WHAT YOU NEED TO BE A GOOD ENGLISH TEACHER
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English teachers have an important job. They teach students how to read and write well, how to understand what they read, how to learn from their peers, and how to have productive and challenging conversations. Being a successful English teacher can be difficult, but there are steps you can take to improve, so that both you and your students get more out of your time in the classroom.
<h1>Developing Lesson Plans</h1>
<div class="step_num"><b class="whb">1- Choose material that will interest your students.</b> While classics like <i>Moby Dick</i> are incredibly important historically and have a lot of literary value, they can be too long, boring, and seemingly irrelevant to hold your students' interest for long. Instead, assign shorter or more contemporary works, or works that you know your students will enjoy.</div>
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 	<li>Look for literary or academic merit in unlikely places: even a zombie apocalypse novel like Colson Whitehead's <i>Zone One</i> deals with challenging and important topics that perfectly complement a classic like Hemingway's <i>In Our Time</i> while still remaining relevant to modern audiences.</li>
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<strong>2</strong>- <b class="whb">Assign reasonable amounts of homework.</b> While it may seem nice to have your students read a lengthy novel in a week, this can be an unreasonable expectation. Your students won't be able to finish the reading and will skim it, read a summary instead, or not read it at all. Encourage your students to complete their homework and get the most out of their education by assigning smaller amounts of homework that directly relate to the class work.
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 	<li>Your focus should be on creating an in-class environment where you can monitor your student's work and progress. If you choose to give homework, it should be brief and relate directly to your in-class assignments and discussions.</li>
 	<li>Short stories are excellent ways pieces to assign as critical reading. Just because there's less to read doesn't mean your students can't learn key concepts. Find short stories that illustrate what you're discussing in class and use them to keep your students engaged.</li>
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<b class="whb">3- Give homework assignments that help students understand the material.</b> Ask students to write a short response to a reading assignment, including an interpretation of or questions about the reading. These assignments should challenge students to think critically and consider important questions, or make connections between class topics.<sup id="_ref-3" class="reference" aria-label="Link to Reference 3"></sup>
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 	<li>Don't assign busywork. Some assignments like vocabulary sentences and definition work are helpful. However, sending home a reading that isn't related to class work just to make sure your students have English homework is stressful and unnecessary. Focus on the quality of the homework you assign rather than the quantity.</li>
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<strong>4</strong>- <b class="whb">Focus on the big-picture understanding.</b> Focus on their general understanding of the topics you teach in addition to skills like vocabulary. Impress upon them the larger significance of what they're studying and how this can help them elsewhere in their lives. Teach them how to learn rather than simple facts. This will help them come away from your class with a more lasting understanding of and appreciation for the subject.

<strong>5</strong>- <b class="whb">Order your lessons to make them cohesive.</b> Rather than jumping from topic to topic at will, order your lessons chronologically or thematically. Tie different topics together in your discussions so that your students understand how each topic is related. Help them draw connections and encourage them to consider their ideas in different contexts. What does Whitman's relationship with nature have to do with Tennyson's, or Hemingway's? How are they the same or different, and why?
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 	<li>Ordering your lessons chronologically can make the progression from one topic to the next feel natural — it makes sense to study 18th century writers before 19th century ones. Also consider ordering topics thematically, so that you study the progression of a theme or idea across several texts.</li>
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