Tips for Teaching Social Media Literacy

If your students are anything like mine, they are addicted to their phones and their social media accounts! It seems their need for more likes and more followers supersedes their need to pay attention in class sometimes.  I think I've managed to solve the "phone in class" problem and generally do not have an issue with phones being used inappropriately during class time (I confiscate the phone for the class if it's a distraction.). However, I do not want to dismiss their love for their phone and have decided to include aspects of social media into my classroom throughout the year.  It's a topic they are passionate about and I have no trouble engaging them in discussions and activities.

1.  Social Media Survey
One of the topics I love to explore at the start of the year is media literacy and with that I love to delve into my students' cell phone habits. I use this survey as a way to encourage group discussion around the topic of cell phone addiction and improper cell phone use.  I ask the students to complete a survey on their own and then give them an opportunity to share with their partners / table group.  We then share out as a class.  Grab this SOCIAL MEDIA SURVEY for FREE and start a discussion with your students about their social media use!

2. Persuasive Paragraph
After discussing their cell phone use on the quick personal survey we delve into the role of cell phones in their lives in greater detail.  I use my Social Media Literacy Resource to delve deeper into their habits and those of their friends / peers.  We discuss how students experience FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), feel like they need to keep up with their friends' social media posts, follow celebrities and stay on top of the latest trends and fads.  This resource is an excellent way to explore the deeper issues, challenges and impacts that come from using social media.  I use this resource to jump into a larger persuasive paragraph or essay pulling from the questions and discussion topics that most motivated my students.

Here are some topics I have used in the past -

• I am not addicted to my cell phone.
• Teen cell phone use does not need to be monitored.
• Teens use cell phones appropriately. 
• Social media has control over our lives.

3.  Analyze Social Media Addiction Cartoons
Cartoons can be a great way to incorporate visual literacy into you curriculum and a fabulous way to develop critical thinking skills. There are some fantastic cartoons that really take a hard look at society and their addiction to cell phones and I have found them to be a great resource to use in class.  A quick Google or Pinterest search will yield 100s of results for "Social media addiction cartoons" - grab this FREE graphic organizer to help students analyze and critique the cartoons you find online.



4.  Incorporate Social Media Into Your Lessons All Year
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  Why not incorporate social media into your lessons?  Here are some of my favorite and easy to implement ideas. Don't panic if you're not social media savvy - trust me, your students will easily be able to navigate these activities.

• Have your students create a "text conversation" between two characters in a book. What would Romeo have texted to Juliet if he had been able to?  What would a text conversation look like between Jem and Scout? 
• Create a social media profile for a famous author, scientist, historical figure or character from a book.  There a so many free templates available on download if you do a quick search.
• Create an Instagram timeline for a book - students draw 4-6 important scenes from the book as if they were using Instagram, add text and appropriate hashtags.  Or have different students Instagram different chapters to create a giant timeline of events in a novel.
• Students can write a blog post or create a pod cast to review a book they have just read.
• Students can use their phones to create a video to advertise a book (book trailer) - play their videos for the class for a fun activity!
• Students can use their phones to take a photo to represent a vocabulary word / literary term.  Have your students create visual idioms or visual similes!

For all of my Media Literacy Resources check out my BUNDLE HERE! 

For more Social Media Resources check out these fabulous activities from the ladies of the Secondary English Coffee Shop!

Presto Plans - Grammar Bell-Ringers - Analyzing Social Media
Tracee Orman - Free Twitter Tweet Story or Chapter Summary
Room 213 - Exploring Issues and Information Text - Screen Time
The Daring English Teacher - Argument Essay - Should Cell Phones Be Allowed In Class?

Co-Creating Criteria with Students

by Stacey Lloyd

Ever handed out a rubric for a task, only to watch students absentmindedly stuff them in binders never to be looked at again? I have. Many times. And it has always bothered me, as I know that if students truly understood what I was looking for when I am marking, they would be far better able to reach the learning targets. 

