On this week’s mini-episode, I want to talk about learning names, and my easy trick for mastery. It took me many years, but finally, after a year in which I had a Kalina, Karina, Ekaterina, and Katrina, I figured out a plan that really worked.  

I hate not knowing students’ names. It stresses me out, big time. Maybe you’re the same? The worst is when I think I know someone’s name and then it’s actually someone else’s name, so I feel like I betrayed them both. 

So finally, after about five years of teaching, I stumbled upon the idea of name tents. I printed everyone’s name in big block letters on a different color of cardstock for each class, and I set them out on day one before students came in. They sat with their name card, I read the card every time I wanted to talk to them. Bingo. 

But it was still hard. I didn’t know their names when I saw them at lunch, or in the hall, and they had to sit in my random seating chart every day which wasn’t always ideal. 

Then one year I decided I would have them decorate the name tents. They added favorite quotes, activities they liked, books or authors they loved, and drawings. This helped me get to know them better and gave me starting points for pre-class banter. It was a step forward in the name-learning evolution. 

But then came the moment I struck gold. I had my camera in class for taking a first day class photo, since one of my favorite first day activities was to challenge students to choose a place on campus and create some kind of fun class pose for a photo I would then print for our room. And yes, it was an actual camera, before I had a smartphone. I noticed my camera while students were decorating their name tents, and I asked if I could take their pictures holding up their name cards. Though some kids joked around about it feeling like a mug shot, no one really minded once I explained how it would help me memorize names quickly. 

In two minutes I circled the class, giving myself an easy way to study each student’s face with their name and some of their top interests. That night I scrolled and practiced, repeating any name I didn’t get the on the first try over and over as I went back and forth from picture to picture. After a couple of sessions, I had every name down, and I walked in the next day with happy confidence. It made a huge difference to me to be able to focus on getting my classes up and running without worrying about memorizing names. I kept the name tents out for a while so everyone could learn each other’s names and interests, but I didn’t rely on them any more. And I repeated the same process in every class for the rest of my time in the classroom. 

This week, as many folks return to school around the country, I highly recommend you give this strategy a try. The combination of name tents and photos (assuming you’re allowed to take photos at your school) is a name-learning match made in heaven.

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Jason Reynolds' website headline reads "Here's What I Do: Not Write Boring books." How great is that?

As with everything he does, he seems to be speaking directly to the young people he's always trying to reach. There's a reason The Library of Congress chose him as the national ambassador for young adult literature.

Last year I created an Instagram series all about Jason's incredible work, and different ways you might use it in the classroom. But I've heard from a number of folks who aren't on Instagram, or who'd just like a deeper dive, so today I've decided to walk through that series here on the podcast, explaining everything I know about Jason Reynolds' arc of work and how you can use it in your classroom. As always, I will share my recommendations here with the caveat that you know your students, parents, and community best, so you should preview content before sharing it in class.

Ready to dive in? I'm excited!

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On this week’s mini-episode, I want to share my top strategy for taking the pressure off you while delivering a great experience for parents on back-to-school night, stations. 

Back-to-school night, like the first day of school, can be a stressful time. You’re trying to get a lot of information across quickly, and it can feel like the only way to get that accomplished is by talking fast and furiously for the eight or so minutes you have with your rapidly moving parents. 

A colorful presentation that you love is great, if that works for you, but if you’d prefer to go interactive, why not try stations? It takes a lot of pressure off you, and it’s easy to repeat in session after session without losing your voice or sweating through your fancy schmancy parent meeting clothes. 

With stations, you can get parents up and moving around your classroom, get them the information they want, and even create a chance to chat and answer questions informally.

If you want to try this method, here’s how I’d break it down. 

Have your stations set up around the room before parents enter. Throw a welcome slide up on the board with your name, a fun photo (or collage) from classes past, and your contact information. Once parents are all inside, welcome them and invite them to move around the room to the different stations, letting them know how much time they have to move around so they can pace accordingly.

At each station, they should find an obvious sign telling them what to do, as well as any supporting papers they need to pick up or fill out. 

