Posts from 2019
June
24th– Guest Post: Ben Murphy, “Challenging Stale Writing Pedagogy and Treating Writing as Discovery: An Interview with John Warner“
May
27th- Clay Zuba, “Teaching the Crucible in the Post-Truth Era“
24th- Greg Specter, “Helpful Advice for Starting Out on The Twitter Dot Com“
13th- Guest Post: Aaron Colton, “Strategies for Teaching Blocked Writers“
6th– Shelli Homer, “Experiencing New Texts for the First Time Alongside Our Students“
April
29th- Catherine Hostetter, “Summer Reading“
22nd- Caitlin Kelly, “Bad Teacher: In Defense of “Winging It” in the Classroom“
15th- Guest Post: Alex Bernstein, “On the Importance of Repetition in Poetry: Robert Hayden and Drake“
8th– Clay Zuba, “Teaching the Crucible in the Age of Trump“
1st– Elaina Frulla, “Making Room for BIG Books“
March
26th Randi Tanglen, “Teaching Failure: Aunt Phillis’s Cabin“
18th– Corinna Cook, “Comminglings of Law and Literature: Thoughts from the Yukon Territory“
11th– Guest Post: Katie Fitzpatrick, “Mapping Don DeLillo’s White Noise“
7th– Caitlin Kelly, “Teaching Charlotte Temple after #MeToo“
4th– Catherine Hostetter, “Emphasizing Audience When Teaching the Research Paper“
February
12th– Feature from University of Venus blog, “Caitlin Kelly in InsiderHigherEd“
12th– Greg Specter, “Food and Material Culture in the Classroom“
4th– Shelli Homer, “Planning Native American Literature in the Beginnings to 1865 Survey of American Literature“
January
29th– Randi Tanglen, “Beyond the Literary Analysis Essay: Autobiographical Literary Criticism“
29th– Brianne Jaquette, “Where do you get stuck?: Process-oriented planning and organizing for teaching“
22nd– Guest Post: Leah Milne, “Reflections on Teaching Poverty & Wealth through American Literature“
Posts from 2018
December
17th- Brianne Jaquette, “Creative Writing Pedagogy in Literature Courses: A SSAWW Roundtable“
10th- Melissa Range, “Becoming an Archival Expert“
3rd- Catherine Hostetter, “Gritty in the Composition Classroom“
November
27th- Randi Tanglen, “What Worked, What Didn’t: Course Reflection for the End of the Semester“
19th- Guest Post: Matthew Teutsch “The Master Race? Xenophobia and Racism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby“
12th- Meagan Ciesla, “First Days in the Classroom“
11th- Caitlin Kelly, “I’m Suffering Hamilton Burnout—but I’m Going to Keep Teaching It. Here’s Why“
October
29th- Greg Specter, “A Monday in Pittsburgh: Teaching after Tragedy“
29th- Clay Zuba, “Dear College Professor: On the (Un)Ethical Use of Technology“
22nd- Guest Post: Adam Golub, “Reading the Monster and its Moment“
15th- Elaina Frulla, “When Aliens Invade the Classroom: Notes on Teaching Invasion of the Body Snatchers“
10th- Randy Tanglen, “How to Organize a Teach-In“
3rd- Caitlin Kelly, “Finding Focus: Identifying Enduring Understandings through Backward Design“
September
24th- Catherine Hostetter, “Improving Students’ Reading Comprehension by Analyzing the Blues“
17th- Randy Tanglen, “Teaching Little Women at 150“
4th- Greg Specter, “This is not a Desk Copy“
August
27th- Guest Post: Jacinta Yanders, “Making Space for Voice and Choice: Assignment Design in an Online Course“
20th- Brianne Jaquette, “Writing Academically with Emotional Clarity“
13th- Guest Post: Matthew Luter, “Intro to Postmodernism: Questioning the Truth Claim“
July
23rd- Greg Specter, “The Field of Reads: Weird Adventures in Course Design and Planning“
11th- Guest Post: Thomas Hallock, “Schooled in Barbecue“
June
25th- Caitlin Kelly, “Some End-of-Semester Thoughts on Academic Struggle“
