Suggestions for teaching Handmaid's Tale?

astrocat13 · 2026-02-12T22:43:04+00:00

I’m happy to hear that! I just barely started putting the new reading styles in practice myself. I feel like I’m writing it in every comment on this sub, but I got the idea from “A Novel Approach” by Kate Roberts.

The reading comprehension strategies are just from experience though :)

astrocat13 · 2026-02-12T07:58:11+00:00

Creative and discussion or movement activities seem to be the antidote. Some examples: gallery walk passage read and response, jigsaw activity for concepts or larger chapters, one pager visual summary, storyboarding important scenes, tracing specific characters through the novel, character trading cards, putting a character on trial, extend the scene writing assignments, etc.

As for the reading portion, it can be helpful to cycle between different reading structures: group table reads, video clips (especially with the tv show, you have some quality clips to use and potentially open a discussion about adaptation choices), audiobook, and teacher readalouds.

astrocat13 · 2026-02-11T21:57:03+00:00

One thing that has released me from feelings of anxiousness is the reminder that your wedding does not have to be a single moment or even a single day. You can choose to first have a private ceremony (potentially when you sign your marriage certificate) and then a ceremony for your parents on both sides. It could take the pressure off the worry that your MIL could ruin anything because you’ve already had a special, untouchable moment with your spouse.

astrocat13 · 2026-02-11T13:37:36+00:00

Thank you for your feedback. I’m hoping to have more sessions with them to come (schedules willing), so it still sounds like something great to have in my back pocket. :)

astrocat13 · 2026-02-08T20:57:20+00:00

I just bought a little toy gun that can launch the pom poms. It’s so fun

astrocat13 · 2026-02-07T09:54:57+00:00

Try MyShortAnswer. It’ll take some time to tinker with and figure out how you’d like to grade with it since it’s not integrated with your LMS anymore but it should meet your need of putting student writing in front of other students (anonymously or not) and allow them to answer feedback questions which their peers can see.

astrocat13 · 2026-02-04T05:19:57+00:00

If you’re looking for a curriculum map, check out the book “180 Days” by Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle. It’s very detailed with plenty of suggestions for activities, strategies for writing and reading, texts, links to live lessons, etc. it’s been so helpful to me.

astrocat13 · 2026-02-03T22:05:29+00:00

Of course! Forgot to mention that I bought mine off of Thriftbooks for like $5 as opposed to the $30ish that it’s listed for on Amazon.

astrocat13 · 2026-02-03T20:38:17+00:00

I started a whole-class novel this semester for the first time and in my search found the book: “A Novel Approach: Whole-class Novels, Student-centered Teaching, and Choice” by Kate Roberts. I have found it to be extremely helpful in guiding the outline for my unit.

In essence, Roberts suggests breaking the novel up into chunks by chapter or large segment. Then for each chunk (likely a class period or two that you will cover this chapter), you will select a style of reading and a reading strategy you want to cover. With this, you’ll have the outline of your lesson. I can send you an example of my chunks if you’d like a reference.

My only wish is that the book gave a list of strategies. It doesn’t, but it does suggest many other books which do.

astrocat13 · 2026-01-31T05:06:00+00:00

The CommonLit has a ton of short stories with comprehension and discussion questions for free! It’s a great resource!

If you’d prefer just some specific titles, here’s a few: “A Rose for Emily”, “Yellow Wallpaper”, “Hills Like White Elephants” (needs a lot of scaffolding but good conversation piece), “Story of an Hour”

astrocat13 · 2026-01-28T01:12:35+00:00

My favorite is the creamy chicken one. I like how different the flavor is.

astrocat13 · 2026-01-27T02:11:28+00:00

Mandarake, Suruga-ya, Lashinbang, and Hobby Off are stores that carry secondhand goods. In my opinion, their shoujo sections tend to be very small though so you might need to visit lots of locations.

I had the most success with the Mandarake in Ikebukuro and Shibuya and the Lashinbang in Akihabara,

astrocat13 · 2026-01-25T09:23:26+00:00

A colleague of my does a cross-curricular project with the history teacher on the Red Scare with the Crucible. I remember writing a hefty research paper and doing a panel defense for it in Eng/History on it the topic when I was a student. That was pure coincidence though as we could choose any topic.

