Teaching the Anti-Essay - 18 Creative Nonfiction Essay Prompts for Secondary English Classroom

This book helps secondary school ELA teachers introduce literary nonfiction and creative nonfiction essay writing to their students, demonstrating how writing is a fun and engaging activity where students can see tremendous value in "thinking on paper."

List of contents

Mee the Author
Author's Note
Preface: Toby Rosewater, Managing Sports Editor, The Amherst Student
Acknowledgements
Introduction: James Treadway, CEO of GrowthWise Tutoring
Chapter One: The Wax Pack: Using Trading Cards to Spark Nostalgia
Chapter Two: The Philosophy of You: Your Students Are Deeper Than You Think
Chapter Three: Consider the Lobster: An Exercise in Postmodern Contemplation
Chapter Four: When the Hitmakers Knock, You Answer: Songwriting Bootcamp
Chapter Five: The Unicorn College Essay: A Bold Approach to the Personal Statement
Chapter Six: Emily's Way: The TV Essay & How to Wrangle Your Next Guest Speaker
Chapter Seven: My Lipogram - The No E Paper (Constrain Yourself) - Gatsby VS Gadsby
Chapter Eight: The Usual Suspects - A Dialogue Essay From England With Love
Chapter Nine: The "Living Artists" Literary Research Paper
Chapter Ten: Nice to Meet You & Goodbye: 7 Intros & 7 Outros
Chapter Eleven: Ranting and Raving: Why Complaining Is Good for Your Students
Chapter Twelve: Dave's Way: The Humor Essay a la Dave Barry
Chapter Thirteen: The Poetry Forgery Unit: How Imitation Breeds Greatness
Chapter Fourteen: The Feature Article - The Journalism Your Classroom Needs
Chapter Fifteen: The Autopsy of You - When Students Metacognate
Chapter Sixteen: Ebert's Way - Lessons From a Late, Great Film Critic
Chapter Seventeen: The Video Essay is Not Just For YouTubers
Chapter Eighteen: The Interrogative Mood - Questions Only, No Answers
Chapter Nineteen: Grading Essays Means Never Having to be Alone Again

About the author

Wesley Phillipson has taught writing for 30 years - most of that time at Scarsdale High School, on the same campus where Kohlberg conducted much of his field research on community based education.

Product details

• Authors: Wesley Phillipson, Wesley (Scarsdale High School) Phillipson
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 13.10.2025
• EAN: 9781032987842
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3298784-2
• No. of pages: 272
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies; Non-fiction book > Art, literature > Literature: general, reference works; EDUCATION / Essays, Literature & literary studies, Secondary Schools, Teaching skills and techniques, Educational strategies & policy, Teaching skills & techniques, Teaching of a specific subject, Creative writing & creative writing guides, Creative writing and creative writing guides, Educational strategies and policy, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Writing / Academic & Scholarly, EDUCATION / Schools / Levels / Secondary, EDUCATION / Teaching / Subjects / Language Arts