Here are some ideas for stations:

#1 Info Sheet + Q & A With you: At this station, parents can grab a paper with your name, course description, contact information, and a QR code that takes them to any website or LMS you’d like them to have access to. You can hang out here and chat with them, answering questions and getting to know them a bit. 

#2 Slideshow + Examples of Student Work: At this station, set up a computer or iPad to run a digital slideshow of student work from past years. Scatter a few great projects here too. This will give parents a sense for the type of work their kids will do in your class. 

#3 Tour the Library: Invite parents to browse the shelves in your library. Maybe they’ll find a title they once loved and it will inspire them to talk books with their students. By focusing on this important space in your classroom, they’ll realize that reading is going to be an integral part of your class.

#4 Learn how to Support Students: If there are certain things you wish parents would do, like set their kids up with a library card, ask them what they’re studying, remind them to leave their cell phones in their lockers, etc., create a station with these tips. Then leave out some post-its and invite parents to add their suggestions of what has worked well for them in supporting their child’s learning. 

#5 Write a Note: At this station you could go one of two ways. Invite parents to write a note of encouragement to their child that you can then share at a key moment. Or invite parents to write you a note letting you know how they feel you can best reach their child. That might mean telling you about a project their child loved in the past, about their favorite books, about their favorite subjects, about important events in their lives that are impacting their school time, etc.

You can always add more stations or choose just a few of these. You could also pair the stations with a short talk from you at the beginning. There are lots of recipes for a successful parent night – just choose what makes you feel comfortable and confident introducing them to all the wonderful work their kids will be doing. Back-to-School Night can be stressful, but this week I just want to highly recommend you create an experience that makes you feel relaxed and confident.

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If I told you the ELA elective we’re about to dive into has an “awkward party” unit, would you believe me?

Well, it does, and I can’t wait for you to learn about it and start planning an awkward party lesson of your own. Today on the show, we’re continuing our creative electives series with veteran teacher Lisa Blake, who's been teaching for 33 years in Northern California. She's built a life skills elective to give her students confidence in how to learn new skills, not just to teach the skills themselves.

As she empowers them to explore and discover paths to success, she's not just teaching them to cook, sew, and manage the small talk at an awkward party, she's teaching them to believe they can tackle an area they know nothing about. And you can do the same for your students, whether it's through an entire elective like Lisa, or a smaller life skills unit. So let's dive in and learn how!

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On this week’s mini-episode, I want to answer a question from our community about reading in class. Here it is “ Hi all. Next year my middle school will be implementing a 45-minute every-other-day reading block for all students. All teachers (ELA or not) will be required to cover the class. I am wondering…what you do with it…” In today’s episode, I’m going to weigh in on how I would use a gift like this. If you give kids time to read in class, hopefully you’ll find some helpful ideas in how you can structure it so you all enjoy that time and benefit from it as much as possible.

The most important thing in my mind would be to make sure every student has access to a good book during this reading block. You could make bringing your book the only grade for this block, but even if you do, it’ll be essential to have wonderful books available during this time because no matter what you do, some kids will forget their book. I’d work with your librarian or department to make sure that there is a shelf of great age-appropriate reads available in every room. Then, as much as possible, I’d try to integrate some book recommendations. That could mean coordinating with the English department to create recommended reading posters, sharing short videos of authors reading from their work - similar to a First Chapter Friday - inviting a couple of kids to share what they’re reading if they’re loving it, 

And probably putting together some kind of curated digital access so students can hook into great e and audiobooks that others have enjoyed. The English department could also be the ones to help every student pick out their first book at the start of the program to get the ball rolling productively. 

This type of program, like any choice reading program, is going to build in momentum over time. Kids will likely struggle to sit in silence for 45 minutes at a time to read, especially if they don’t have a book they like. As much as possible, the early days of reading blocks should involve plenty of book PR in all its wonderful forms, and PLENTY of fantastic books available in audiobook, electronic, and physical format. Provide graphic novels, novels-in-verse, amazing series books, fantasy, scifi, and other popular genres alongside the classics. Ideally, every teacher monitoring this block could have a bit of training in watching for unengaged readers, so they can step over and suggest switching to a different book if a student’s current read is clearly boring them. Over time, as your reading culture grows and their reading muscles are strengthened, it will get easier. 

