• Research Skills

    When asked about students and researching, most teachers feel that students are often lost when they begin researching online. It can be overwhelming for students, struggling to pick a topic, refining their search using keywords, or choosing valid reliable websites. It is important that teachers give students the tools they need to become critical thinkers as […]

  • Creating Fictional Origins of Idioms

    Idioms and jargons are used everyday in our lives. We know that for our EL Learners and a lot of students in our classes, idioms and jargon can be difficult.  As a literary device, idioms are extremely effective and add to “style” of writing.  Idioms are colourful, personal and vivid.   I could describe our […]

  • Creating Comics on your iPad

    Comics are very powerful pieces of writing.  Students enjoy reading and creating comics. Two apps on the iPad,, Comic Life and BookCreator, allow students to create their own comics.  One of the best ways to engage your students in a story writing dialogue activity, is to use Comics.   What better way is there to show how writing […]

  • Using Book Creator to Explore Non-Fiction Text Features

    Before you have students create a non-fiction book in Book Creator, you must explore the features in a non-fiction piece. Text features in a non-fiction piece of writing, is like story elements in a fiction piece of writing.  Just like you need to teach students about characters, setting, problem, plot and resolution before writing stories, […]