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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, videos, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you.
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Author
Susanne Rubenstein
| Name | Susanne Rubenstein |
| Location | Princeton, Massachusetts |
| Role | High School Teacher |
| Membership |  |
"With ReadWriteThink, teachers can step inside each other's classrooms,
experience innovative teaching ideas, and bring these lessons back to their
own students. It's a true collegial connection."
Susanne, a member of the NCTE Consulting Network, teaches English at Wachusett Regional High School in Holden, Massachusetts, and has a special interest in contemporary literature. Active in the Central Massachusetts Writing Project, she frequently presents workshops for teachers on the teaching of writing.
Susanne Rubenstein is the author of Go Public! Encouraging Student Writers to Publish (NCTE 1998) and Raymond Carver in the Classroom: "A Small, Good Thing" (NCTE 2005).
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Contributions on ReadWriteThink.org |
Grades 11 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
A Poem of Possibilities: Thinking about the Future
After reading John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player," students write poems describing themselves five years in the future. The teacher takes the poems and mails them to students in five years.
Grades 7 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Aim for the Heart: Using Haiku to Identify Theme
Using haiku, students focus on themes in literature and demonstrate their understanding of an author's message. Writing haiku to accompany an analytical paper hones analytical skills and fosters creative expression.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Chasing the Dream: Researching the Meaning of the American Dream
By conducting interviews, sharing and assessing data, and writing papers based on their authentic research, students reach their own conclusions on the meaning of the American Dream.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
From Friedan Forward—Considering a Feminist Perspective
Students write letters expressing personal views on issues like equal pay, equal education/employment opportunity, and gender roles—and receive these letters six years later.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Outside In: Finding A Character's Heart Through Art
This activity, inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper and the stories of Raymond Carver, challenges students to get inside contemporary life and characters through the creation of monologues.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Put That on the List: Collaboratively Writing a Catalog Poem
Using the structure of a list poem, students combine creative expression with poetic techniques and language exploration in order to write group poems about what really matters in their lives.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Put That on the List: Independently Writing a Catalog Poem
In this follow-up to writing collaborative catalog poems, students write individual catalog poems about what really matters in their lives, based on Carver's poem "The Car."
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
So What Do You Think? Writing a Review
Writing a review of an author's work challenges students to develop their critical thinking skills. It provides an opportunity for students to speak their minds—and to enjoy being heard.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
The Feature Story—Fifteen Minutes (and 500 Words) of Fame!
Students learn how to differentiate between a news story and a feature story by writing a profile of a classmate.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
The Importance of Titles: From Big Blank Space to Small Good Thing
After examining two sets of stories that author Raymond Carver renamed in revision, students write a reflective essay in which they defend their choice of a title for one them.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
When Less IS More—Understanding Minimalist Fiction
This lesson pairs Ernest Hemingway's short story "Cat in the Rain' with Raymond Carver's "Little Things" to guide students to an understanding of the characteristics of minimalist fiction.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Worth Its Weight: Letter Writing with "The Things They Carried"
This lesson uses a letter-writing activity based on Tim O'Brien's story "The Things They Carried" to build empathy as students examine the weight they symbolically carry in their own lives.
Grades 6 – 12 | Professional Library | Book
Go Public!: Encouraging Student Writers to Publish
Intended for middle and high school teachers, Go Public! offers specific writing ideas and classroom activities to help students develop the confidence and ability to publish in a wide market.
Professional Library | Book
Raymond Carver in the Classroom: "A Small, Good Thing"
Rubenstein offers specific, classroom-tested strategies for teaching Raymond Carver's short stories and poems in the high school English classroom.
Grades 9 – 12 | Activity & Project
This activity gives teens an opportunity to write reviews on the movies, television shows, music, restaurants, and books they love—and hate!