Anytime you can get time to let kids read at school, in my mind it’s a win. But a quiet room and the opportunity to read will only delight a handful of students at first. This week, I want to highly recommend that whether you’re working on a whole school program or a short reading block for your own class, you remember that it takes time and sustained, enthusiastic book PR to help build a culture of reading where none exists. Keep curating great titles, offering recommendations, putting up posters, and connecting kids with whatever book will get them started on the reading escalator.

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What would you do if you had nine weeks to help ELA students imagine the real-world use of ELA skills? Inside the unique elective wheel program at Lisa Jones' school, students explore each discipline for nine weeks before moving onto the next. To show them literacy in action, Lisa has crafted an elective with three real-world projects to help them imagine how they might use their ability to communicate across modern mediums. Listen (or read) on to dive into these three real-world projects with us. Whether you'd like to create a Literacy in Action elective of your own, or just add more real-world projects to one of your other courses, you'll find plenty of ideas in the show today.

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This week let’s talk about careers. I don’t know if you can relate, but I graduated from high school with a general awareness of maybe six careers - law, medicine, teaching, ministry, science, and business. Let’s talk about how we can show our English students a broader view of what’s out there - and build in some ELA skills to the process. 

A fun way to start any ELA careers unit is with a careers scavenger hunt,  an easy form of research students can do as they move through their days. Just ask your students to begin noticing the careers they’re interacting with, making a list of every career they can think of that relates to what they do for one day. Challenge them to come up with at least twenty-five. 

For example, they wake up and check their phones (social media influencer, programmer, designer, app creation, phone sales), pick up coffee (coffee shop manager or owner, organic coffee farmer, pastry chef, interior designer, contractor, advertising agent), go to school (teacher, administrator, politician, secretary, department chair, electrician, engineer), head for the mall (clothing designer, clothing buyer, social media for clothing lines, marketer, photographer, restaurant manager, chef, furniture buyer, urban planner etc.). As students begin to think about all the different jobs associated with their own daily routines, it’ll help open their eyes to the many careers out there. 

Similarly, you can help your English students begin to think beyond the surface by having them write down a field they’re interested in and research to discover  twenty-five different jobs in that field. What jobs are connected to film director? SO many. To doctor? To teacher? To chef? This is a really fun activity to stretch student’s imaginations. Then have students walk around to see each other’s lists, jotting down the one career on each other list that most appeals to them. 

Diving a little deeper, one unique way of approaching a careers unit is to start a class careers blog, inviting each student to shadow someone whose line of work interests them and then make a contribution to the blog based on what they learn. The contribution could be a video they make about the experience, a narrative profile they write about the person they shadow, a Q & A style written interview, a photo essay, or something else. If you’re going to publish the careers blog online so that all students can access the many wonderful resources they create for each other, and so that other students can add to it in the coming years, be sure to get the permission of those being shadowed to publish their image and story online. 

Another lower stakes project is to let students create timelines of start-up companies, based on NPR’s show, How I Built This. Let students choose an episode based on a company they’re actually interested in, and create timelines to show how the company grew (generally slowly, with lots of setbacks and lots of commitment and creativity from the creator!). Then share these timelines in a gallery walk or with mini-presentations so students get a taste of many different stories. 

Similarly, you could create a class podcast, having each student contribute by recording an interview with someone about their career. Students could learn to reach out with inquiries, write interview questions, and record sound clips. So many valuable real-world skills here! 

Hopefully after completing a few of these fun ELA activities, your students will have a broader view of the working world and a little more motivation to care about the skills they’re learning in your classroom. After all, restaurant owners need to be able to write e-mail newsletters these days. Business owners may draw clientele through podcasting and social media captions.  App designers must be able to pitch their ideas through strong presentations to venture capitalists. You know what I’m getting at. 

A careers unit has the potential to be incredibly engaging - who isn’t curious about their life options? And it also has the potential for plenty of ELA skill practice - research, interview skills, writing and speaking. So today, I just want to highly recommend that if you’ve got a little hole and a lot of students who don’t really know what they want to be - you consider adding a creative careers unit to your lineup.

