We welcome back Michele Dunaway, who teaches English and journalism at Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, Missouri, when she's not writing best-selling romance novels. Here Michele argues that to get students excited about books in this highly distracted era, choosing the right literature to read is key.  Continue reading...

Provide young readers with a fun phonics workout by having them visit these web sites that teach phonics through fun games and activities:

Starfall

BBC Schools TV

AdrianBruce.com: Games

Transform your students' television time to vocabulary time by having them tune in to these PBS show sites developed to enrich their word knowledge.

Martha Speaks

WordGirl

Word World

Here are some great online resources for getting children interested in poetry.

Poetry4Kids

Giggle Poetry

Favorite Poem Project

Scholastic Poetry

Marvin Terban gets kids laughing (and learning) about language with these illustrated books of funny idioms.

Mad as a Wet Hen!

Punching the Clock

In a Pickle

True confession time: I'd never read Ernest Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Old Man and the Sea until a couple of weeks ago, for this column. Yeesh, I know, I know, and I'm sorry. Walk away from this column if you must, convinced I'm not qualified to give you any advice for your ELA classroom. I wouldn't blame you. All I can say is that the high school I went to didn't have a cracker-jack curriculum, and, um, I hate fish. I really do. I have a phobia about all creatures of the sea, actually, and fish aren't even my most dreaded. Let's put it this way: if the book was titled The Old Man and the Squid, this column would be about a Jane Austen book.  Continue reading...