I tried everything: we read through the rubrics in class; I had students mark themselves on the rubrics after a first draft; I made them write a reflection on an area of the rubric which they feel is a weakness… and while I had marginal success with each of these, nothing was as meaningful and engaging as when I started co-creating criteria with students. 

[Click here to view more FREE resources for teaching secondary ELA]

Quite simply, it is allowing students to have a say in what they will be graded on, a voice in what success will look like for a particular assignment. It is a process of working together to generate the rubric for a task: the different areas which you will assess students’ skills or content knowledge, and the different levels of achievement. Practically, it is the collaborative creation of a complete rubric - columns and rows - to be used to assess student work. 

Here are a couple of reasons why I have, from actual experience in my own classroom, found this process to be highly valuable and effective (although I think that there are many more): 

• It gives students agency: voice and choice in the process of their own learning.
• They understand more fully what they are going to be graded on; their efforts are more directed.
• It helps students to identify areas which may be more challenging for them, and they can focus more on growth.
• They work collaboratively to discuss and debate, practicing skills of communication and developing critical thinking.
• Students take ownership of their learning in a far more authentic, meaningful way. 
• Students don’t stand in opposition to me, the teacher, as the guardian of the rubric; they see it more like a contract we all agreed upon. 
• Their language is often clearer, and more simple than many of the convoluted rubrics out there. 

Any time you do any assessment in class: whether that is a literary essay, a narrative short story, or a creative project. But let’ be honest: it takes time. Sometimes a whole lesson or two - especially the first time. But if we shift our thinking to see this as highly valuable instructional time, it is worth it. Plus, I don’t do it every time we do an assignment in class: the first time students write a literary essay in the school year, we co-create the criteria and then I might use this rubric for the rest of the school year.

Here is a sample lesson plan for creating the criteria as a class, which can be adapted for any task: 

BEFORE CLASS: Gather 20 pieces of paper (5 sets of 4 pages): and on each set of 4, write the following at the top of each page “Area of Assessment,” “Meets Expectations,” Almost meets,” “Does not meet” - or more simply, PRINT OUT THESE RUBRIC TEMPLATE PAGES (one set works for the whole class); get tape for sticking the rubric together, and post-it notes ready. 

1. Discuss the general purpose of the assignment:

• Hold a class discussion about the assigned task, asking students about the purpose behind it: what skills/abilities/knowledge do they think should be displayed?

2. Decide on the overall areas for assessment (the left column):

• Instruct students to get into 4 or 5 groups (depending on your class size). 
• Instruct the groups to spend time coming up with 6 possible areas for assessment (e.g. the usual left column of a rubric; this could be ‘content’ ‘grammar’ ‘structure’ etc.) Instruct groups to come up and write their 6 areas on the white-board. 
• Hold a brief class discussion about the areas suggested, circling the most common 4 or 5 (depending on how many groups you have), and deciding that these will be the areas for grading on the rubric. 

3. Groups write out the levels for achievement:

• Give each group a set of the Rubric Templates pages (each group gets a different color set: the main “Area” page and the three levels of proficiency). 
• Assign a different ‘area of assessment’ (decided in step 2) to each group. 
• Explain to students that they must now work in their groups to write out the criteria for each of the three levels of the rubric, for their assigned area. *TIP: It is often easiest to start with the “Meets Expectations” and then differentiate for the others. 

[Walk around & help students; prompt them to be detailed, use simple language, aim for clarity etc.]

4. Review and edit the criteria:

• Have students come up to the board and tape their pages on the white-board, to create one large rubric. 
• Have students spend time reading what the other groups came up with; give them post-it notes to write on to add their comments and critique onto the rubric. Discuss, make changes, etc.

5. Decide on weighting:

• Now ask students how each area should be weighted. E.g. How many points should each one be worth in relation to the others. Add these with post-it notes. 

AFTER CLASS: Take a picture of the rubric, and then transcribe - you may need to tweak phrasing, but the content should be as the class decided. 

If you are looking for more detailed lesson plans, I have over 60 step-by-step plans for teaching writing, poetry, reading, and more! Check them out HERE. 

