contributorMichele Dunaway Teachers at WorkA column about teachingThe Art of Subterfuge: Using Pop Culture to Create Interest in the Classics December 5, 2014 By Michele Dunaway
Teachers, let's be honest. Most kids these days are more interested in the watching the latest video, writing a text, checking their social media or sending a Snapchat than they are digging into Mark Twain's Huck Finn (there's a movie for that).
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Article Topics:Teachers at WorkA column about teachingYou Mean I Really Have to Write This? October 24, 2014 By Michele Dunaway
Once, a long time ago, my English III class began whining when I assigned an essay. "Why does it have to be five paragraphs? Why do we have to write this?" Without addressing the latter question, I answered very easily, "Let's make it ten."
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Teachers at WorkA column about teachingHow to Encourage Summer Reading July 16, 2014 By Michele Dunaway
To encourage summer reading, the school librarians went around to the English classes and talked up reading. For the first hour, they pushed around a cart filled with popular books, including current favorites Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars. They checked out a total of three books.
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Article Topics:Teachers at WorkA column about teachingThe Problem with Punctuation: Some Classroom Findings March 14, 2014 By Michele Dunaway
In a previous column, "The Problem with Punctuation," I told you I'd report back my findings on teaching grammar and punctuation a little differently. Now I have some findings and thoughts I can share.
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Article Topics:Teachers at WorkA column about teachingSmall Things That Change Lives: How Teachers Make a Difference November 21, 2013 By Michele Dunaway
Every day, teachers make a difference. In this time when teachers are seen as incompetent and lazy, and when we are being blamed for societal ills and failing students and schools, I wanted to provide some positive affirmation, something beyond that bumper sticker cliché of "If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher." After all, teaching goes beyond the classroom, beyond our instruction, and beyond the love of words.
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Teachers at WorkA column about teachingThe Problem with Punctuation September 17, 2013 By Michele Dunaway
I have to admit that two of the biggest areas in which I struggle as a teacher are instructing grammar and punctuation. Long ago, I didn't seem so frustrated, but like cursive handwriting, grammar and punctuation have become lost in the shuffle.
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Article Topics:Teachers at WorkA column about teachingWriting Prompts for Students: How to Strike the Right Balance June 4, 2013 By Michele Dunaway
How much is too much? Currently a commercial for AT&T is asking if more is better, and, of course, the little kids sitting in the circle clamor that more is definitely better. In the world of writing prompts, though, more or less becomes one of those debatable things. Be too specific, and a teacher may actually be limiting student creativity. Yet, being too vague might frazzle kids completely.
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