Teaching for the Whole Story
Ariel Sacks (@arielsacks) is a middle school language arts teacher and instructional-support coach. She is the author of Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student-Centered Approach. This blog is no longer being updated.
Standards
Opinion
How Teams Can Work Together to Improve Student Reading
Reading is a skill necessary in pretty much any academic subject, so we all need to teach it. The eye rolls, however, remind us that we can say this all we want, but that doesn't make it clear how we should go about it, especially when content area teachers are struggling with their own content, pacing calendars, and the same staggering diversity of readers that challenge us in the ELA classroom. And that PD in June? It didn't help teachers make actionable plans, and it hasn't been discussed since. I've witnessed a version of this cycle in every school I've taught in.
Teaching
Opinion
Seven Tips for Student-Driven Discussions of Novels
My favorite part of a whole novel study is the week we hold student-driven discussions of the book. Students have completed reading the whole novel and are eager to share and investigate what they experienced. These inquiry-oriented tips have can also be used with other kinds of texts.
Teaching
Opinion
A Simple Solution to the 'Do Now Dilemma'
There are two dilemmas I have around the Do Now activity; the first is about silence, and the second is about time. The one simple solution for both problems: reading.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
How Expert Teachers Teach More
"Remember, the curriculum is everything that happens in the classroom." About a decade later, I had an epiphany about what that means.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
The Teacher Students Wish They Could Have Every Day
Her name was Ms. L'Engel, and she entered my third grade classroom several times to deliver what felt like magic.
Teaching
Opinion
Why Short Stories May Not Help Struggling Readers
For teachers looking to build students' confidence and love of reading, especially in the case of reluctant and struggling readers, short stories may not be a great place to start.
Teaching
Opinion
Three Tips for Planning the First Day
What do you do on the very first day of school and why? Here are my three go-to pieces of advice to kicking off a productive year.
Teaching Profession
Opinion
Five Things to Appreciate About a New School Year
"I am viewing the start of school from an unfamiliar distance. But I want to share what I see as so special about being a K-12 teacher."
Teaching Profession
Opinion
My Personal Road Not Taken: Secrets From a Special Year
English teacher Ariel Sacks shares the secrets that made her 2016-17 school year great—including creating work-life boundaries and taking on new responsibilities—as well as a new shift in her professional life.
Reading & Literacy
Opinion
Urgent Plea To School Leaders: Budget for Books
In this post, I share some examples of teachers explaining how lack of books impacts their planning, and a checklist and suggestions for administrators who want to build a culture of authentic reading in their schools.
Teaching
Opinion
Noticeable Shifts in the Big Questions on Students' Minds
This year, I revived a poetry station which I haven't used in three years: bibliomancy. In it, students ask a question, and use a special process involving books to write a poem prophesying the future. Reading the questions they ask always gives me pangs of compassion for my students, who are in the throes of adolescence. What caught my attention this year, though, was a new category of questions I had not seen before--questions about humankind in general, and its future.
Education
Opinion
Handling Negative Questions In a Teaching Interview
In my recent post about interviewing, I advised not to speak negatively about yourself or your teaching. Interviewers know there is no such thing as perfection, but we want to get a sense of what contributions you might bring to the job. Sharing negative experiences can spark your interviewer's imagination in unpredictable and detrimental ways. But what if you are expressly asked about an area of weakness or something else that veers toward the negative?
Teaching
Opinion
Interview Tip: Don't Be Negative About Your Teaching
Getting a job requires you to be both principled and strategic. There is a fine line between being appropriately honest, and well, shooting yourself in the foot.
Teaching
Opinion
Planning a Demo Lesson: Critical Thinking Is Key
In a demo lesson for a teaching position, make sure to create opportunities for students to think critically. This may sound obvious, but it can be difficult to maintain that space when you don't know the students and you're working in such a high pressure situation. For the members of the hiring committee I was on recently, this became a crucial factor in our decision. Here are some suggestions for making sure the students are doing higher order thinking in a demo lesson.