Using Urban Legends to Engage Struggling Readers

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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…”

After teaching high school reading intervention courses for many years, I know that starting with a novel is a mistake—it’s too long. Literature circles are also a wonderful opening unit, but I found that introducing them too early often derailed my lesson plans and created absolute chaos. Then I tried beginning with Urban Legends, a unit I usually do at the end of the year. It became so successful that now I always start with it.

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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.

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Sarah Hastings Morley
Sarah Hastings Morley
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.

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