001: My Favorite Strategy for Every Single ELA Unit

Would 12 year olds learn to spell 1000 words without the National Spelling Bee? Would high schoolers practice layups for hundreds of hours without the lure of Saturday games and the dream of college ball? 

For that matter, would you be as interested in upping your teaching game if you didn't know you would have 30 curious faces staring at you come Monday?

Having a REASON to learn something is half the battle... maybe more than half. When you incorporate a showcase project in every unit, you give students motivation to learn the lessons along the way that will help them succeed. 

Maybe your poetry unit wraps up in a poetry slam, and students know they'll be on stage in front of their peers to perform. That's strong motivation to understand alliteration! 

Maybe your genius hour project finishes with the publication of student podcasts. To the actual world. Whoa. Motivation for sure!

Maybe your speech unit finishes with a presentation to the school board. Suddenly rhetorical devices feel a lot more relevant.

You get the idea!

In this episode, I'm talking about the secret sauce I like to mix into every unit, and why it helps so much.

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