Here are some more resources for grading and assessment: 

Grade Student Responses Quickly by Room 213
Editable Rubric Bundle by Nouvelle ELA
Editable Writing Rubrics for Secondary English by The Daring English Teacher

Preparing Students for Life After High School

By Tracee Orman

Teaching seniors is a different beast. They seem to fall into two categories: those who are ready to be done with high school and those who are scared to leave.

As a teacher of seniors (or juniors, for that matter), you can help both groups by incorporating some activities that will assist them with their post-high school plans and alleviate any fears or worries they may have. And even if they aren't excited about the activities, their parents will thank you.

One of the best ways to help your students is to assign work that they have to complete outside the classroom.

COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY:  I like to have my students write a personal essay based on the college Common Application questions. Because this type of writing is so different from the standard five-paragraph essay, I use an Introduction to Narrative Nonfiction presentation to familiarize them with the unique style, then we go over the personal essay specifically and how students can differentiate themselves with a powerful response. For this, I use my College Application Essay pack.   Students are able to use this assignment for their actual college application essay because I use the same requirements as the Common App (such as the 250-650 word limit). Plus, it saves me time because I usually have several students who want me to proof their essays before they send them off anyway. 

SCHOLARSHIP ESSAYS: Our community offers many local scholarships for seniors. When the requirements for each are released to the students via our guidance office, I always ask for a copy of the prompts so we can write the essays in class. Ask your guidance counselor(s) if there are any scholarship opportunities they provide students (sometimes they are posted online or up on the bulletin board in the office). Chances are, there are many that students either ignore or just don't have time to complete. By assigning it, students get to use class time AND have an English teacher available to help them write their essays, which will mainly attempt to persuade the audience that they are deserving of the award money.

COVER LETTER & RÉSUMÉ WRITING:  Students who take vocational classes in high school are often required to have a résumé, though many have never written one before. I like to practice this skill in English class because they don't always get the same feedback or input from their vocational teachers. (Let's face it, we English teachers can be very picky!) Because this is a situation where perfection is a must, who better to assign it than an English teacher?

I assign my students a pretend summer internship position that requires a cover letter, résumé, and three references. I have myself as the contact person and allow them to tailor the internship to their desired field. For example, if a student wants to pursue a career in early education, she/he will pretend the internship is for a daycare. If a student wants to work as a welder, she/he will pretend the internship is for an independent sheet-metal contractor. If a student has a real opportunity for employment, I allow them to write their letter and tailor their résumé for that position.

I use my Cover Letter and Résumé Writing pack, which includes editable templates of cover letters, résumés, and a pre-résumé organizer that can be shared electronically with students. It also includes editable rubrics and assignment prompts.

MOCK INTERVIEWS: After students have written cover letters and résumés, give them an opportunity to practice their speaking and listening skills with mock interviews.

My senior English teacher interviewed us in front of the entire class and gave us on-the-spot feedback about our lack of eye contact, mumbling, or terrible responses (and sometimes praised us for things we did well). It was frightening but--surprisingly--very helpful.

I, however, think for the first experience it might be helpful to perform these in private so students don't feel embarrassed or humiliated. You could have a volunteer answer a few questions in front of the class at first as an example, though. Download a copy of free editable mock interview questions and sample responses here. You can share these with students so they can practice their answers.

One of my former colleagues would invite a couple of professionals to perform mock interviews with him over the course of a week. Each student had an assigned time for the interview. Students were required to dress up and were sent to the guidance office's private conference room for the interview. They answered a series of questions from the three adults for a pretend position with the pretend company. This took a lot of work to set up and did require my colleague to have a sub to cover his classes so he could sit in on the interviews.

Another way to do this is to perform them in the hallway outside your room or a quiet corner of your room (have a couple of desks set up and try to make it as private as possible). Then assign students a certain day for their interview. While you are interviewing them, make sure you give the rest of the class a reading or writing assignment so they are occupied and busy while you perform the interviews.

If neither of those options work, you could have students partner up and have them interview one another during class. It's not quite the ideal situation, but it does give them the opportunity to think about what types of questions will be asked and how they would respond to them. 

