Category Archives: teaching literature

Huckleberry Finn’s ending? Psychology and artistic interpretation from Sci Am Blogs

by Jay Stott Posted on October 5, 2012

This article, offering a psychological take on the problematic ending of Huck Finn, rolled up in google reader and made for an interesting distraction this afternoon. I have long agreed with the critical viewpoint that the ending of the novel … Continue reading →

Posted in literacy, reading, stories, teaching literature | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Cool Summer Reading Flowchart

by Jay Stott Posted on June 13, 2012

A friend of mine sent this too me the other day. I want a high res poster version for my classroom.   Via Teach.com and USC Rossier Online From Teach.com

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An argument against testing from a New York City language arts teacher…

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on April 23, 2012

From a NY City Language Arts teacher: Better yet, we should abandon altogether the multiple-choice tests, which are in vogue not because they are an effective tool for judging teachers or students but because they are an efficient means of … Continue reading →

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There’s more to a book’s “reading level” than the Huffington Post Suggests

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on March 29, 2012

Says the Huffington Post in a recent article: American High School Students Are Reading Books At 5th-Grade-Appropriate Levels: Report This is a terribly inflammatory piece. It summarizes a recent report done by Renaissance Learning (brokers of Accelerated Reader) regarding the … Continue reading →

Posted in reading, teaching literature | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Why I Teach Literature

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on February 20, 2012

I fight against the danger of the single story. We must read many stories that challenge other stories’ views of our world.

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Procedural Display and Fake Reading: My Story of Coming to Teaching Literature

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on November 20, 2011

I am the fake reader. I was a master of procedural display in high school. And one key version of this is fake reading. Procedural display is student behavior that looks like learning but isn’t actually student learning. Procedural display … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century teaching and learning, balancing, education, engagement, presenting, teaching, teaching literature | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Continuing the conversation from our NCTE session

by Sarah M. Zerwin Posted on November 20, 2011

Our session was great. We had an inspiring conversation with the teachers who attended. They explored the tensions that surround our work with literature using the kind of honesty that we were definitely hoping for. We started out with introductions … Continue reading →

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The “Intentional Fallacy” and other things that get in the way…

by Jay Stott Posted on October 27, 2011

We have to start videoing what happens in our office. We had a three way conversation yesterday that will be impossible to replicate, but I will try to capture the essence. I was having a conversation with a colleague in … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century teaching and learning, colleagues, cultivating real learning, education, engagement, literacy, teaching literature, teaching paradigm | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Studying Literature in the Context of the 21st Century

by Jay Stott Posted on September 24, 2011

Thanks to everyone who attended our presentation today at the Colorado Language Arts Society Conference. We really enjoyed meeting everyone and our conversations before and after were (are) great. Here is the Google Presentation we used today if you want … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century teaching and learning, cultivating real learning, education, engagement, literacy, teaching, teaching literature, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Road Trip to CLAS Conference!

by Jay Stott Posted on September 21, 2011

We will be presenting at the Colorado Language Arts Society conference this weekend in Golden. If you are on twitter, use the hashtag #tpgclas to let us know you are there and what is interesting to you! Our presentation is … Continue reading →

Posted in 21st century teaching and learning, collaboration, cultivating our voice, cultivating real learning, education, engagement, literacy, making change, teaching, teaching literature | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment