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The educators you see on ReadWriteThink are working to improve literacy learning for every student. Check out their stories for inspiration.
ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.
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Author
Scott Filkins
| Name | Scott Filkins |
| Location | Urbana, Illinois |
| Role | Literacy Coach |
| Membership |
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"ReadWriteThink is a constant reminder of what good ELA teaching looks like. Focusing on building skills and knowledge in the context of engagement in authentic literacy practices should be an inspiration to teachers who are burdened with the narrow demands of standardized instruction and assessment."
Scott Filkins is a literacy coach at Central High School in Champaign, Illinois. He taught high school English for nine years, serving as English Department Chair for seven years and teaching a range of courses, including Advanced Placement Literature, an interdisciplinary American Studies course, and inclusive 9th grade English.
Scott worked as a Content Specialist for ReadWriteThink at NCTE for two years and was part of the secondary strand of NCTE's Reading Initiative from 1999 to 2001. He is a contributing editor for the NCTE INBOX blog and a community leader in the NCTE Pathways for Advancing Adolescent Literacy.
His professional interests include engaging at-risk learners in school-based literacy practices and developing effective models of support for secondary literacy teachers. He currently serves on the steering committee for the University of Illinois Writing Project site.
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Contributions on ReadWriteThink.org |
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Brave New Words: Novice Lexicography and the Oxford English Dictionary
Students become novice lexicographers as they explore recent new entries to the dictionary, learn the process of writing entries for the Oxford English Dictionary, and write a new entry themselves.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan
Choose, Select, Opt, or Settle: Exploring Word Choice in Poetry
Students investigate the effects of word choice in Robert Frost’s “Choose Something Like a Star” to construct a more sophisticated understanding of speaker, subject, and tone.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Exploring Setting: Constructing Character, Point of View, Atmosphere, and Theme
Students read texts by Dybek, Dickens, Poe, and Morrison to explore how authors use language to create setting and, in turn, how setting constructs other elements in a literary work.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Having My Say: A Multigenre Autobiography Project
Students compose a multigenre paper, modeled after the Delany sister's autobiography, Having Our Say, that includes the autobiographical narrative essay as well as an informational nonfiction piece.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
If a Body Texts a Body: Texting in The Catcher in the Rye
Students imagine the possibilities afforded by text messaging technology in The Catcher in the Rye. They compare and contrast major forms of communication, select points in the novel to represent with text messages, and share and discuss their creative work.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Preparing for the Journey: An Introduction to the Hero Myth
Students read a variety of picture books that contain elements of the hero’s journey and use an online interactive tool to analyze the stories.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
There Are No Small Parts: Minor Characters in David Copperfield
This lesson capitalizes on students’ interest in social networking by asking students to build an online profile for a minor character in Charles Dicken’s David Copperfield.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan
Young Adult Literature about the Middle East: A Cultural Response Perspective
Adapted from Sheryl L. Finkle and Tamara J. Lilly’s Middle Ground: Exploring Selected Literature from and about the Middle East, this variation on traditional literature circles exposes students to a variety of young adult fiction from and about the Middle East. Students read and share research and responses in collaborative groups. At the end of the lesson, they write a letter to welcome an immigrant student to their school and community.
Grades 6 – 8 | Activity & Project
A Trip to the Museum: From Picture to Story
Visit a museum or art gallery (either online or in person) with children and teens, helping them find inspiration for a story based on a piece of art that they particularly enjoy or relate to.
Grades 6 – 8 | Activity & Project
Finding Poetry in Pleasure Reading
After reading a book or magazine, children and teens can choose a section and transform it into what’s known as a “found poem.”
