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Differentiation TechniqueEmbed A Classic

Read The Overview: Embed A Classic

An easy way to spice up any lesson is to remove the god-awful samples and replace them with selections from great works of art, music, film, tv shows, and historic moments. You get the added bonus of exposing students to new ideas.

Specific Examples of “Embed A Classic”

Reordering A Mixed Up Paragraph

Reordering A Mixed Up Paragraph

I combined my utility Paragraphy with Project Gutenberg, The Differentiator, and The Wizard Of Oz to create a differentiated lesson about how to order sentences within a paragraph for gifted students.

Taking “Noting Details” To A Higher Level

Taking “Noting Details” To A Higher Level

By 6th grade, our reading program's comprehension skills have become a bit basic for most of my gifted students. I've been working on increasing the depth and complexity of these skills. In this case, "Noting Details" has become "Explicit Vs. Implicit Details."

Studying Ambiguous Sentences

Studying Ambiguous Sentences

This type of sentence has great possibilities for classroom application because of its two different interpretations. It's a perfect tool to: demonstrate careful reading, showcase the need for editing while writing, and encourage creativity and divergent thinking.

Don’t Just Paraphrase A Poem!

Don’t Just Paraphrase A Poem!

What if, instead, we re-wrote the poem in the style of a different poet?

A Tessellation Art (and Math) Project

A Tessellation Art (and Math) Project

Let's create an MC Escher-style tessellation art (and math) project with nothing more than an index card, a marker, and paper.

Jabberwocky, Parts of Speech, and Context Clues

Jabberwocky, Parts of Speech, and Context Clues

Let's see how we can use a classic piece of poetry to enhance a lesson on parts of speech or context clues. This provides exposure to a great work and also increases the complexity of a typical task.

Poe’s The Raven

Poe’s The Raven

The Raven is a great starting point for students' to learn about Poe. Not only does the poem clearly demonstrate "tone," but it is a figurative language tour de force. Plus, there are some amazing readings available online!

Remix Poetry: Christmas To Thanksgiving

Remix Poetry: Christmas To Thanksgiving

Let’s remix a famous Christmas poem, give it a Thanksgiving theme, and teach our students advanced poetry concepts at the same time

Remix the Song “Help!”

Remix the Song “Help!”

Students took the classic song, Help!, and rewrote it to be about their collective summers.

Writing a Song to Respond to Literature

As I walked around the room with my guitar, groups of students raised their hands, asking “Can you come check ours!?” I approached and sang the lyrics they had written, strumming along to check their rhythm. My students were writing songs as a novel way of responding to literature. Literary Response as Song In my […]