Prioritizing my students' well-being is one of the most important ways I can facilitate learning. The wellness page contains information about how we practice social and emotional wellness in the work we do in our classroom.

The Senior English Roadmap outlines a framework for literacy habits taught in all senior English courses at Northbrook High School, including the AP Literature course. As teachers on the 12th grade English team, our purpose is to establish literacy habits that will help students to enjoy a lifetime of reading and writing.

Research paper by Abena Ntoso

Warm up - may include journal writing, reading; often literature/art based, reflective or related to self-management skills

Focus - present lesson objective, new concepts and information; generate questions

Learn - read, analyze and discuss primary and secondary sources (historical documents, literature, visual art, music, film, etc.); take notes, generate questions; think critically, analyze and synthesize to develop new understandings; practice analysis through sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions; communicate and collaborate

Create - express new understandings and original ideas through writing or other creative endeavors

Reflect - develop metacognitive skills; develop and express insights through writing and/or conscientious personal action

Writing objectives is key for successful exploration planning. 

• Backwards Planning: Objectives should be based on the skills or outcomes that I would like students to develop or experience by the end of a unit or by the end of the year.

• Scaffolding: Objectives indicate how students can participate in the exploration and should reflect the key stages, steps or points in the journey.

• Bloom's Taxonomy: Objectives in a unit should cover all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Higher order thinking behaviors are important, but so are the fundamental cognitive skills and ideas that reflect competency in a particular outcome.

  • Bloom's Taxonomy overview by Patricia Armstrong of Vanderbuilt University

  • Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs

  • Bloom's Taxonomy Verb Chart by Jessica Shabatura

  • Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs, Assessments, and Questioning Strategies

• Demonstrable: Objectives should indicate how students can demonstrate competency at different stages of developing a skill or outcome.

Throughout this AP English Literature website you will find a variety of classroom lessons, resources and strategies. The following resources provide additional strategies to try in the classroom: 

• Classroom Teaching Strategies page

• Discussion page

• Instructional Strategies Playlist from Lead4ward

• Virtual Learning Strategies Playlist from Lead4ward

• The Pocket Instructor: Literature - 101 Exercises for the College Classroom edited by Diana Fuss & William A. Gleason

• Timers Playlist

Objective: Reflect on our learning and brainstorm choices that lead to success. 

Metacognition and mental processing are very important elements of learning in my classroom. They are also key steps in being able to apply classroom learning to the larger context of one's life. 

6 Core Reflection Questions

1. What went well?

2. What did you struggle with?

3. What did you learn?

4. What do you want to do differently next time? 

5. What are you excited about? 

6. What is your next actionable step?

Pocket Guide to Probing Questions from Center for Leadership and Educational Equity 

I use the following reflection questions each week to help my students and I process and learn from the work we do in our classroom:

1. What did you like about class this week/month?

2. What did you struggle with?

3. What did you learn?

4. What do you plan to do with your new knowledge?

Other reflection questions:

1. What made you feel curious or excited this week?

2. What made your students seem curious or excited?

3. How might you leverage this curiosity or excitement (yours and/or your students')?

3-2-1 Wrap-Up/Exit Ticket

• 3 things I’ve learned

• 2 things I want to know more about

• 1 question I have

Literature & Writing Workshop - reflection questions for use after reading a mentor text

1. What did you find interesting?

2. What did you find challenging?

3. What didn’t you like?

4. What do you want to try in your own writing?

Sometimes I also develop questions that are specific to a topic.

More Writing Reflection Questions:

• What are you working on during our writing workshop this week?

• Revision: What are you adding, changing, or removing?

• What idea(s) do you have? Where did your idea(s) come from?

• What storytelling element(s) are you working on?

• What craft element(s) are you trying?

See also:

10 Ideas for Reflecting at the End of the School Year by Katherine Schulten in The New York Times Learning Network

How Did You Grow and Change This School Year? by Katherine Schulten in The New York Times Learning Network - In this forum, we invite both students and teachers to reflect on their challenges and successes — and to consider how to build on them for next year.

