Want to get your students (or children) excited about reading? We thought so. So we called up Georgia Scurletis, the amazing curriculum expert -- and veteran New York City high school English teacher -- who puts together our Visual Thesaurus lesson plans, for her advice. Georgia's picks:
A classic: Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre
"A love story that even a feminist can love... This novel turns the Cinderella tale on its head and allows students to see the Victorian Age through the eyes of the young impish narrator Jane. It's chock full of challenging and rich vocabulary, but the kids are motivated to keep reading since the narration is so compelling."
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Writing opportunities within the content area classroom can be exciting and motivational, but some content area teachers feel they are not up to the task of "teaching writing." The first step in assuaging this authentic concern is to let content area teachers off the hook. They are not writing teachers. Content area teachers can appreciate strongly supported arguments and easily spot a well-turned phrase, but they should not be held accountable for teaching the skills needed to accomplish these writing goals. Their field of expertise may be science or history or math, and because these teachers have done quite a bit of writing in their own academic careers, they are experts in the type of writing required in their respective disciplines. These rich backgrounds help content area teachers make indispensable contributions to the refinement of writing skills. Here are a few thoughts and suggestions that might encourage more content area teachers to infuse writing into their curriculum.
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