Simply Novel Blog - Teaching Tips and Ideas for Teachers

I read this article in The Atlantic recently that discussed a new finding that handwritten notes are more effective in student learning than are ty...

One of the most difficult literary devices to recognize as well as convey is tone. Helping students identify tone in literature can be daunting, an...

I may be solo on this, but I love teaching on Valentine’s Day! I can’t quite pinpoint why! I think it’s because I love all the different projects I...

I always seem to have students who believe that effective writing is verbose. If they exceed the page minimum, they expect a high grade. These stud...

Is there really such a thing? Or is it an excuse we created to get out of doing something we don’t want to do? I remember hearing countless times f...

It is important for students to understand an author’s purpose, but to also be able to write for a specific purpose – to inform, to persuade, or to...

Poetry Project ideas for any time of year-- here is the list of 30 different ideas! These projects can be done independently, with partners or even small groups. Poetry Projects can be used for beginning of the year activities, novel study projects, and can be used cross curricular.

Here are 20 Fun Poem Types You've Never Heard Of - April is the time to celebrate National Poetry Month. I want to share some fun poetry ideas to get those creative juices flowing and kick off National Poetry Month. These ideas are challenging and entertaining; truly the perfect mix.

The research paper. Some teachers love it, some don’t. When the research paper season comes around, I struggle with more than the paper load and th...

As juniors and seniors gear up for choosing colleges and scholarships to which they want to apply, they must consider who they should ask for recom...

I am a strong proponent of teachers and self-care.  And with that comes teachers managing their time wisely.  One of my earliest teaching mentors often said to me "Work smarter, not harder."  It was not until I had a few years under my belt that I realized that that meant changing some things that included me actually stepping back and not doing it ALL.  Including not grading everything myself.  Enter the gift of peer editing!  

The benefits of peer editing are numerous, and before any teacher sees an essay, it should have been peer edited at least once.  It is crucial, however, that students know how to peer edit, and why.  Here are 5 reasons students should be doing more peer-editing.