The Teaching ELA Podcast

"O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

Brief Analysis: “O Captain! My Captain!” is a lyric poem (a poem that attempts to express a strong feeling). Whitman uses the following poetic devices to express his grief at the death of Abraham Lincoln: apostrophe – the poem’s speaker addresses a dead captain (Lincoln) in the style of an ode. repetition – phrases such as “heart! heart! heart!” and the repeating of “fallen cold and dead” emphasize the poet’s grief. word choice – even in the lines that describe the victory celebration, th...

"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

A key component of a villanelle is the two refrains. In “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,” the poem’s title and “Rage against the dying of the light” are each repeated several times. Not only does this emphatically state one of the poem’s theme—to fight and struggle even when loss seems inevitable—but it shows the imploring nature of the poem’s speaker’s tone as he begs his father to stay alive as long as possible. Links Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative ...

Emily Dickinson Poems about Nature

Emily Dickinson’s Nature Poems Post Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative Language in Poetry Lesson Plan Theme in Poetry Lesson Plan

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

The Bust of Pallas: Pallas Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom. It is upon this wisdom that the raven settles, adding credence, at least according to the narrator, to its utterances. The bust of Pallas and the raven’s subsequent perch on it may be ironic, for it is the narrator that gives the bird such wisdom. A casual observer would assume the bird sits there because it seems like a logical resting place. If you’re ever in Europe, note how the pigeons perch themselves on statues in the c...

"Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

The mariner reveals himself as some wandering story-teller, bringing peace to his soul and trouble to the hearts of his listeners by telling his story. The moral of the tale is that love is the solution to one’s problems. The mention of the wedding feast may be an allusion to the Parable of the 10 Virgins. In the parable, those left out of the wedding feast are consigned an awful fate. In this poem, however, the wedding guest hears an important tale. So what exactly is the wedding guest mis...

"There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

Sara Teasdale wrote “There Will Come Soft Rains” during World War I, commonly known as the Great War or the War to End All Wars during the time Teasdale wrote the poem. The poem asserts that nature cares not for the wars of humans and that the impending destruction of humankind would not be heeded by Nature. Links How to annotate and analyze a poem. Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com "There Will Come Soft Rains" Blog Post "There Will Come Soft Rains" Poetry Analysis Less...

"What Happens to a Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

If I were writing a poetry analysis, I would begin with the poem's theme: In 'What Happens to a Dream Deferred" Langston Hughes uses imagery and figurative language to show how an oppressed people can turn from passivity to violence if not allowed to pursue their God-given rights. Links Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative Language in Poetry Lesson Plan "Dreams" and "What Happens to a Dream Deferred" Blog Post Langston Hughes Page at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com...

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "Dreams" by Langston Hughes

If I were writing a poetry analysis, I would begin with the poem's theme: (1) In "Dreams" Langston Hughes uses figurative language to stress the importance of having dreams; or (2) In "Dreams" Langston Hughes uses metaphors to show how miserable a life without dreams becomes; or (3) In "Dreams" Langston Hughes uses personification and imagery to contrast a life with dreams and a life without dreams. Links Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative Language in Poetry Les...

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

Metaphor: The entire poem is a metaphor, with the caged bird representing those who have not freedom. Let’s take a look at the second and third stanzas: “But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage / Can seldom see through his bars of rage / His wings are clipped and his feet are tied / So he opens his throat to sing. / The caged bird sings with a fearful trill / Of things unknown but longed for still / And his tune is heard on the distant hill for / The caged bird sings of freedom.” Analy...

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Metaphor: I know why the caged bird beats his wing / Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; / For he must fly back to his perch and cling / When he fain would be on the bough a-swing; / And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars / And they pulse again with a keener sting-- / I know why he beats his wing! Analysis: Dunbar uses a metaphor comparing a caged bird beating its wings against its cage until they bleed to his own struggle against oppression. The bird's physical scars metaphoric...

