Explainer video I scripted and produced for a college-level creative writing course.

Location, Location, Location

So you’ve got a handful of short stories, all nearly finished. How do you decide how to order them in a collection, and how do you approach revising individual pieces with the big picture in mind? Do you go with your gut or tinker with links? How do you develop cohesion across a collection whose stories are not explicitly interrelated?
In this seminar we’ll look at ways a variety of authors have explored (or ignored) these questions.

Week 2 Lecture & Media: Analyzing Point of View, Symbolism & Theme in The Short Story

“By excluding almost everything, [the short story] can give perfect shape to what remains.”

–Steven Millhauser in “The Ambition of the Short Story.”

“A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.” –Lorrie Moore

This week we will focus on the short story, identifying the elements unique to this form, and investigating critical approaches to short sto

Part 1 asks you to explore how elements of poetry and fiction are manifest in creative nonfiction, and how poetry and fiction borrow from real-life experiences. To narrow your focus and lighten your workload, choose one work of creative nonfiction and one story or poem to discuss, including (if you’d like) one or more of the genre-blurring works below.


A Note on Terminology: Works of creative nonfiction are called essays, so refer to them as such.



Genre-blurring Forms


Slam Poetry

Spark curiosity, foster critical thinking skills, and unlock the mysteries of human evolution with this set of resources designed for use with the PBS Eons Human Evolution Learning Playlist

AP US History Historical Thinking Skills 1A-B, 4A, 6A-B

Engage and challenge students with this EDITABLE bundle of US History quizzes and discussion questions for use with Crash Course US History video episodes 1-10.

Also included: 2 Mystery Document Deep Dives featuring primary source documents and 7 Episode "Side Trips" built around videos that offer an in-depth exploration of historical figures and moments that get brief mentions in several of the episodes.

Each resource in this bundle of 19 includes:
5-8 multiple choice comprehension questions designed to assess student understanding of historical events and their impact not only on major historical figures but also on the people they governed. The focus is less on names and dates and more on patterns and trends.
2-4 open-ended questions designed to foster critical thinking that asks students to analyze, build arguments, and reflect.
A link to the questions as an editable game on Quizizz.
An answer key for the multiple choice questions as well as sample answers to the open-ended questions.
Flexible formatting: Questions appear on an editable Google doc you can modify to customize and differentiate and/or copy and paste into your learning platform of choice.

An overview of approaches to integrating comic creation into a writing workshop, social studies class, and/or STEAM Program. Designed for teachers who work with tweens (grades 4-8).