Teacher Man

I have been teaching in a public high school for 20 years in all middle school and high school grade levels (Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors). My techniques and strategies have shown increases in the state assessment tests. I have earned the "Educator of Distinction" award 3 consecutive years. I have been rated "Highly Effective" (the highest possible) by all measures of accountability in student score results 8 out of the past 10 years.. Bottom line: My worksheets work!

Take hard to read stories, like The Raven, A Rose for Emily or The Fall of the House of Usher, and break it down into manageable chunks by using one of my worksheets. The worksheets that I created work. If you put one of these worksheets in front of the students, several things start to happen: 1) They start reading the story and answering the questions. 2) They now have knowledge of the story 3) They feel accomplished when they are done - and can now have intelligent conversations about the story they just read. What do my lessons look like? Simply download a full FREE lesson (I have SEVERAL free lessons by the way) and check them out. These questions are only to guide the student through the story so that you, the teacher, can actually have those higher level discussions with the students AFTER they have read. How many times have you assigned a reading passage for classwork or homework, only to find out the next day that no one read the story? Now what? You have a full lesson planned on discussing the story. Sure we all know that you can give the students an "F" and move on. I've done it. But I also have seen positive results with these worksheets. As students read the story in class, questions like these pop up, in the order of the story. Students continue reading and boom, another question. Every couple of sentences, there is another question. Before you know it, the student is done, done with the worksheet and done with reading the story. They feel a sense of accomplishment, perhaps earned a grade (depending on your preference), and you are now ready to have a discussion about the story. Question types are T or F, fill-in-the-blank, short answer and multiple choice. I like to call this "guided chunking". These questions are basically guided reading worksheets in disguise. Ive seen it time and time again. Student sits down to read "A Rose for Emily", 10 minutes later, their head is down, they stopped reading, they're looking around....bottom line - not learning/not reading. Put the worksheet for "A Rose for Emily" in front of them, in about an hour, the worksheet is done and they have read the story. They can now talk about how Emily was, why was she the way she was.. etc etc etc. And that is the goal.

Certified Princeton Review Instructor, Educator of Distinction Award, "Highly Effective" more times than I can count.

BA in English Lit., Certified Princeton Review ACT Instructor, Cert. in English 6-12 Instruction, Cert. in 6-12 ESOL Instruction, Cert. in 6-12 Reading Instruction.

Born in the 60's. I was the quintessential hyper-active boy/student from elementary school to high school. And now I am a teacher in public high school. Teaching for over 18 years, I take my secrets (what worked with me) and implement them in my teaching styles. And in a world where high stakes testing matters, these guided reading worksheets work! Don't believe me? Have any doubts? No problem. Download my free full samples "A Man to Send Rain Clouds" by Leslie Silko, "Between Heaven and Hell" and "Before the End of Summer" by Grant Moss Jr. - all come with full answer keys. And since some of these stories are public domain, you can find them online for free. You have nothing to lose Try them for free! You will see the students focused and attentive to the story they are reading. I know you'll be back.