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Today on the show, we’ll find out what happened when an administrator attended a student’s genius hour project presentation about a new elective she wanted to see proposed Teaching African American Literature.

Spoiler alert, magic.

We’re continuing our elective series today, and I’m delighted to tell you we're hearing from passionate veteran teacher Bethany Yuninger. She'll be sharing her African American Literature Elective, and wait til you hear the story of how this elective came to be - it's incredible!

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On this week’s mini-episode, I want to answer a question sent in by a member of our community. Here’s what she writes: Hi Betsy, I have classes of 10th graders who are SO divergent in skill levels. Some are reading Murakami for fun, and some are reading at a 5th grade level. I am struggling to differentiate for them and provide challenge for the strong and support for the others.” Today on the show, I’m going to offer some ideas for this listener, and I hope they can help you too, if you find yourself in the same boat.

My first thought with this class is to suggest trying hard to have a range of whole class texts, book clubs, podcast clubs, choice reading units, and choice-based projects with lots of final product options. I recently finished reading Katie Novak and her team’s Book, Universal Design for Learning in Language Arts, and so much of what she talks about in that book would apply here. 

Universal Design for Learning - which by the way I would highly recommend exploring -  suggests that when you plan bearing the needs of all your learners in mind, you better serve every learner. By providing the options and scaffolds that will help one group of students, you’ll actually be serving up a stronger learning experience.  One of my favorite quotes from the book is “UDL lives in the OR.” So let’s talk about how you might apply the choices inspired by UDL to a unit with a highly varied group of readers.

Let’s say you’re going into book clubs about identity. You want to provide options that can engage every reading level, without simplifying the content since you know your students are mature thinkers. 

Maybe you also have several students who have trouble decoding print and several emerging bilinguals who recently immigrated from Latin America.

So as you design your book clubs, keeping all these kids in mind, you choose two graphic novels that weave memoir together with stunning illustrations that help to tell the story, one verse novel that is both engaging and accessible, a longer historical fiction novel that you also have the audiobook for, and a contemporary award-winning YA novel that’s available both in audiobook and ebook on Libby, which has an option to translate into fifteen other languages including Spanish. 

You’ve now created a lot of different paths into texts that approach identity, providing options for readers and learners with different strengths and challenges.The audiobook version may benefit a student with a high reading level that’s incredibly busy caring for his siblings, as well as a student who has trouble decoding print. The graphic and verse novels may help readers who need a ladder back to books, and also open up new genres for your advanced readers. The idea in UDL is that every student benefits from all this “or,” all these choices.

Now let’s say you’re moving into a whole class text - The Odyssey. Again, if you consider the needs of every learner, you can gather different access points for the text. You can make several copies of Gareth Hinds’ Graphic Novel version available to check out as well as look at during class time. You can help connect students to electronic versions they can translate. You can look for the best audiobook version of the best translation out there. And you can practice close reading both visual and print passages with your students in class, modeling the strategies all readers need to dig deep into the meaning behind the pages.

Then there’s choice reading, and you probably know what I’m going to say here. Building a thriving choice reading program is an incredible way to support your readers on every level. When you provide a huge range of options, from picture books to graphic novels to novels-in-verse to short stories to fantasy to the classics, you’ll be able to meet your readers where they are and help them progress. I’ve got a lot of episodes out about this already, so I won’t dig in too far. But you can build whole units around choice books, letting kids read what feels right to them and still creating a class curriculum built around the development of skills you want to see improve and projects that offer many choices. 

OK, I’m going a bit long on what is supposed to be a mini episode! But if this is an issue that is always on your mind - as it is for so many educators - today I want to highly recommend you remember that one simple phrase, “UDL lives in the OR.” And maybe grab yourself a copy of Universal Design for Learning in Language Arts. It’s a quick read, and I’m giving it all the gold stars.  

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Today on the show we’re hearing from Valerie Boehm, who teaches a Dramatic Writing elective in Georgia as part of the state’s initiative to help more students find their way to good jobs in the film industry.

So cool, right?

This episode is part of our continuing series on electives, which has been SO MUCH fun to record. I hope you’re as excited to be hearing from all these wonderful teachers about the creative things they’re doing with their courses as I am! (Check out past elective episodes on Socratic Seminar, Genius Hour and SciFi & Fantasy).