FREE SURVEY: Most of my seniors plan to continue their education either at a community college, trade school, or four-year university. However, I still have a handful who will either join the military or the full-time workforce right after graduation. Before you begin the activities, you might want to do a quick survey with your students to gauge their future plans. (The survey is a free editable document you can customize for your students.) It will help you differentiate your activities and strategies to meet their needs.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES TO PREPARE STUDENTS: My fellow bloggers here have compiled additional resources to help you prepare students for life after high school. Check out these great resources:

Career Readiness Bundle by The Super Hero Teacher
Career Exploration Escape Room by The Classroom Sparrow
Career Research Paper by The Daring English Teacher

Teaching Rhetorical Analysis: How to Plan your Rhetoric and Persuasive Unit

by The Daring English Teacher

One of my favorite units to teach in my classroom is rhetorical analysis because students learn the power, beauty, and effectiveness of language. When teaching rhetorical analysis, we teach our students to analyze how the author writes rather than simply looking at what the author writes. We teach our students to look at the author’s effectiveness. We teach our students to look at which strategies an author uses and why those particular strategies are so effective.

Teaching our students about rhetorical analysis helps them not only in the classroom setting but also in the real world. Knowing how and why people, corporations, and advertisements can effectively convince and persuade people to take actions, purchase goods, or hold certain values and beliefs play a critical role in informed decision-making skills.

And while it may sound like teaching rhetorical analysis might be a bit dry and mundane, that could not be further from the truth. Teaching rhetoric and rhetorical analysis can be both exciting and entertaining.

Getting Started with Rhetorical Analysis

When I introduce rhetorical analysis to my students for the first time, I always start with direct instruction and I use this rhetorical analysis unit to introduce the content. By introducing and teaching students about rhetorical analysis, rhetorical appeals, and rhetorical devices, they become familiar with the subject. Furthermore, providing students with examples helps them grasp the concept.

Rhetorical Analysis with Sticky Notes Teaching Unit

Once students have a basic understanding, I then teach modeled annotation and analysis. I teach students how to annotate text, and as we class, we annotate the same text together. To help students gain confidence in their annotation and rhetorical analysis skills, I first have students annotate with me as a whole class. Once they branch out, I have them annotate in pairs and share their annotations with another group and then with the class. By practicing annotations in this scaffolded way, students learn how to annotate the text and identify rhetorical devices and appeals in a manner that helps them build confidence in their skills. 

Annotating Text Made Easy

When beginning to plan your rhetorical analysis unit, it is always good to use a wide variety of texts that represent a diverse group of people, and with teaching rhetoric and rhetorical analysis, there are so many speeches to choose from. Here is a list of my favorite speeches to analyze.

Rhetorical Analysis Student Practice 

Once students have a basic understanding of rhetoric and rhetorical analysis, I move on to independent practice. By doing so, I can use small classroom assignments and activities as formative assessments to gauge student understanding. 

One way to move toward independence is to ask your students rhetorical analysis questions that get your students thinking critically. In a blog post, I've compiled these 15 rhetorical analysis questions to use when analyzing a text.

Another way that you can have students move toward understanding and independence is by having them complete a rhetorical triangle analysis of your selected text. In doing so, students demonstrate their understanding of the text. You can download a free rhetorical organizer HERE!

Click here to download a copy of this organizer. 

Engaging and Fun Rhetorical Analysis Activities

Toward the end of my rhetorical analysis unit, I incorporate more fun and engaging activities that allow students to demonstrate their understanding. In a previous blog post, I share my favorite historical and political speeches that are excellent for a rhetorical analysis unit.

COMMERCIALS
When analyzing rhetoric, my students love watching commercials to see which appeals and devices companies use as marketing strategies. Since commercials are usually thirty seconds to a minute in length, this makes a great warm-up activity. I like to show a commercial right after the bell rings at the start of class, ask students to identify which devices and appeals they find, and explain why those devices and appeals are effective.

