English Teacher Heaven: where students write circles around you and credit you with teaching them how to do it. It's real! I've been there!
Teen Ink's Teacher's Guide offers tips and step-by-step lesson plans from educators nationwide, many of whom have used the magazine for years. The guide includes:
See how teachers use Teen Ink to turn classes into publishing workshops - from brainstorming to following editorial guidelines to dealing with rejection.
Almost all students write for an audience of their teacher - that's wrong. The student needs to learn to use the teacher as an editor and Teen Ink as an audience.
Some teachers help their students analyze Teen Ink authors alongside Shakespeare, Spencer and Keats. Get suggestions for using Teen Ink to hone critical thinking and develop peer-editing skills.
I break students up into small groups and ask them to to read a short story aloud and list strengths and weaknesses ... then we compare. These [exercises] spark the liveliest and most intelligent discussions about writing we have.
Read detailed lesson plans and "success stories" to get the most out of Teen Ink's diverse material, including letters to the editor, reviews, opinions, college essays, contests, interviews and more!
Even if you don't have class time to devote to Teen Ink, just offering it as a resource can make a difference for a young writer or reader. Engage your students in intelligent issues and stories, rather than the celebrities and fashion furnished by most teen magazines.
Never in my 20-plus years of teaching have I ever had so many requests from students begging to 'take a copy home.'