Awards are a great way to recognize and celebrate our achievements. Every student makes significant progress and achievements throughout the semester, and we take pride in our work. Honoring progress and achievements is exciting and joyful!

Literary Writing Awards:

Scholarly Writing Awards:

Literature Study Awards:

Writing Process Awards:

• Exceptional Writing Organization

• Exceptionally Unique Writing Style

• Best Peer Revision Feedback

• Best Self-Revision

• Best Peer Editing

• Best Self-Editing

• Exceptional Commitment to Finishing the Work

Learning Community Awards:

I try to keep my Google Drive organized, and I also have a collection of physical binders with printed resources that I use when planning.

by Abena Ntoso

I wrote this short essay during my third year of teaching, and it sums up my approach to teaching as a mixture of 3 elements: positive relationships, personalization and metacognition.

This brief overview of experiential learning highlights Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, introduces types of experiential learning, and discusses the importance of active engagement and reflection.

Hess explains cognitive rigor, discusses the Depth of Knowledge Framework, and explains several specific activities for learning based on her 5 design moves:

1. Ask a series of probing questions that increase depth and complexity to uncover thinking.

2. Build schemas in each content domain.

3. Consider ways to strategically scaffold learning for different specific purposes.

4. Design complex tasks that emphasize evidence-based solutions.

5. Engage students in metacognition and self-reflection before, during, and after each learning opportunity or lesson.

Developed by CAST (formerly the Center for Applied Special Technology), Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is "a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn."

UDL Guidelines

Printable Version of UDL Guidelines

"Lesson Planning with Universal Design for Learning" by Lee Ann Jung

Hayward discusses four essential elements of successful lesson planning:

1. Compassionate Understanding

2. Clear Purpose and Expectations

3. Creative Use of Resources

4. Competent Follow-Through

Chick explains explains metacognition and how to put it into practice in the classroom. 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

"Teachers As Transformatory Intellectuals" by Henry Giroux

The following resources are especially helpful for teaching literature and/or creative writing:

How to Teach Creative Writing: a PDF handbook with helpful ideas and tips

Reference Guides to Rhetoric and Composition: a series of PDF guides from editor Charles Bazerman and the Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse at Colorado State University; includes the Reference Guide to Writing Across the Curriculum

Writing Guide with Handbook by by Michelle Bachelor Robinson, Maria Jerskey and Toby Fulwiler

Blogs

Building Book Love by Ashley Bible: https://buildingbooklove.com/ 

• 10 Creative Ways to Introduce a Literature Unit: https://buildingbooklove.com/creative-ways-to-introduce-literature/

The Literary Maven by Brynn Allison: https://www.theliterarymaven.com/ 

• Literature Circles:

  • https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/08/literature-circle-activities.html

  • https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/08/literature-circles-online-discussions.html

  • https://www.theliterarymaven.com/2021/08/literature-circle-discussions-teacher-led.html 

Letters and Leaves by Kyra: https://letters-leaves.com/ 

• Anticipation Guide Template

• Teaching The Odyssey

Books

• Pity the Reader by Suzanne McConnell and Kurt Vonnegut

• Craft in the Real World by Matthew Salesses

• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

• The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr

• Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

• Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder

• The Essential Poet's Glossary by Edward Hirsch

• Handbook of Poetic Forms for Teachers and Writers edited by Ron Padgett

• How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster

• The Pocket Instructor: Literature: 101 Exercises for the College Classroom edited by Diana Fuss & William A. Gleason

• When Writing Teachers Teach Literature: Bringing Writing to Reading edited by Art Young and Toby Fulwiler

• Literary Theory: A Guide for the Perplexed by Mary Klages

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

After submitting your journal writing, please do one of the following:

• Review the feedback you received on your writing on the discussion board, and continue to work on drafting and/or revising your piece.

• Explore options and opportunities for publishing your written work on our publications & contests page.

• Read your book.

• Choose a new book from the classroom library.

• Work on the writing piece that you have been working on in your Google Doc. 

• Explore options and opportunities for publishing your written work on our publications & contests page. 

Writing Workshop Warm-Up: Choose Your Writing Focus for Today