4th- Randi Tanglen, “School’s Out: How to Focus Your Writing With a Summer Writing Group“
May
21st- Guest Post: Clay Zuba, “Dear College Professor: On Your Incoming Students“
14th- Guest Post: Jessica Thelen, “Teaching Japanese Internment Using Julie Otsuka’s When The Emperor Was Divine“
7th- Meagan Ciesla, “Teaching (Vocation Optional)“
April
30th- Shelli Homer, “Sherman Alexie or How does #MeToo affect the Texts We Teach?“
25th- Guest Post: Theresa Dietrich, “Fostering Complexity in the Age of Oversimplification: Teaching American Culture in 90 Minutes or Less, Part Two“
23rd- Guest Post: Theresa Dietrich, “Fostering Complexity in the Age of Oversimplification: Teaching American Culture in 90 Minutes or Less, Part One“
16th– Catherine Hostetter, “Pairing Walt Whitman’s ‘I Hear America Singing’ with Richard Blanco’s ‘One Today’“
9th– Corinna Cook, “Teaching José Orduña: Ekphrasis and the North American Essay“
3rd– Greg Specter, “It’s Mailer Time: Switching Gears in Course Planning“
March
26th– Brianne Jaquette, “Fulbright Workshop: Black Lives Matter, Part Two“
19th– Randi Tanglen, “The World’s Eye and the World’s Heart: How to be a Public Intellectual“
12th– Caitlin Kelly, “Rethinking the Revolution: Course (re)Design for Fall 2018“
5th– Shelli Homer, “To Read or Not To Read: Teaching Students How and Why to Read Through the Boredom“
February
26th– Elaina Frulla, “Takin’ Care of Business: Exploring the Early American Book Trade“
19th– Randi Tanglen, ““Hope and Keep Busy”: Teaching American Women Writers as Models of Moral Courage in Dark Political Times“
12th– Corinna Cook, “Happy Accidents: Family and Place Writing in Creative Nonfiction“
7th– Greg Specter, “A Look at the #Brand #Metrics of PALS“
5th– Catherine Hostetter, “Teaching Students How to Organize Essays through Nonlinear Practice“
January
29th– Brianne Jaquette, “Fulbright Workshop: Black Lives Matter, Part One“
22nd– Guest Post: Darcy Mullen, “‘The Times They Are A Changin’: Teaching Bob Dylan, the Nobel Laureate Winner“
16th– Guest Post: Marlowe Daly-Galeano, “Bringing Moby-Dick to the People: A Reading Marathon as a Class Community Engagement Project“
Posts from 2017
December
19th– Shelli Homer, “Pedagogy Under Fire; Or, When Community Members Want A Say Over Your Classroom“
11th– Corinna Cook, “The Retrospective Essay“
4th– PALS, “PALS Roundtable: Writing Better Teaching Philosophies“
November
27th– Guest Post: Katie Fitzpatrick, “Teaching Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America after Charlottesville“
20th– Caitlin Kelly, “How Bibliographies Can Work in the Classroom: A Revolutionary Research Project for Students in Introductory Courses“
13th– Catherine Hostetter, “From CRLA 2017: Synthesizing Primary Texts, Secondary Texts, and Protest Songs“
6th– Randi Tanglen, “Teaching Handsome Lake’s “How America Was Discovered” as Protest Literature“
October
30th– Elaina Frulla, “Frankenstudents: Experimenting with Horror Narratives“
23rd– Meagan Ciesla, “Teaching Historical Context with E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime“
16th– Brianne Jaquette, “Fulbright Workshop: Fake News“
9th– Catherine Hostetter, “Introducing Poetry to Students by Pairing Kerry Hasler-Brooks’ “Read, Reread, Close Read” with Aracelis Girmay“
3rd– Caitlin Kelly, “Review: Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution“
September
25th– Melissa Range, “Teaching Jane Johnston Schoolcraft“
21st– Randi Tanglen, “Teaching Women and Transcendentalism“
18th– Corinna Cook, “Human, Animal, HUMANIMAL… and making lit crit count“