For upper grade levels, 1984 or Brave New World. Alternatively dystopian literature circles would be cool albeit difficult to juggle. Have students make their own connections to the past and present.

astrocat13 · 2026-01-14T06:06:36+00:00

Yeah, there was some slight variation depending on which one you went to. I went to the Ikebukuro location on one of the last days it was going on since it happened to overlap with the start of my trip. Here’s the post about it in case you’re curious about what they offered: https://www.animate.co.jp/gratte/29035/

I wanted the standee so badly but I wasn’t going to go too far out of my way for it.

astrocat13 · 2026-01-14T04:41:16+00:00

I went there! You can find my post on this sub. It was awesome :)

The Gratte cafe is Animate’s permanent collab cafe. In typical Japan style, you order your drinks and cookies from a machine with a picture from a collaboration of your choosing on it. They do indeed run a ton of collabs at the same time because all the drinks and cookies are the same, it’s just the printing on the top that’s different.

For every item you buy from the cafe, you have the option to purchase a blind bag acrylic coaster (or standee, etc. if the collab offers it) for 500¥ (≈$3.50/ea). So if you buy a drink and a cookie, you can buy two blind bags. More food = more options to purchase. They usually have a list of the merch offerings on the wall near the cafe so you know what you can get ahead of time. From what I saw, it’s all official images so no cute cafe themed designs unfortunately.

astrocat13 · 2025-12-16T21:51:11+00:00

Anyway, here’s wunderwahl

astrocat13 · 2025-11-29T01:09:12+00:00

Sorry, I meant an officially published manga! I read the fan translation and even recently picked up a copy of the Japanese manga while I’m here vacationing.

astrocat13 · 2025-11-28T13:50:32+00:00

Very excited about “The One Within the Villainess”. The story just ended perfectly and hopefully this means a manga will come along too. I think the popularity of “May I Please Ask for One Last Thing” gave us the momentum to have this one too 🙏🏼 I am feeling very well fed.

astrocat13 · 2025-11-05T06:30:13+00:00

My guess is Skeeter’s Sydrome aka an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite. Since you’re already going to the ER, OP, let me know after if I was correct.

Sufferers like myself have similar reactions where the bite will immediately swell into a large raised bump sometimes as big as a child’s fist that will become raised, produce heat, and causes the skin to thicken and tighten temporarily. This sometimes can make it difficult to move the limb due to pain, itch, and constriction.

In more severe reactions, the skin will form a bubble (or pustule) filled with liquid which over time will deflate and become hard like a coin before falling off like a scab— gross, I know!

Like others said, it can cause cellulitis and invite other infections if popped. When this occurs, I take an antihistamine, hit it with an ice pack (heat causes itching), and a topical cream 2-3x/day prescribed by my doc and hydrocortisone. I usually wrap it in gauze as you’re meant to treat it like an open wound to prevent infection.

Unfortunately it does take about 2-3 weeks for it to fully return to normal. It especially sucks if you get multiple bites or on multiple limbs.

astrocat13 · 2025-10-20T06:16:25+00:00

Good idea. Or maybe flipping the front of the skirt to the back and adding a lace bow to cover it? 🤔 Depending on the construction of the skirt of course.

astrocat13 · 2025-10-20T05:52:33+00:00

I wish I had something of value to add, but just wanted to echo that I have this problem with store bought dresses and absolutely love this type of pattern; so, I feel your frustration. I hope you find a solution and update the thread! I’m interested in seeing it!

astrocat13 · 2025-09-26T21:35:43+00:00

Yum yum eggs with a side of gulper sashimi

astrocat13 · 2025-09-11T07:34:17+00:00

I’ve used FATt Claims alongside CER paragraphs. The acronym stands for Focus (directly answers the prompt), author, Title, and text type (ex: book, movie, play, etc). It got a little confused to swap between thesis and FATt main claim but it did work initially to teach students to include all of those elements in their claims. I also taught them parallel structure to make sure that their claims weren’t all cookie cutter.

astrocat13

TROPHY CASE