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "Simile" by N. Scott Momaday

Simile: The entire poem is a simile. Line 2 contains the comparison "and we are like the deer" and the rest of the poem describes in what manner his people are like the deer. Analysis: Momaday writes of the fate of Native Americans, having himself grown up on the Kiawa Indian reservation. The deer is portrayed as submissive, yet noble, able to break forth without warning. Links Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative Language in Poetry Lesson Plan "Simile" Blog Post

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats: National Poetry Month Poem of the Day

The first question I have is in regards to the title. It’s not an ode to a Grecian urn; it’s an ode on a Grecian urn, which would indicate, at least on the surface (no pun intended), that there is an ode on the actual urn. The poem begins as an ode should, with an apostrophe, the act of speaking to someone not there, or to an object, such as an urn, which means either the urn is speaking, unlikely even in a poem, or the poet is translating a picture on a Grecian urn into an ode. As I contin...

Emily Dickinson's Love Poems: National Poetry Month Poems of the Day

In Emily Dickinson’s “Far from love the Heavenly Father,” the speaker examines the paradoxical view that through trials and tribulations are the chosen brought to heaven. It is not an evil-doer who brings about trials, but the very Father in Heaven who does so. Although the images suggest the action in the poem takes place in the physical realm, a more pragmatic, worldly application can be found: those who seek comfort, rarely find it; those who take upon themselves challenges, eventually do...

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost

Poetic form and structure often enhance a poem's theme or meaning. Frost's ironic use of meter and rhythm in "Fire and Ice" underlies his hidden theme that moderation is the world's salvation. Frost uses two extremes, fire and ice, as the poem's controlling images, images which symbolize the two extremes of lust and hate. These two extremes, he expostulates, will eventually destroy the world. The rhythm and meter of the poem and the use of meiosis offer an alternative to extremism--moderatio...

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "Tyger! Tyger!" by William Blake

British Romanticism Page "Tyger! Tyger!" blog post Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative Language in Poetry Lesson Plan

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe

A literary analysis of "The Bells" by Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates the mastery of sound devices and creates a sensory extravaganza. Let us, therefore, begin our journey with examples of onomatopoeia, internal rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and consonance. Links "The Bells Blog Post" Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.com Figurative Language in Poetry Lesson Plan Sound Devices in Poetry Lesson Plan

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "The Lamb" by William Blake

"The Lamb" by William Blake provides a simple and profound answer to a simple and profound question: Who made us? (the topic sentence states the title and author of the poem as well as the poem's theme). Because the poem addresses a child it takes on the form of a child's song, containing rhymed couplets and repetition (we've taken a fact about the poem and explained the significance of the fact to the poem's overall meaning). Because the poem addresses a child, the answer to the question mu...

National Poetry Month Poem of the Day: "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth

Of all the famous poems of Wordsworth, none is more famous than "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud". To fully understand the poem and any William Wordsworth poetry analysis, a brief look at the tenets of British Romanticism is in order. British Romantics emphasized the following. British Romanticism The Beauty of the Supernatural - a William Wordsworth poetry analysis will invariably identify a connection between nature and the supernatural. "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is no exception. The ...

National Poetry Month Daily: "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Two-Minute Lesson Plan Symbolism All symbols point to death. They include Darkest night of the year Frozen lake Woods–lovely, dark and deep sleep In "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Robert Frost contemplates death. The setting symbolizes death. There's a "frozen lake" nearby a woods filled up with snow on the "darkest evening of the year." The speaker is enchanted with the woods, death, and stops to ponder. The rhyme scheme, with one line of rhyme present in each preceding stan...

The Only Lesson Plan for National Poetry Month You'll Need

If there's one lesson plan you use during National Poetry Month or when you teach poetry, this is that lesson plan! Resources Poetry Lesson Plans Bonanza How to Annotate and Analyze a Poem at elacommoncorelessonplans.com Immediate Access to numerous poetry lesson plans and handouts

Teaching "The Necklace"

Teaching "Harrison Bergeron"

“Harrison Bergeron” Lesson Ideas Read the Declaration of Independence. Discuss the phrase “all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” What did Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers mean? Why does Martin Luther King allude to it so often in his “I Have a Dream” speech?  How have modern politicians warped the expression? Can an equality of results be obtained? H...