Whether you’re considering a new elective proposal or a new unit in one of your current courses, I think you’re going to be really intrigued by the way Valerie helps students start to understand what goes into a successful piece of dramatic writing, the ten minute play competition her students participate in, and her popular personal logo project.

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Join me each week for innovative teaching strategies you can use immediately in your ELA classroom, from choice reading help to book clubs, project-based-learning to AI, student podcasting to genius hour, we cover the good stuff. Whether you're trying to figure out how to engage your eighth graders, trying to help your 11th graders through the college essay, or trying to shepherd you twelfth graders through to the end, you'll find help here! Follow along on Instagram @nowsparkcreativity or visit my website at nowsparkcreativity.com 

On this week’s mini-episode, I’m remembering the moment my 11th graders asked me to please, please, please add a book to our English curriculum that wasn’t so depressing. Maybe you’ve had a similar experience? Let’s talk about what to do when your ELA curriculum is full of death and despair (as it so often is!).

We were moving towards spring the year my juniors asked me why all of our books were so glum. My first instinct was to say they weren’t! Then I thought about it for a second. Adultery. Check. Death. Check. Despair. Check. We were reading The Scarlet Letter, As I Lay Dying, Death of a Salesman, and lots of other books that really don’t scream “the joy of being alive in a beautiful world full of possibilities.” As I thought back over my own English classes through college and high school, I realized the same was true. Authors were so often grappling with the difficult big human questions. Sure, there were moments of joy, of enlightenment. There was also a lot of pain. 

It got me thinking about how we might showcase more balance in the ELA curriculum, and why that might be important to helping our students thrive as readers and enjoy learning about life from authors. 

Have you thought about this too? Have your students brought it up?

These days I think it’s easier than ever to build more variety into our English curriculum, with authors taking on issues that feel relevant to our students, but also with authors who are expressing something joyful or even allowing an ending full of hope. I think of a book like Long Way Down, that addresses painful truths but finishes with what feels like the breaking of a sad cycle and a reason to feel hopeful. I think of a graphic novel like The Dark Matter of Mona Starr, that addresses depression and isolation, but then shows a path back towards joy. I think of a poem like Gorman’s “The Things we Carry,” that explores painful American history while also paving the way for a better future.   

As you choose the books for your English classes, I know there are so many things to think about. Genres, eras, key authors, and key themes all matter in ELA. But maybe, in the back of your mind, you could also keep in mind a little scale for hope and joy. For me, as a reader, those things really matter, and all those years ago my English students taught me they matter to them too. I’m definitely not suggesting you scratch all your books that deal with serious themes, I just want to highly recommend that we make room for all kinds of stories, including those with happy endings.

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On this week’s mini-episode, I’m sharing the coolest discussion warm-up I’ve ever learned, which I picked up at the Exeter Humanities Institute one week after my first year of teaching and the same week that I met my husband. You’re going to love it! 

As you know if you listen to the podcast much, my favorite discussion method is called Harkness, and it was first invented and pioneered at Phillips Exeter Academy. If you’re interested in diving deep with Harkness, there are several past episodes you could explore, including number 8 and number 73. But today I just want to share this super simple discussion warm-up I learned there, which I’ve used and riffed off of dozens of times since and love. 

Here’s the idea. As you roll out the runway to discussion, you invite students to write down a discussion question about the reading. Something they’d like to hear from others about - something that goes deeper than plot.

Easy, and I know, not exactly revolutionary. But here’s the twist. Then you have all your students put their questions into a hat, and pull out someone else’s. They now have a new question to consider and contribute, and someone else is in charge of theirs.

Now, you still might want to do a quick “turn to a partner and talk about your questions for two minutes” or even a quickwrite on the new question, but the main thing is, students will suddenly have a whole new motivation to bring up the question they’re holding in the discussion. 

After all, they aren’t putting their own question under public scrutiny. And I think they feel a little sense of responsibility to the person whose question they picked up. Now when you say “who wants to get things rolling by reading their question out loud?” there’s very little to lose in kickstarting the conversation. Similarly, when the discussion hits a bump, and you encourage kids to continue it with new questions, you’re more likely to have takers.