11th– Meagan Ciesla, “Teaching Annotation“
6th– Shelli Homer, “Teaching Film and Film Adaptations in Literature Courses“
August
28th– Greg Specter, “What the Founders Read: Solutions for a Problematic Course“
21st– Randi Tanglen, “Pedagogical Lessons from the Transcendentalists: 2017 NEH Summer Institute in Concord“
14th– Brianne Jaquette, “Welcome to Norway: The Beginnings of a Fulbrite Year“
7th– Guest Post: Cheylon Woods, “Treasures from the Archives“
July
3rd– Guest Post: Christina Stubbs, “From an English Major: Reflections on Two Undergrad Classroom Experiences“
June
19th– Guest Post: Jacinta Yanders, “What’s in a Composition?“
12th– Guest Post: Randi Tanglen, “Student-Centered, Collaborative Learning and “Literature Circles” in the American Literature Classroom“
7th– Guest Post: Phil Smith, “Teaching Disney, Part Two: Race and Ethnicity, and Economics“
5th– Guest Post: Phil Smith, “Teaching Disney, Part One: Hypertextuality, The Formula, and Gender“
May
29th– Melissa Range, “Using Multimedia in Teaching Contemporary Black Women Poets“
22nd– Elaina Frulla, “Campus Birds: Making American Renaissance Poetry Accessible through Birdwatching“
17th– Brianne Jaquette, “‘Way Harsh, Tai’: Writing Advice for the Personal Statement“
15th– Guest Post: Megan Peiser, “Digital Literacy and Women in Knowledge-Building Systems: #MOWomenOnWikipedia“
12th– Greg Specter, “Teaching Hamilton: A Wrap Up“
11th– Guest Post: Caitlin Kelly, “Teaching Revision through Hamilton: An American Musical“
10th– Guest Post: Sunny Stalter-Pace, “Teaching Hamilton: An American Musical as Contemporary American Drama“
9th– Guest Post: Laura Miller, “Early American Library History and Digital Humanities Using Hamilton“
1st– Shelli Homer, “Reflecting on, Reframing, and Revising Approaches to Texts: Teaching M. NourbeSe Philip’s Zong!, Again“
April
24th– Guest Post: Tiffany Austin, “Irreverently Teaching Junot Diaz’s This Is How You Lose Her“
17th– Guest Post: Randi Tanglen, “Misattribution and Repurposing the Captivity Trope: Teaching Louise Erdrich and Sherman Alexie with Mary Rowlandson’s The Sovereignty and Goodness of God“
10th– Corinna Cook, “An Essay Asks a Question and Tries to Answer it: Introducing American Lit Students to Contemporary Forms of Creative Nonfiction“
3rd– Catherine Hostetter, “Podcasts and Pedagogy“
March
27th– Brianne Jaquette, “Waiting for Godot and “Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo”: Genre Pairings“
20th– Elaina Frulla, “History’s Inconsistent Characters“
13th– Guest Post: Darcy Mullen, “The Burst of The ITT Tech Bubble and Pedagogical Support“
6th– Catherine Hostetter, “Pairing “The Lottery” with The Hunger Games to Teach Critical Thinking Skills“
February
27th– Greg Specter, “Close Looking: Art in the Classroom“
20th– Melissa Range, “Pairing Mother Courage and Her Children and The Body of an American“
13th– Corinna Cook, “Bookending the Survey Course with Native American Literature-Part Two: Contemporary Texts and Authors“
6th– Brianne Jaquette, “Hedda Gabler & Artist Figures“
January
30th– Guest Post: Carli Sinclair, “Teaching Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale“
23rd– Shelli Homer, “Challenges and Rewards of Guest Lectures: Teaching Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye for One Class Period“
9th– Guest Post: Larry S. Su, “Reflections on Teaching Style in Short Stories“
Posts from 2016
December
23rd– Brianne Jaquette, “Teaching Junot Diaz’s Drown through the Lens of Critical Patriotism“
