students may be able to find the answers to multiple-choice questions by picking through a “reading” passage—ironically, withoutactually reading it—is this really what reading is all about? It may be a good test-taking skill, and it will hit the standards that we are supposed to cover. But what about those deeper, personal “standards” that we have secretly inside us? What about those of us who want our students to love literature?
If you are looking for a way to motivate resistant readers, Reader’s Theater could be your secret weapon. Without realizing that they are actually doing so, students participate in a group learning experience. Many of my students (the majority of them upperclassmen) describe Reader’s Theater as “fun.” Any time high-school students make this statement it should be considered monumental. Yet Reader’s Theater is not simply a fluff activity. As the students read the written word, they hear the words both spoken and performed. This process can only improve their reading fluency through oral reinforcement and will most definitely increase their...