It’s such a simple idea, but I’ve loved seeing it play out in conversations in class after class, so this week, I want to highly recommend that you give it a try too. And then maybe dive a little deeper into Harkness yourself and see if you love it as much as I do. Maybe you’ll even want to go to the Exeter Humanities Institute one summer too - it’s pretty amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I met my husband there.

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Last night I dreamed I was teaching in a new classroom, except it had layers of stuff on the walls from three other teachers across twenty years of teaching. I couldn't find anything, and I couldn't change the set-up because I didn't know what was important to my colleagues. It was awful.

Am I the only one to ever have a classroom set-up nightmare? Maybe.

But the thing is, where you teach and how it feels really does help shape your year. So what can you do right now, during this final push to summer, to leave yourself a beautiful, organized space to return to at back-to-school season?

Today's episode will give you seven steps you can take right now to make your August exponentially lighter. If you can find time for these steps now, I believe you'll head into summer feeling lighter and more confident about your return later on.

Links Mentioned:

The Hurried Teacher's Guide to Digital Organization: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2021/07/the-hurried-teachers-guide-to-digital-organization.html 

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On this week’s mini-episode, let’s talk about my favorite online teacher tool, Canva. If you haven’t signed up for their free educator program yet, this summer is the perfect time! You can explore all the design tools this wonderful website has to offer, and be ready in the fall to start using it in class. Plus, I’ve got a free mini course ready to help you do it. Today, let’s do a quick rundown on why I think you should. 

 Did you know Canva began as a program to help make yearbook advisers’ lives easier? Yep, I learned all about it listening to the founder on NPR’s podcast, How I Built This.  Canva basically provides easy versions of the complex designer tools available in programs like Photoshop. Instead of spending months learning Photoshop or paying a graphic designer, people in a huge variety of positions can now just click into Canva and design whatever they want quickly and easily.

By the way, this episode is not sponsored by Canva, although I’m EXTREMELY open to a partnership, lol. 

My husband just used Canva to design a t-shirt for our neighborhood triathlon at the cabin this summer. I just used it to create mood boards for our new house. My son just used it to make a restaurant menu for his English class. Even my eight year old loves to design her own bookmarks on Canva. 

As an educator, you can use it to create hyperdocs, flashcards, posters, infographics, newsletters, certificates, club t-shirts, project models, project handouts, vocabulary quizzes, slide decks, and pretty much anything else you create for work. 

You can also gift your students comfort with the program when you guide them through using it to create research carousels, podcast covers, slide decks, infographics, press releases, review posters, and pretty much anything else they create that requires visuals. 

Canva’s tools are not so different from the ones you see on Slides, except they’re easier to use in designs once you get used to them. Will it take a few hours of practice? Sure. But it’s so worth it! My easy mini-course will set you up for success if you’d like a hand, and I’ll be sure to link it in the show notes. Canva has made a HUGE positive difference in my life as an educator, and this week, I want to highly recommend you let it do the same for you.

Grab the Canva Confidence Free Mini-Course: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/getCanvaconfidence 

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You want the last day of ELA to be special, but what does that mean exactly? And who has the energy to think up this special plan when you're juggling allll the end-of-year things?

If you'd like a fast, easy solution to the last day of your ELA classes, today I'm proposing (ha ha, I just accidentally typed PROMposing) stations. Stations are an easy way to get whatever dots have to be dotted and Ts have to be crossed at the same time as you build in a few fun things and keep everything lively so the time flies. The goodbye speech can only last so long. 

Grab the Summer Reading Bookmarks: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12waoiIk0gdYMVYZPM8DnU17_RgJZhLlFKofqy2oFjM4/copy 

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On this week’s mini-episode, let’s talk summer school. Because I know that if you ARE teaching summer school, you’d like it to be engaging. Memorable. Creative. Superfantasticaliciousexpialadocious.

But of course there’s the issue of you’re tired. And so are your ELA students. And maybe they’re not that excited to be there.  So let’s run through two quick strategies for adding oomph and engagement to July.

