Jess Woods Archives - Excelsior Classes

You Don’t Have to Agree with Your Teacher (And Other Secrets for Analyzing Literature)

Nov 11, 2021 | College Preparation, Jess Woods

The first secret of literary analysis is that you don’t have to agree with your teacher. Yep, I said it. While some people try to fit literature into tidy boxes, genres, and purposes, my favorite high school English teachers and college professors encouraged...

Women Who Wrote the World: The Importance of the Female Voice in the Study of Literature

Feb 11, 2021 | Engaging Education, Jess Woods

If you’ve ever taken a traditional English/literature class, you may have noticed that many of the authors you read (particularly if the class moved in any sort of sequential order) were white males. While there are many wonderful and worthy works of literature...

Why Teen Authors Should Build a Writing Portfolio Before Self-Publishing

Nov 6, 2019 | Engaging Education, Jess Woods

The publishing industry is changing, and that is a beautiful thing. Voices are emerging from cultures that have previously been silenced in print. Stories are no longer squelched by industry constraints. Genre-specific niches have a pedestal and are flourishing. With...

The Importance of Studying Shakespeare

Aug 1, 2019 | Jess Woods

Why is Shakespeare important, what is the importance of studying Shakespeare? and why do we study Shakespeare in the 21st century? Lets find out the answers for these questions in this article: It is a beautiful, wonderful thing that our literary canon is becoming...

The Merit of Your Library

Jun 4, 2019 | Engaging Education, Jess Woods

In some of my high school level classes, I require the use of outside sources during paper composition, and students often seem baffled when I require at least one source to be a book source. They ask, “Can’t we just use the internet? Where will we find a book to...

Longer Literary Works to Read Before High School Graduation

Nov 26, 2018 | Engaging Education, Jess Woods

Reading is imperative! Joseph Addison, a 17th century English poet and playwright, said that, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” It is a truth that is universal, spanning time and space. Studying novels and longer pieces of work (like plays) is an...