The "Gift" that Keeps on Giving

Gift of the Magi The next day would be an evaluation from the principal and the teacher had no “Gift of the Magi” Activities or “Gift of the Magi” lesson ideas. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little teachers’ lounge couch and howl. So the teacher did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that teaching is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. Then the Internet was invented and “Gift of the Magi” activities and lesson plans beca...

Teaching Science Fiction Short Stories

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss science fiction short stories for middle school and high school: “The Fun They Had,” “All Summer in a Day, “Examination Day,” “They’re Made out of Meat,” “Harrison Bergeron,” “There Will Come Soft Rains,” “The Machine that Won the War,” “The Machine Stops,” and whatever else comes to mind I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now.  And the One Thing you can teach with any of these stories is in the show ti...

Short Stories for Teaching Point of View

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories for teaching Point of View: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “Cask of Amontillado, “Contents of the DMP,” “Scarlet Ibis,” “Jumping Frog and “Sniper.”  I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right. And if there’s one short story involving Point of View you need to teach, we have that, too. Takeaways There’s more to point of view than explaining 1st person and third person. Writing from a ...

Short Stories for Teaching Symbolism

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories with a focus on symbolism: “Masque of the Red Death,” “Through the Tunnel,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” “The Moustache,” “A Worn Path,” “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and whatever else comes to mind.  Takeaways Citing textual evidence to support analysis leads to exploring a story’s theme, which is pretty much THEE standard of all standards. Most literature has symbolic meanings...

4 Habits Teachers Can Start Right Now to Help Them Lose Weight

Habits If you’re going to succeed at weight loss or any positive life change you’re going to need to establish habits that serve you. Habits are the things we do automatically, without giving it too much thought. Here are a few habits that will increase your chances of success as you lose weight. Movement - You need to get in the habit of moving. The prevailing wisdom is to aim for 10,000 steps and I think that’s a good goal. If you don’t currently exercise regularly, don’t feel you need t...

Halloween Short Stories Not by Edgar Allan Poe

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories for Halloween that weren’t written by Edgar Allan Poe. They include “The Monkey’s Paw,” “The Lottery,” “Rappacini’s Daughter,” “There Will Come Soft Rains,” “Sonata for a Harp and a Bicycle,” “Lamb to the Slaughter,” “The Landlady,” and “Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” Takeaways Teach suspense with scary short stories with a simple chart and by identifying the three methods author’s use to create suspense. ...

The #1 Quality All Good Teachers Have

From my coaching perspective, self confidence is knowing you can trust yourself to do what you say you’ll do. It’s increasing your integrity with yourself. Self confidence is also being kind and feeling compassion for yourself. It’s seeing your strengths and your weaknesses, your successes and failures and trusting that it’s all ok and choosing to believe in yourself anyway. Self confidence is also a willingness to feel any emotion that comes from trying something new or scary (failure, emb...

Teaching the Short Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories by perhaps the most popular American short story writer ever, and certainly one that resonates with young scholars. Let’s talk about the short stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Today, we’ll discuss classics, such as “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” and more. Takeaways Students’ interest in E...

Short Stories for Teaching Irony

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories for teaching irony: “The Necklace,” “The Interlopers,” “The Machine that Won the War,” “The Blue Hotel,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.” I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now. And if there’s one short story involving irony you need to teach, we have that, too. Takeaways Students love stories with irony and there are a ton of them. The understanding irony lesson plan can be used wi...

7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Planning Time

Last week we talked about thought management as it related to time. A lot of people call this time management, but last time I checked time goes on at the same exact pace no matter how much we try to manage it. We approached the subject of time management from a thoughts management perspective. That is, the time we have as teachers remains constant. It’s a neutral circumstance. We can think of it as a lot or as a little. We can think we don’t have enough time to get what we need to get done...

Don't Get Burned When Teaching "To Build a Fire" by Jack London

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss a classic short story from one of America’s most famous short story writers, “To Build a Fire” by Jack London. I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving imagery and sensory details. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make teaching this story easier, teach students Naturalism and get them to cite textual evidence to support literary analysis. I discuss this along with suspe...