GROUPS ANALYSIS POSTERS

A couple of years ago I had my students complete collaborative rhetorical analysis poster projects. Each group of three to four students received a different political or historical speech to analyze. Students read, annotated, and analyzed the text. Then, they identified various appeals and strategies that the speaker used and wrote a summary of the speech. This project took two fifty-five-minute class periods to complete. 

I wrote more about this project on my website: Collaborative Rhetorical Analysis Poster Project.

ARTISTIC PAPA SQUARES

Another one of my favorite rhetorical analysis projects is the artistic PAPA square. PAPA is an acronym that stands for Purpose, Argument, Persona, and Audience. Using this acronym for rhetorical analysis, students create an artistic square that has two requirements: visually, it resembles the topic; and it also analyzes the text for its use of appeals and devices.

Usually, I have my students complete this project for one of their sources during our big research unit. You can read more about this project and sign-up to receive a free assignment handout on my website: Artistic PAPA Square.

Here are some more amazing resources and teaching tips for rhetorical analysis:
Persuasion Techniques Bell Ringers by Nouvelle ELA
Persuasive Essay Writing: Snowball Collaborative Activity by Presto Plans
Real Life Persuasion Lessons and Activities by Room 213

Photo Analysis: Photography as Literature

If your students struggle with literary analysis or moving beyond a superficial reading, you can move their thinking to the next level with Photo Analysis. When students encounter literature (especially the classics!), they sometimes believe like the threshold of entry is too high–like they need a college degree to “get it.” But when it’s a photograph? A song? A painting? An unconventional road to analysis convinces them you really will accept more than one right answer.

Once you’ve convinced them of that, it’s all about support.

You can integrate Photo Analysis into any unit. It validates visual learners and develops your students’ media literacy. Students can begin with historical perspectives and research before translating their skills to analyzing advertisements. This makes it a versatile type of analysis!

And it’s fun.

That’s right. If you’re looking for a last unit before holiday break, Photo Analysis is great for maintaining student engagement. Also, if you let them become the photographer, they’ll channel their winter excitement into art.

Before students learn the “lingo” for Photo Analysis, have them write quick responses to photos. You can choose anything (I love the site Pixabay for this!), but remember: you’re seeking to activate their critical instinct. What stands out in the photo? What do the colors make them feel? How does the photographer guide their eye?

You know how students need to learn the terms “foreshadowing” and “mood” before they can explain how an author develops these in text? Photographs are the same way! Our students are more sophisticated amateur photographers than any generation before them, but they still need the domain vocabulary. After you introduce saturation, they’ll understand how the filters on their phones or on Facebook manipulate it. Moving beyond just choosing a filter, they’ll articulate formal elements like line, texture, and movement.

In my unit, I also share two nonfiction readings to build foundational knowledge: The Psychology of Color and The Psychology of Perspective. [Here’s a FREE copy of The Psychology of Perspective–thanks for being a loyal Coffee Shop reader.] These two ideas are foundations of media literacy. I aim to transition students to analyzing advertising and propaganda, so understanding these ideas is crucial. As a quick research project, have students discover how (and why!) theme park designers use forced perspective. What a fascinating topic! This example clearly shows how we’re influenced by design.

I have students brainstorm broadly about things that stand out to them in a photo. We close read photos as we close read literature: What captures your attention? What aspects do you like best? Are there any elements you don’t understand? Students may need to research the photographer or time period to truly understand what’s happening in a photograph.

Once they’ve brainstormed, students pick one idea and transform it into a claim. 

For example, observe the following photograph. Students may claim that the girl climbing on the netting represents the child’s quest for independence from the parent. 

Once students have a claim, they go back and look at what they’ve noted through brainstorming. What formal elements support their claim? How can they ground their interpretation in the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design?

We can imagine that the texture represents difficulties and obstacles she may face. Additionally, the girl's line of sight leads us to believe she's more interested in the netting itself than looking at the photographer. Perhaps this signifies her desire to concentrate on her achievements, rather than her parents' perspectives on her achievements.

