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Debating in the Classroom - 6 simple ways to make it work (and why the noise is worth it).
Debating in the classroom doesn't have to be chaotic in a painful way! Here are six simple ways to make it work when it's the LAST thing you want to tackle!
Jo Hayes
Oct 64 min read


Tips for Teaching POETRY at High School
A few tips for teaching poetry - manageable and guaranteed to help make poetry more accessible and enjoyable to you and your students!
Susan de Lautour
Oct 66 min read


Halloween - Teacher Survival Guide!
How to make the most of Halloween without sapping your energy or losing control of the classroom.
Susan de Lautour
Sep 182 min read


Explicit Teaching - What it is...and why it's not really a 'thing'!
Explicit teaching - what it is and why it's not really a 'thing'!
Susan de Lautour
Sep 105 min read


Pre-Reading - Build confidence with anticipation activities.
Pre-Reading - Build confidence with anticipation activities. Suggestion, hacks, examples for teachers.
Susan de Lautour
Aug 124 min read


Hedging - Help students posh up their academic writing.
Help your students with their academic writing by introducing them to hedging - the cautious language that helps with formality and expression in essays, reports and other formal texts.
Susan de Lautour
Jul 154 min read


Genre isn't just for reading - why it belongs in your WRITING lessons too!
Genre isn't just for reading - why it belongs in your WRITING lessons too!
Jo Hayes
Jul 103 min read


Teachers - here's a nifty kinaesthetic trick to help with shocking sentence structures!
Here's a nifty trick to help with shocking sentence structures - teachers this will improve students writing for SURE!

Sue de Lautour
Jun 114 min read


10 Tips to Help You Teach Creative Writing
10 Tips to Help You Teach Creative Writing are here. We cover personal voice, sentence structures, the senses, focusing on a moment (this is descriptive writing, not a novel), embedding symbolism, leveraging dialogue to develop a character, avoiding cliches, editing, crafting and proofreading! Whew!

Sue de Lautour
May 147 min read


Teacher Tips for Google Classroom - #2
More Google Classroom tips for beginners are here to help you in with that next step. Here's how to get more out of your Google Classroom - even if you're still winging it!
Jo Hayes
May 13 min read


Leveraging Symbolism in Creative Writing Activities
Leveraging symbolism in creative writing activities gives students a way to develop their story for a powerful purpose.

Sue de Lautour
May 15 min read


From To-Do to Ta-Da! Interactive checklists that students will actually use.
Interactive student checklists keep students organised and motivated. Here are some simple teacher tips to create them.
Jo Hayes
Apr 42 min read


Easily teach DIALOGUE for creative writing: format, punctuation and keeping it real!
Teach dialogue for creative writing with these simple tips about keeping it realistic, formatting and punctuating.

Sue de Lautour
Apr 24 min read


Teachers! Easily share/print stories and articles with the PrintFriendly Chrome Extension!
Teachers! Here's how to easily share/print stories and articles from with the web with the PrintFriendly Chrome Extension!
Jo Hayes
Mar 113 min read


NCEA 1.1 Context Shapes Language - My Approach!
Here I take you through how I've unpacked NCEA 1.1 Context Shapes Language and how I teach it.

Sue de Lautour
Mar 58 min read


Scaffolding Lessons - 5 Strategies to Master 'Building On'.
Teachers, here are 5 strategies to scaffold your lessons effectively!

Sue de Lautour
Feb 194 min read


A Quick Guide to Google Chrome Extensions!
A Quick Guide to Google Chrome Extensions for English teachers - basic instructions to help you!
Jo Hayes
Feb 193 min read


Demystifying summaries, conclusions, syntheses, evaluations, and judgments - WHEW!
This overview helps teachers understand summaries, conclusions, syntheses, evaluations and judgments.

Sue de Lautour
Feb 65 min read


The Cross-Curricular English Classroom - Engaging Students Through Subjects They Enjoy
The cross curricular English Classroom is fun and easy. Here are a few ideas to get you started!
Jo Hayes
Jan 82 min read


Four literary terms students should understand before you begin studying that text
Here are four terms students should understand about structuring the study of literature.

Sue de Lautour
Nov 26, 20243 min read
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