English
Hemingway Editor"Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear. It's like a spellchecker, but for style. It makes sure that your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.
Too often, our words are like our thoughts — innumerable and disorganized. Almost any bit of writing could use some cutting. Less is more, etc." The Hemingway Editor highlights adverbs, long sentences, overly complicated words and presents the grade level of the text written. http://www.hemingwayapp.com/ |
March Madness Meets AP Lit"I do AP Lit March Madness, a journey to determine the best work of literature that we've read all year. Brackets are made, seeding committees are formed, and each day I put a section of the bracket on the board and the works of literature back in their hands so that my students can vote on the superior work. It's all subjective -- and that's what makes it so spectacular. Students are ready and willing to defend their cherished reads."
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/march-madness-meets-ap-lit-brian-sztabnik |
Pop Sonnets"A Shakespearean twist on your favorite songs!"
From Taylor Swift to AC/DC, Pop Sonnets gives a quick sonnet from famous song lyrics. http://popsonnet.tumblr.com/ |
Free Online DocumentariesThis site compiles hundreds of documentaries from around the world. Topics include Biographies, Media, and more. Videos are hosted through YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ |
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Rhetoric in Famous SpeechesHere is a neat lesson a teacher made requiring students to analyze a famous speech and identify the rhetoric used. The teacher had students draw quotes from speeches she had chosen and then research the speaker, speech, reason for the speech, etc. Students wrote a paper on their analysis of the speech and then made a visual representation of the speech. Very neat idea!
http://yaloveblog.com/2012/12/17/rhetoric-in-famous-speeches/ |
Create a Book Trailer
Have your students create a book trailer (as opposed to a movie trailer)! Using a variety of methods, students can create an engaging trailer meant to encourage people to read their assigned book. There are tons of resources out there to assist teachers in this project!
http://www.booktrailercafe.com/ http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/book-report-alternative-creating-c-30914.html?tab=3 http://library.conroeisd.net/book_trailers |
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Google Lit TripsGoogle Lit Trips allows students to tour the places where the characters they read about are living. This website has over 35 pre-created trips that teachers and students can download and run through Google Earth. The lit trips are easy to navigate and organized by grade level. The website also gives step by step instructions on how teachers can create their own lit trips, tips for using Google Earth and ideas for integrating Google Lit trips into your current curriculum.
http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html |
SparknotesRemember Cliffnotes? Sparknotes is a new, improved and online version of Cliffnotes. Short videos summarizing books, Cliffnote-styled reviews and recaps, quizzes, games and more.
http://www.sparknotes.com/ |
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DanteworldsExplore this integrated multimedia journey--combining artistic images, textual commentary, and audio recordings--through the three realms of the afterlife (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise) presented in Dante's Divine Comedy. The site is structured around a visual representation of Dante's worlds: it shows who and what appear where. Click on regions within each realm (circles of Hell, terraces of Purgatory, spheres of Paradise) to open new pages featuring people and creatures whom the character Dante meets during his journey.
http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/ |
Ted Ed - LiteratureThis library features a wide variety of educational videos curated specifically for education community. These TED Ed videos are explanatory tutorials and animations that cover a wide variety of topics.
Teachers can edit the lessons to include their own questions (multiple choice or open answer), add extra content such a links or start a discussion. http://ed.ted.com/lessons?category=literature |
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Slam PoetryHave your students perform in a poetry slam. Have students use Powerpoint or a similar presentation program to enhance their poetry. Record the sessions, post it on Youtube.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techlp/techlp018.shtml http://ed.ted.com/lessons/become-a-slam-poet-in-five-steps-gayle-danley |
The Complete Works of Shakespeare |
WordleWordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to your own desktop to use as you wish.
http://www.wordle.net/ |
Grammar BytesGrammar Bytes has a wealth of grammar activities to help reinforce grammar rules with your students. The sentences are fun and contemporary.
http://www.chompchomp.com/menu.htm |
Grammar Comics - The OatmealWhile most of the comics on this site aren't related to grammar, there are some real gems in here! Click the links below to find the common uses of irony, how to use a semicolon, how to use an apostrophe and more!
Some of the minor commentary can be considered crude (most likely PG-13). Taking clips of the parts of the comic you would like might be best! http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon http://theoatmeal.com/comics/ie http://theoatmeal.com/comics/literally |
Literary Techniques Explained by DisneyBuzzfeed presents 15 fancy literary techniques explained by using Disney. Includes: theme, allusion, foreshadowing, exposition, climax and more!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/moerder/fancy-literary-techniques-explained-by-disney#.jjLgd4ZKlj |
Text Message GeneratorHave your students create text messages between historical figures! You can make the exchange as long as you like. To share the conversation click the sprocket icon and grab the embed code, direct link, or QR code for the exchange.
http://www.classtools.net/SMS/ |
Google Newspaper Archives Google has a collection of primary sources that is phenomenal! They have an entire newspaper archive that is easy to zoom in for individual close reading, or for display for shared reading. You can also zoom out to get the big picture of the older newspapers. Original advertisements, editorials, articles, fashion, etc. are right there waiting for you!
news.google.com/newspapers |
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Poem HunterPoem Hunter will provide you with the poems from any number of poets. It has short bios on a ton of well known poets along with online texts of their writings. It is very handy. The site is super user friendly and comprehensive.
http://www.poemhunter.com/ |
The AlotThe Alot is a fictional mammalian creature with brown fur invented by Allie Brosh, the creator of the webcomic Hyperbole and a Half. The creature was inspired by the common grammatical error writing the phrase “a lot” as “alot.”
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html |
Create a South Park CaricatureCreate a Caricature, South-Park Style: Most high school students are familiar with South Park or at least the style of cartoon character from the popular Comedy Central show. This online activity uses a website to re-create original characters or figures from history using that drawing style. Use this in a 1:1 setting, or take your students to the lab one day and have them make caricatures of different people from the textbook, story, or novel you are reading.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Create-a-Caricature-Literature-or-History-Activity-South-Park-Style-117246 |
Fun YouTube Videos
Incredibly interesting! Hearing the original pronunciation shows how witty Shakespeare actually was with his double entendres and puns! Definitely worth watching in its entirety.
Write your story, change history - TED Talk
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Word Crimes - Weird Al Yankovich
Funny song about grammar and spelling errors! Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
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