21st– Brianne Jaquette, “Being an “American Original”: Frameworks for Teaching Texts by Junot Diaz“
19th– Shelli Homer, “Literature is Political: Teaching Charles Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition, Critical Patriotism, and Media Literacy“
12th– Guest Post: Naomi Clark, “Teaching Resources for Talking about Race in a “Post-Truth” Era“
5th- Melissa Range, “Pairing 19th c. and 21st c. African American writers; or, it seemed like a great idea at the time . . .“
November
28th- Corinna Cook, “Bookending the Survey Course with Native American Literature – Part One: Oral Cultures“
21st- Meagan Ciesla, “Banned Books: Teaching How Literary Reception Informs Interpretation“
14th– Catherine Hostetter, “Composing First Impressions: Assigning a Writing Sample in Literature Courses“
7th– Shelli Homer, “Teaching Carson McCullers’ The Heart is a Lonely Hunter in an Online Introduction to American Literature Course“
2nd– Brianne Jaquette, “Teaching English Graduate Students to Write“
October
31st– Elaina Frulla, “Spooky Story Season: Student Reactions to Stephen King’s Short Fiction“
26th– PALS, “PALS Roundtable: Big Oops, Little Oops! Learning from Missteps when Teaching Literature“
24th– Greg Spector, “How to Use Extra Time Productively: Pacing Multiple Sections of the Same Course“
17th– Brianne Jaquette, “Sequencing Stories with Katherine Anne Porter and Sui Sin Far“
10th– Guest Post: Kelli Hansen, “Collaborating with Your Special Collections Librarian“
3rd– Melissa Range, “Using Digital Archives to Teach Nineteenth-Century African American Writers“
September
26th– Elaina Frulla, “That Awkward Feeling I Get When Discussing Necrophilia with My Students: My Experience Teaching McCarthy’s Child of God“
21st– Brianne Jaquette, “San Francisco & Sui Sin Far’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Part Two: Asian Art Museum“
19th– Catherine Hostetter, “Strategies for Supporting Student Writers, From a Supplemental Instructor“
14th– Brianne Jaquette, “San Francisco & Sui Sin Far’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Part One: Chinatown“
12th– Greg Spector, “Anthology Spotlight: The Citizen Poets of Boston: A Collection of Forgotten Poems, 1789-1820“
5th– Meagan Ciesla, “Teaching the Long Short Story: Alice Munro’s “Vandals” in the Literature Classroom“
August
30th– Shelli Homer, “Physical, Mental, and Emotional Taxation in the Classroom“
22nd– Corinna Cook, “Signature Stories“
15th– Guest Post: Daniel Schweitzer, “Teaching Edgar Allan Poe’s Poetry and Writing Philosophy through Imitation and Response“
8th– Brianne Jaquette, “Syllabus & Lesson Planning: Back to Basics When Teaching New Texts“
July
18th– Guest Post: Matthew Teutsch, “‘I think Aladdin looked kinda white’: Teaching Cultural Projection in the Classroom“
12th– Shelli Homer, “Teaching the Works of Ernest Gaines, an NEH Summer Institute Reflection“
May
31st– Guest Post: Christine Kozikowski, “Same Class, Different Day?: Teaching Similar Content at Different Course Levels“
23rd– Shelli Homer, “Toe to Toe: Teaching Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass versus Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave“
18th– Guest Post: Christina Katopodis, “Addressing Despair in the Classroom: An Ecocritical Approach to Non-Canonical American Writers“
16th– Guest Post: Christina Katopodis, “Student-Driven Pedagogy in the Early American Survey Course“
9th– Greg Specter, “Bad Pedagogy“
2nd– Guest Post: Mariko Turk, “Using the Ladies’ Home Journal to Teach Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar“
