Recent Blog Posts
The Myths Hiding in Our Words: Etymology as Close Reading
Panic, narcissism, chaos: students say these words every day, without suspecting each is a Greek myth in disguise. Here is how I use the myths hidden in everyday words to teach etymology as close reading — and to show my students that the ancient world is still alive under their tongue.
Teaching Nolan’s The Odyssey: Not Whether to Show It, but Why
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey — one of the most talked-about releases of the year — takes enormous liberties with Homer, so does it belong in a serious unit on the poem? The real question, I think, isn’t whether to show it, but why. Here’s the case for what this beautiful, unfaithful film can do in the classroom.
Why Teach To Kill a Mockingbird: A Novel About Learning to See Each Other
Beyond its themes and its place in the canon, To Kill a Mockingbird teaches something rarer: how to truly know another person — by first being willing to love them. A literature teacher’s case for why the novel is still worth reading, and worth teaching, and how to give it the depth it deserves.
Waiting in To Kill a Mockingbird: Why the Slow First Half Is Already the Heart of the Book
We tend to rush students toward the trial in To Kill a Mockingbird. But the slow first half is where the novel does its quietest work — teaching us to misjudge Boo Radley before we’re asked to judge Tom Robinson. A teacher’s reading of waiting, with ideas for the classroom.
Atticus Finch’s Closing Argument: A Teacher’s Guide to Chapter 20 of To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch’s closing argument works as a legal argument, a study in rhetoric, a moral challenge, and a historical document — all at once. Here is how I read it, and what I have found most productive for teaching it.
Teaching East of Eden in High School: Are We Free to Choose Who We Become?
Steinbeck called it his most ambitious novel. At over 600 pages, with a cast of characters spanning two generations, East of Eden is not an easy text to teach. This guide explains why it belongs in your high school classroom anyway — and how to make it work.
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