Students need practice and feedback. Luckily, this is an excellent opportunity for some collaboration and peer feedback. Also, collaboration means students keep more responsibility for their learning. Have students brainstorm about photographs in groups and present a group analysis. Or, have students complete independent analyses, but then exchange with a partner to discuss how to strengthen their claims.

Here’s a FREE introduction to Photo Analysis! If you're looking for a flexible unit to work in, you can find mine here. If you don’t have time to do the whole unit, you can still integrate Photo Analysis throughout the year. You can incorporate it as your students research–maybe they find a photograph from a historical era under study and analyze it as art. You could also have students find a photograph and write an analysis showing how it illustrates the themes of their independent reading. The possibilities are endless!

Here are some other resources from Coffee Shop Teachers that focus on out-of-the-box ways to help get students into analysis: 

Using Art to Analyze and Teach Literature (a blog post by The Daring English Teacher)
Photo Prompt Cards (using photographs to inspire creative writing by Addie Williams)
Video Analysis: This is America (by Tracee Orman)
Analyzing a Music Video FREEBIE (by Stacey Lloyd)

Happy teaching!

Five Active Learning Strategies

by Room 213

Here's the big question I ask myself when I'm planning a new lesson or activity for my students: will it allow each one to be an active learner or just a "passer-by"? If the activity will not provide opportunities for everyone of them to engage in the learning, I go back to the drawing board.

When I say active and engaged, I'm not just talking about activities that get them up and moving around my room (although I do love those); I'm referring to ones that require all students to think, rather than passively absorb - or ignore - information.

So here are five things I try to include in my lessons and activities to make it more likely that my students aren't just "passing by" the learning:

1. Critical Thinking Activities
When I was a student, and even in the first part of my career, English class was all about chapter questions. We would read a section of the novel or play and the teacher would provide us with questions that focused on important elements of the text.  The problem with this approach is the onus is on the teacher to do all of the heavy thinking; by providing guiding questions, teachers are telling students what is important and what they need to think about. This might seem like the right thing to do, but it relieves the student of the responsibility of figuring things out for themselves. 

So, how can we get kids more actively engaged in a text? My favourite strategy puts the responsibility on them to decide what is important and worthy of discussion. After they've read a short text or a section of a longer one, I ask each student to choose five elements from the text that they believe are most important to understand the story. Then, they work in groups to come to a consensus on these five elements. Once they do, they find evidence to support their choices, choices they will have to defend when we have a full class discussion. I love this activity because the kids are forced to take a close look at the text without me showing them where to look. It takes a bit of training and modelling the first few times you do it, but once the students get a handle on it, the discussions about text become very rich.

Grab this free organizer if you'd like to try the activity with your students. I also have several other critical thinking activities that can be used with any text. Check them out here.

2. Discussion
Speaking is a very important component of active learning, so I build in opportunities for discussion in every lesson, whether it's sharing with a partner, a group or the whole class. If I want students to explore an idea, we begin with individual reflections or brainstorms, so everyone has to think and engage before we discuss. Then, I use a variety of strategies to attempt to engage all students, not just the keen ones.

There are many ways we can get our kids talking, from chat stations to Socratic seminars to formal debates, but some of the richest talk I've ever heard among students comes from daily chats and informal discussions. Unless you have a special group of kids, though, these don't always happen without some guidance from the teacher. If you'd like some ideas for facilitating meaningful class discussions, grab this freebie.

3.Collaboration
When students work together to figure out a complex text or a problem, deep learning can occur. When students are taught how to listen to and question each other, they learn skills that they can use long after they leave our classrooms. 

For these reasons, collaborative work is a staple in my classroom. My go-to activity involves chart paper, sticky notes and markers because it can be applied to so many situations. I simply assign kids a critical thinking task, give them their stickies and markers and let them go to it. 

I use this strategy a lot because it allows students to see their thought processes. For example, last week we were working on our first major essay, and I wanted my students to create an outline before they began. I also wanted them to work on idea development and organization, so I created a group activity that would give them some practice and a better understanding of the outlining process. I projected the thesis: smoking is a terrible habit on the screen and had them brainstorm topic sentences. Each group was assigned one and given chart paper and markers. They brainstormed ideas to support their topic sentences and then we did a quick gallery walk to get some more details on each paper. Finally, a rep from each group came to the front of the room to hold their chart paper or potential "paragraph."  

