Creative English Teacher

Five Reasons for Teaching Egyptian Mythology and Culture Although I have taught various kinds of mythology—the typical Greek, Roman, and Norse varieties—it was not until I was encouraged by a fellow educator (thanks, Chris), that I decided to give Egyptian mythology another look. What I found is that ancient Egyptian culture is fascinating! (Why hadn’t I realized this before? No jokes about being in “de Nile” please.) Furthermore, I realized that the ancient Egyptian stories not only entertain, but also address some of the problems we still face today. Since my sophomore world literature course revolves around the theme of...

The world is a little less today:  Zorn has passed on from it. To the uninitiated, Zorn might seem like a sound effect from an old Batman fight scene, but it is a man’s name. Why should you know that name? Because Dan Zorn was the best teacher ever. No, he was never honored on national television. He never met Oprah. He never even won any local teaching awards that I’m aware of. Yet to me he will always be the greatest teacher ever. Mr. Zorn was a survivor of the Vietnam War. He came back with a few grisly...

Five Reasons for Teaching Beowulf I can still remember the first time I heard someone read Old English aloud. The words had a hypnotic sound to them like a druid casting a spell. Of course, this druid was Dr. Ellis, my Hawaiian-shirt-wearing English professor. I couldn’t believe that what I was hearing was actually English or at least “pre-English.” I later learned that Dr. Ellis was so knowledgeable in linguistics that the Merriam-Webster folks (of dictionary fame) would send him whole sections of the dictionary to double-check for accuracy. Throughout that semester Dr. Ellis taught us how to conjugate Old English verbs...

Maybe you’re the type of person who moves into a new classroom and just leaves the previous teacher’s posters on the wall. Or perhaps you’re one of those people who has to make a classroom completely your own. Whatever your decorating preferences, wall art is a great way to engage your students in your subject matter—almost subconsciously. This post will give you some tips for making your classroom pop! More and more students are visual learners: Love it or hate it, media is taking over most young people’s lives.  Pictures send subconscious messages, so take advantage of the four blank...