A persuasive essay is defined by two purposes: to convince the audience to agree with the speaker’s position on a debatable issue and to inspire listeners to take action. In order to succeed, the speaker must forge a relationship with …
Category: Education

Back to School? One Profe’s Top 10 List of Tips for Fall 2020
By Melissa Mora Hidalgo, Ph. D. How many of you are currently in some kind of pandemic-related “remote learning” or online coursework situation at your college or university? If so, you are not alone. You have the company of millions …
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8 Required High School Books You’ll End Up Loving
You may or may not have been eager to read Shakespeare as a teenager, but it’s likely that the classics you encountered in high school left a lasting mark on you. The books we read in our formative years stay …
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Remembering W. S. Merwin
The poet W. S. Merwin passed away on March 15, marking the conclusion to a long and richly productive life. His body of poetry proves difficult to sum up. Over the course of his seven decades of writing, Merwin changed …

3 Tips for Teaching Reading
For many students, reading comes naturally. It’s possible your students probably don’t think about how they read—they just do it. So for those who speak and read English proficiently, taking extra time to teach them reading skills may seem redundant. …

5 Creative Ways to Teach Story Elements to Middle Schoolers
Every time I tell my middle schoolers that we are going to analyze the elements of a story, I get a big groan from about half the room. Somehow, it’s gotten into their heads that writing stories is fun, while …
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The #1 Book Each State is Studying Right Now
Curious to know what students in your state are reading? Us too! As literature experts, it’s part of our job to know all things literary—like what books are trending among our fellow bibliophiles and high school students. We looked at …