First, we discussed whether or not each paragraph should go into the "essay" we were planning. We decided to omit the one on the cost of smoking because it didn't really fit with the other points. Then, we debated the best order to present the others. For example, should smoking can kill you go last, or should smoking can harm those around you be the final point? We had a great discussion about the merits of each and physically moved the paragraphs around as we did so the kids could see the organization. In the end, the kids had a much better idea of the thinking process that should go into outlining an essay because they were actively involved in the outlining process rather than just hearing me drone on about it at the front of the room. You can get the lesson plan here.

I use chart paper, markers and stickies in a variety of ways to engage my students in active learning. For example, I might ask them to come up with a title that captures the essence of a chapter. They would write the title on the chart paper and then list examples and quotations that would illustrate why their chosen title is a good one. If they are working on showing rather than telling in their writing, I write phrases on the top of each paper and have them brainstorm descriptive details to bring each phrase to life. All of these activities can be turned into a gallery walk, with each new group adding more detail to the info on the chart paper with sticky notes. You can grab over thirty of these activities right here.

4. Movement
In my classroom I like to get the bodies active along with the brains, so I work to find ways to get them moving at some point in each class. Seventy-five minutes is a long time to sit still, so even if I don't have an activity that requires students to move, I'll stop half-way through class and ask them to stand up to share something they've written or to discuss I question I pose. 

I use a lot of learning stations to get my students moving, but sometimes, I just put questions or quotes on the wall. Instead of working at their desks, students "go to the wall" to work. The pictures below illustrate an activity I did last week. My IB students needed to do some quotation analysis, so rather than giving them a sheet of quotations to work on at their desks, I enlarged them to create posters for the wall. You can read more about this activity here.

There are many easy ways you can get your students up and moving during your class. Check out ten different strategies on this blog post.

5. Creative Assignments 

In the early part of my career I was a bit of an essay snob. Almost all of the writing that happened in my classroom was literary analysis or research. The five paragraph essay reigned supreme. Now, I provide my students with the freedom to write what they want during writing workshop. They still learn to write an essay (although I ask for a multi-paragraph one, rather than five), and we do a fair bit of literary analysis. 

However, I know that many of my students will actively engage with their writing and find their own voice when they have the freedom to experiment with a variety of genres. Some of them need inspiration to stretch their creative muscles and using mentor texts to show them what great writers do is a very effective strategy. Almost daily, I share a short passage that illustrates engaging writing. Usually these passages demonstrate specific skills we're working on, like word choice or sentence fluency. After students identify what makes the piece effective, they use it as a model to create their own. Since I began this practice, I've seen great improvement in my students' skills and their engagement.

Now, instead of only writing literary analysis essays, I give my students opportunities to illustrate their knowledge of literary techniques through creative writing. I also build in more opportunities for creativity with bell ringers and writing prompts, like the one below, or I assign longer creative pieces. For example, the image below is a prompt I use that allows kids to be creative while also illustrating knowledge of their novel. In the one above, students use excerpts from young adult novels as inspiration for their writing.

Now, obviously, I can't include all of these strategies in every lesson I deliver. However, I do attempt to include at least two or three of them each time so that more of my students are actively engaged in what we are doing. 

You can read about other active learning activities I've used in my classroom on these blog posts:

Teaching Students to Find Evidence in Texts
Teaching Research Skills: Active Learning
Collaborative Poetry with "Where I'm From" Poems
Speaking and Listening Workshop

My friends here at the Coffee Shop have lots of active learning activities too. You can check them out here:

Collaborative Bell Ringers, Nouvelle ELA
Discussion Activity: What Would You Do?, Presto Plans
Encourage Creativity in Your Classroom, Tracee Orman
Novel Study Project for Any Text, The Classroom Sparrow
Eight Ways to Get Students Moving, The Daring English Teacher