Vocabulary Lists for works of Fiction

This link includes vocabulary lists from many works of fiction that we teach in grades 9-12. There are also content specific vocabulary words, as well as vocabulary lists from many nonfiction works. The words are organized alphabetically and include word trees, synonyms, and antonyms.

http://www.vocabulary.com/lists/

Interrogating Texts-College Level Reading

This website provides 6 important skills students need for college-level reading.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/lamont_handouts/interrogatingtexts.html

Opinion: Why today's readers are not ready for college reading

This article discusses why today's high school students are not adequately prepared for college. I find the claims interesting, especially since I find myself actually focusing more on studying a novel with the desire that my students make more of a personal connection to the text, instead of analyzing its literary qualities. While I believe developing a relationship with the text is crucial, according to this article, this should not become the focus of all class-assigned reading.

Macbeth PBS Study Guide

This 2010 version of Macbeth stars Patrick Stewart. It is a modernized version that is true to the text. This website includes clips of the movie as well as a study guide to accompany it. We also have the film in the library. I highly recommend it!

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/macbeth/educators-guide/1023/

Interactive Citation Guide

Kelly Johnson shared this wonderful website that provides a tutorial for MLA and APA citation. The site includes pages where students can test their understanding of the order of citations.

Here is the web address.
http://support.library.ewu.edu/reference/tutorial/flash/citation.html

Thanks Kelly!

Grammar Mini Lessons

This site from St. Cloud University provides grammar handouts that would be great for quick mini lessons.

How High Schools Become Exemplary

As many of you may have noticed, education is in the news a lot lately. I thought I would share a few articles I found about improving high schools.


This is an interesting article from The New York Times on a high school that integrated reading and writing across the curriculum and found success on standardized tests. What I find interesting is that this school was successful, but apparently not overnight; the article indicates that the program was initiated, and real, measurable success was observed ten years later.

Harvard University's Achievement Gap Initiative produced this report titled "How High Schools Become Exemplary." This report is almost 200 pages, so I am sure many of you will not want to read the entire report, but you may want to skim over the subheadings and look at some of the suggestions.