April
25th– Meagan Ciesla, “Teaching In Cold Blood“
18th– Guest Post: Elaina Frulla, “Walking through Richard Brautigan’s Antique Shop: Brautigan’s Relevance in the Contemporary College Classroom“
13th– Greg Specter, “Teaching Thomas Jefferson & Phillis Wheatley“
11th– Brianne Jaquette, “Pedagogy and the Weird with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Louise Erdrich, and Flannery O’Connor“
6th– Greg Specter, “Teaching Hamilton, the Musical“
4th– Guest Post: Catherine Hostetter,”Considering the Rhetorical Situation: Teaching Literature and Composition at a Community College“
March
28th– Melissa Range, “Creative Writing in the Literature Classroom“
21st– Guest Post: James Van Wyck, “When the Author Isn’t Dead: Teaching the Work of Living Poets, An Interview with Poet/Scholar Jordan Windholz“
14th– Guest Post: Rachel Hanson, “Unpacking the Personal Essay: Teaching Structure and Avoiding Clichés in Creative Nonfiction Workshops“
February
29th– Guest Post: Tawnya Ravy, “The #DHattheCC Project: Digital Humanities Needs Community Colleges“
22nd– Brianne Jaquette, “The Glass Menagerie and Fences: Artist Figures and Unfulfilled Dreams“
15th– Greg Specter, “Anthology Spotlight: Dawnland Voices“
8th– Shelli Homer, “Teaching Phillis Wheatley through Anne Bradstreet“
1st– Meagan Ciesla, “Reaction Charts: The Best Thing to Happen to 100-level Literature Classrooms Since Books“
January
27th– Guest Post: Shelia Liming, “Loving the Alien: or, Making Theory Useful to the Undergraduate American Literature Classroom, Part Two“
25th– Guest Post: Shelia Liming, “Loving the Alien: or, Making Theory Useful to the Undergraduate American Literature Classroom, Part One“
18th– Melissa Range, “Teaching a collection of poems featuring Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard as a test case, Part 3“
11th– Brianne Jaquette, “MLA 2016 Pedagogy-‘Teaching the Archive’ & ‘Digital Scholarship in Action: Pedagogy’“
Post from 2015
December
14th– Guest Post: Caitlin Kelly, “Teaching Transatlantic Influence“
11th– PALS’ Editors, “Pedagogy Possibilities: In the Heart of the Sea, Moby-Dick, and the American Literature Classroom“
November
30th– Brianne Jaquette, “Classroom Slumps and Pedagogy Fun“
17th– Greg Specter, “A Case for Teaching the Penguin Phillis Wheatley“
16th– Melissa Range, “Teaching a Collection of Poems Using Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard as a Test Case, Part 2“
9th– Meagan Ciesla, “Thoreau, meet Kaczynski“
October
26th– Greg Specter, “Talking with Librarians“
19th– Bethany Petrik, “A Brief Case for Audio in the Classroom“
12th– Brianne Jaquette, “‘The Yellow-Wallpaper,’ Close Reading, and the Introductory Literature Classroom“
5th– Shelli Homer, “Toe to Toe: Funny in Farsi versus Lipstick Jihad“
September
27th– Melissa Range, “Teaching a Collection of Poems Using Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard as a Test Case, Part 1“
20th– Meagan Ciesla, “Teaching Nella Larsen’s Passing“
13th– Michael Petrik, “Introducing Ecocriticism Quickly“
6th– Greg Specter, “Classroom Collaborations with Librarians“
August
30th– Bethany Petrik, “Teaching Old World Vs. New World in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!“
23rd– Shelli Homer, “Teaching Storytelling and Personal Narrative in Gayl Jones’s Corregidora“
16th– Brianne Jaquette, “Translating Composition Writing Activities into the Literature Classroom“
9th– PALS’ Editors, “The Means and Ends in Creating PALS“
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