Originally published in TEACH Magazine, September/October 2019 Issue
By Sarah Hastings Morley
No matter what subject you teach, the beginning of the school year is filled with fun getting-to-know-you activities, establishing class routines, and fostering student-teacher relationships. It’s an exciting and hopeful time, but after the whirlwind ends, I get anxious. I worry that my lessons won’t live up to the start-of-the-year activities.
Like me, many teachers may fear the transition into actual work. That it may bore their students, especially if you teach high school reading intervention classes like me. So, what’s a teacher to do to keep the momentum going? The answer is: urban legends. “Hey class, so the other day I heard from my cousin’s friend, that…”
Sarah Hastings Morley is both a Reading Specialist and a high school English Composition Teacher. This is her 13th year teaching in the northern suburbs of Chicago, IL. She earned her Bachelor’s in Secondary English Education from Illinois State University, and her Master’s in Education: Reading and Literacy from Benedictine University.
