I was looking for a change of pace and got certified in English. Then the pandemic hit, and the pace changed more than I expected. These are a few of the lessons which began as “distance learning” even though I’ve used several in face-to-face class as well. Keep in mind I wasn’t exactly a proper English teacher – but you might find a few things you like in the mix.
Note: I don’t own the rights to any of the visuals, videos, short stories, documents, etc., used in these lessons. Feel free to substitute your own and we’ll fervently hope that “educational use” somehow covers us both.
A Few Common Literary Devices (Presentation – Google Slides) – the embedded audio and video clips should work even if you make your own copy of the presentation.
A Few Common Literary Devices (Assignment – Google Slides)
Compilation of Blog Posts Related to Literary Devices / Teaching ELA – These aren’t lesson plans or anything, but you might find a few of them helpful… or entertaining… or something.
Ethos, Logos, and Pathos (Presentation – Google Slides) – please note all the usual disclaimers about stuff I don’t have any special rights to use, followed by my belief that the embedded videos should still work even after you’ve made your won copy
Three Short Stories – my effort to teach “objective summaries” using short stories I wanted them to read anyway
Spoken Word Poetry (Day #1)– Same poems, same assignment, same disclaimer.
Spoken Word Poetry (Day #2) – Same poems, same assignment, same disclaimer.
Vocab Squares – These are the online version of something I’ve used off and on for years. I’ll eventually write more specific instructions on how to edit master slides for your own words each time, but for now I’ll just share my first three weeks for you to do with as you see fit. They’re titled quite creatively – Vocab #1, Vocab #2, and Vocab #3. For these I did two intro videos. One walked through the vocab squares and each box, etc. The second demonstrated how to look up root words and definitions, and the difference between a dictionary definition and a plain, simple English definition.
What’s The Lesson? – This is just a slideshow version of four short video clips I used to use every year within the first few weeks of class. I’d explain to students in advance that each of these clips represents an important lesson about doing well in my class, in school in general, and possibly in life. It would be up to them to figure out what those lessons were. I’d play each clip, then ask “What’s the Lesson?” While I certainly had some ideas of my own, you won’t be surprised to hear that ideally the best part of the lesson is hearing what they draw from the various clips.