One day, in my first year of teaching high school, I made (as one does in their first year of teaching high school) a huge mistake. I told my students they could use the first person singular in their papers. “Really?” they said, going goggle-eyed and slack-jawed. “We can? We’ve always been told we can’t!” … Continue reading Just Because You Can…
Tag: for students
Put Down the Overused Literary Term
Dearest Students, This post is for you. Your teachers are allowed to use whatever literary terms they want, because years of trial and error have taught your teachers discretion. You are a different story. My hope, however, is that the next time your teacher asks you to do some kind of textual analysis, this post … Continue reading Put Down the Overused Literary Term
Simple versus Simplistic
Write simply. Its one of the first, most frequent, and loudest writing tips I give my students: write simply. Some of my students - those fond of referring to “individuals” when they mean “people,” talking about how an author “utilized” something when they want to talk about use, and those who have thesaurus.com in a … Continue reading Simple versus Simplistic
Active Voice Was Taught By Me
Back when I taught at Fancy Pants University, my writing courses were very popular (for reasons I have never completely figured out) with engineering students. I loved teaching the engineers: they were funny, geeky, and had a different, more concrete way of looking at literature than humanities-focused students did. Yet the engineers (and the pre-med … Continue reading Active Voice Was Taught By Me
Five Writing “Controversies” I Will Not Engage
Every so often, my students will ask for my opinion regarding a writing matter on which I have no opinion - and that’s tough, because as anyone close to me can tell you, I have opinions on most things! But since these come up from time to time, and I will continue to resolutely not … Continue reading Five Writing “Controversies” I Will Not Engage
Paper Prompt: Connecting
My lit students across my three seminars began their spring semesters with two of my favorite books to teach: Euripides’ The Bacchae, perhaps not the best of the Greek tragedies but without a doubt the most bonkers of them; and Dostoevsky’s psychological doorstopper Crime and Punishment, wherein we learn how exhausting it is to spend … Continue reading Paper Prompt: Connecting
Build Your Vocabulary (And Then Don’t Use It)
The other day, as I was about to hand back some lit analysis essays my students had written, I asked them a question that had been on my mind for some time: what do you guys have against the word people? I had noticed a pattern across their papers that, when discussing characters in books … Continue reading Build Your Vocabulary (And Then Don’t Use It)
Hills I Will Die On: Abuse of Myself
My teaching philosophy holds that one should limit the energy one spends sweating the little things. I believe fanatically in teaching my students the rules that are actual rules, but my contribution to the interminable debate surrounding the series comma is a resounding “eh.” While I favor the series comma, I don’t care whether you … Continue reading Hills I Will Die On: Abuse of Myself
Follow us on the Twitters!
I am delighted to announce that DATW now has its own Twitter account! If you like what you see here and are on the Twitters, please follow the blog at @DATW_blog. Also, if you like what you see here, it would mean a lot if you would share our posts and tweets when they come … Continue reading Follow us on the Twitters!
Writing By Hand Is Good For You
I can take notes faster with my laptop, they tell me. I can write down everything you say. I can transfer it onto a Quizlet. I can spellcheck. Taking notes by hand is slow! Yep. I know. You’re one hundred percent correct about all of those things. And they add up to exactly why I … Continue reading Writing By Hand Is Good For You
Dr. Albert Teaches Writing 