Mr. Jennings – cjennings@canfieldschools.net Part One – Create your Doc This is easy, but very important. All of your written work for this class, including the summer work, will be composed in this document. Follow these steps: Part Two – Strategies and resources These documents and videos will be essential to your success on these […]
Cormac McCarthy’s “A Drowning Incident” is a perfect short story
Need a great text to teach plot, characterization, figurative language, imagery, mood, characterization, or theme? Look no further than this early work from an American master. I’m sure we’re all already getting a jump start on our planning for next school year. Right? Anyone??! Okay, probably not. Especially this year. Summer’s sun will never shine […]
What I’ve learned from one semester of grad school
Bad teaching in college looks a lot like bad teaching in high school. So I have to preface all of this with theeeee most important thing I’ve always know but have always avoided confronting when it comes to grad school, particularly from a teacher’s perspective: Do it as soon after finishing undergrad as possible. We […]
Need to de-stress? Do a five-minute art project
No artistic ability is required – only paint samples, scissors, and a glue stick. I knew from the start that this school year would be a stressful one. I need not recount all of the reasons – if you’re reading this, then you know. But I didn’t want to spend the whole year worrying and […]
A funny thing happened on the way through a research project
When a student asks to read a book, you say YES!!! I’m paraphrasing the great Winston Zeddemore from the movie I’ve seen more than any other movie, and I will now explain why… My Honors English sophomores are in the middle of a pretty involved research project that takes an entire half of the semester […]
Surprise! A 14-minute experimental feminist film from 1943 is what teens – and teachers – in 2021 never knew they always needed
Maya Deren’s Meshes of the Afternoon is a masterclass in mood, symbolism, and economy. It is an essential text. I’ve never been the kind of teacher to trot out old lessons and projects and worksheets year after year. Honestly, teachers who do that annoy me, and they’re rarely the ones who have any lasting impact […]
I teach film study, and the Oscars are this weekend. Do I even care?
Answer: Yes, and so should you. First of all, context is always important when making an argument, so I’m not going to ignore the context for this discussion, but I don’t want to bog you down in the minutiae of release schedules and film festivals and eligibility windows – most people truly DO NOT care […]
My first year of parenting in 12 children’s books
Choosing what your child reads isn’t just an educational act – it’s also a matter of ethics and aesthetics. My daughter Adelaide turned one this past week. These three pics just about say it all. We’ve cried… And we’ve slept… But we’re happy! One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most, and also one of […]
Ctrl+Shift+T means nothing is ever really gone
When you listen to your students, you learn incredible things. I only have 14 tabs and 3 windows open right now. It’s a light day. A Friday. Sometimes I’ll open my computer and the tabs will be so small and crammed together that only a little icon shows on each – no hint of a […]
Get rid of your phone and write it down. The world’s best notebook. Pitch-black, dot-graph, back pocket-ready.
Field Notes notebooks are essential, and this is the most essentialest one of them all. Every teacher should have the tools to record ideas at the ready. Few things are worse than a good idea gone missing. I prefer the Field Notes pitch black, dot-graph notebook, available here in two-packs. They fit perfectly into a […]