12 Myths of Lesson Planning that Cause You Stress

You’ve got enough stress without falling victim to these ELA lesson plan myths. Top 12 ELA Lesson Plan Myths that cause you stress and waste your time. I Don’t Have Time to Plan I Don’t Need to Plan I Am Spontaneous without a Plan I Have to Cover the Material I’m the Only One Who Needs to Know the Plan Standards are for Administrators Each Lesson Covers Only 1 Standard Each Lesson Must Cover Multiple Standards I Only Need to Teach a Standard Once Differentiation Requires Multiple L...

Win the Lottery by Teaching "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss a classic short story from one of America’s top female short story writers of the 20th-century, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving imagery and sensory details. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make teaching this story easier, teach students Naturalism and get them to cite textual evidence to support literary analysis. I discuss th...

Why Your Time Management Strategy Isn't Working

“Most ELA teachers feel they don’t have enough time to get everything done that needs to get done. That’s why every lesson plan at ELAcommoncorelessonplans.com is ready to use right now. That means you can leave on time today and still have a great lesson tomorrow.” In that statement I recognize the number one pain point that ELA (and pretty much all teachers) experience: They don’t feel they have enough time to get everything done. My primary goal on my website is to help teachers gain ba...

Teaching "The Interlopers" by Saki

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss one of my favorite short stories to teach, “The Interlopers” by Saki. I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving conflict. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make teaching everything else easier or no longer necessary, teach students to cite textual evidence to analyze irony. I discuss that along with the suspense, theme, and a look at the literary movement known as Natural...

How Teaching "The Most Dangerous Game" Can Be a Game Changer

In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, we discuss “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. After a brief summary, we take a look at teaching conflict, suspense, and other literary elements that make this classic a great teach for an ELA classroom. We also look at two ideas for writing a comparison essay using “The Most Dangerous Game” as inspiration. Three Important Takeaways A Wordsplash Lesson takes about 2 minutes to prepare. You can use it right now! The Super Bowl of Hu...

Teaching Fun with "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov

Here’s a story that became very popular right around March/April of 2020. It’s called “The Fun They Had” by Isaac Asimov. It’s more of a middle school level text but the themes, in light of recent events, makes it applicable to all grade levels. This podcast contains an emergency lesson you can create 2 minutes and an in depth discussion of this science fiction short story. 3 Takeaways The One Thing that makes everything else in this story easier to teach is the Elements of Science Fiction...

Short Stories for Teaching Imagery

*Note, the audio for portions of this episode aren't great. The content is outstanding. Most ela teachers feel like they don't have enough time to get everything done that they need to get done. That's why every lesson plan at elacommomcorelessonplans.com is ready to use right now. That means you can leave on time today and still have a great lesson tomorrow. In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories with a focus on imagery. I’ve got an emergency les...

Teaching "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury

In this episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss one of my favorite science fiction stories, “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury. I’ve got an emergency "Veldt" lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving setting and conflict. If you’re going to teach one thing from this story that will make everything else easier or no longer necessary, teach students to cite textual evidence to analyze theme. I discuss that along with the elements of science fiction, cause and effect, conflict, a...

What It Means to Master the Most Important ELA Standard

*The Official Launch for the Teaching ELA Podcast is August 2, 2021. Come back then for three additional podcast episodes. In the meantime, enjoy this Teaching ELA Podcast special preview episode* Because ELA teachers are the most important contributors in a middle school or high school, it's essential that we understand what it means to master literature standards, notably the one standard that by so teaching, teaching all other standards become easier to teach or no longer necessary. The...

The One Thing ELA Teachers Teach to Make Everything Else Easier or No Longer Necessary

*The Teaching ELA Podcast officially launches on August 2, 2021. This is just a preview of what to expect. ELA Teachers are the most valuable people at any middle school or high school. They are responsible for teaching the one thing that makes teaching everything else at the school easier or no longer necessary. In this episode of the teaching ELA podcast, I discuss the one thing, that by teaching it, teaching everything else in your class and in your school easier to teach or no longer ne...