by Robert Stuart Thomson
Godwin Books, 2020
ISBN 9780995876026
359 pp.
godwinbooks.com
This collection of projects and assignments for teaching English Language Arts draws from the author’s twenty-year career as a high school teacher. Thomson has organized his suggestions into seven chapters that discuss ways for using feature films, documentary movies, magazines and newspaper advice columns, popular songs, musicals, paintings and photographs to inspire students to write. The final chapter looks at problems that adolescents commonly face, and suggests ways that students can explore universal issues by examining works of literature and audio-visual materials. He begins by teaching how to write book and movie reports so that students have learned the skills they need to complete home study projects. He includes many recommendations for materials that engaged his own students and samples of their work. This is a highly readable and experience-based guide that high school English teachers will find useful, especially now when many students are learning from home, at least part-time. Home Study Projects can be purchased on Amazon or by emailing the author (rthomson@islandnet.com).
Review by Diana Mumford.
This review is featured in Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Winter 2021 issue.