How can the Visual Thesaurus help students interpret figurative language in Toni Morrison's novel A Mercy? Continue reading...

How can students use the Visual Thesaurus to investigate chemical elements and their properties? Continue reading...

Last week, Visual Thesaurus contributor and New York public school teacher Shannon Reed shared some experiences about the richness of student slang that she had encountered. Here is a counterpoint to Shannon's piece, from a new member of the VT sales staff, Elissa Seto. Before joining the VT team Elissa taught science at an urban middle school in the South Bronx. While a fan of slang, Elissa is also concerned about how student reliance on nonstandard speech may be symptomatic of what educators call the achievement gap. Continue reading...

Teachers sometimes feel like their students live in a different linguistic world. The varieties of English spoken by students these days may be jam-packed with slang and other colloquialisms largely impenetrable to their teachers, especially when there's a difference in cultural background. Though the teacher's job is to train students in the proper use of standard English, can that be balanced by an appreciation of the diversity of student slang? To answer that question, we're checking in with two teachers with experience in the New York City public school system. First up is Shannon Reed, who writes regularly for our Teachers At Work section. Continue reading...

How can playing the Visual Thesaurus Spelling Bee help students improve their spelling? Continue reading...

How can a presidential candidate's linguistic patterns in a debate further reveal his or her political agenda? Continue reading...

How can students analyze and write "found poetry" based on particular prose passages? Continue reading...