Here’s my top suggestion - change up your texts, and provide variety. Summer school is the perfect time to experiment in English class with graphic novels, novels-in-verse, podcasts, performance poetry, graphic essays, and contemporary pieces. Get audiobook access whenever you can. Connect kids to electronic books through your local library on Libby so they can translate when needed. Run book clubs, choice reading, mini-units on compelling quick reads. 

Next, I want to suggest you try to provide real-world contexts for practicing the ELA skills you want students to develop. Develop units around blogging or podcasting, let them share research through infographics or Instagram-style carousels, dig into a Youtube unit and create video. Build your skill practice around the mediums you think are most likely to engage your students. You can teach argument through a video project in which kids recommend the best sneakers and hot chip brands. You can teach narrative through a suspense fiction podcast. You can practice rhetorical analysis by creating commercials for students’ favorite video games. 

While summer school just doesn’t scream fun for most kids, this is your chance to kick that narrative in the teeth. Think of it as your innovative ELA learning lab, in which you and your students will approach the learning goals in new ways that YOU are excited about. It’s your chance to finally run those podcast clubs, teach that Youtube unit, and bring in that graphic novel you love. Free from the restrictions of the regular year, summer school is your chance to teach with your full creative self, and this week, I just want to highly recommend that you do!

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As the sun rises a little earlier each day and the cherry trees in our neighborhood fill with fruit, our three years in Europe are coming to a close. With only a few weeks left of this European family adventure, I find myself thinking back over all that we've seen and done and learned.

Highs like winter paddleboarding in Barcelona, nighttime tobaganning in Slovakia and hiking by herds of sheep along the south Coast of Wales together. Eating dark chocolate gelato with whipped cream in Rome and caramelized banana oatmeal in London. Watching Croatian fireworks explode above our balcony on New Year's Eve and Hungarian light shows at the Christmas markets in Budapest.

Lows like croup in Nuremberg and COVID in Split, Scarlet Fever in Tuscany, a broken arm in Spain and a CAT scan in an Austrian emergency room. Lows of loneliness that could creep in unexpectedly, anxiety that could catch hold in that moment when I'd realize just how little backup was behind us if we hit a rough patch.

So here we are, getting ready to say goodbye, and I just wanted to share a little of this life abroad. Maybe you're thinking of coming overseas yourself, or maybe you've tuned in a bit to our adventure, and you're interested to hear how the story ends. Today on the podcast, let's talk about the good stuff, the medium stuff, and the tough stuff.

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Today I want to talk about a fantastic podcast for you to use in class if you teach Shakespeare. With dozens of intriguing episodes like "Shakespeare and Game of Thrones," "Shakespeare and YA Novels," and "Pop Sonnets," The Shakespeare Unlimited Podcast, by the Folger Shakespeare Library,  is a great way to bring in modern connections and relevancy to whatever play you're studying. Today I’ll give you a quick rundown on four fun episodes, and then I hope you’ll go exploring on your own to find more episodes that could help your students make connections between your chosen Shakespearean text and modern life. 

In “Akala and Hip Hop Shakespeare,” Akala explores how the rhyme and rhythm of Shakespeare as well as the deep meaning  relates to the same components of hip hop. He talks about the traditions of music flowing out of Africa and into the diaspora, and also brings up questions of who education is for and how Shakespeare came to be associated with elite society. 

In “Shakespeare and YA Novels,” two novelists talk about how they have used Shakespeare’s work to inspire their own, and how they felt connecting themselves to someone so renowned.

In “William Shakespeare’s Star Wars,” one author  explains how and why he came to rewrite the Star Wars series in Shakespearean language. Bet you didn’t see that one coming! 

And in “Pop Sonnets,” a popular online writer shares the story of how he came to rewrite pop songs as Shakespearean sonnets. And spoiler alert, they sure did become a sensation! 

When integrating episodes like this into class, try giving students a sketchnotes template to provide a little loose structure as they listen. Let them know how you’ll be using the text moving forward, so they have a reason to pay attention. Maybe it’s going to lead into a writing activity, a silent discussion, or a mini-podcast project of your own! 

Shakespeare can sometimes feel far away to students, but Shakespeare Unlimited helps bridge the gap. That’s why this week I want to highly recommend you hit follow on their feed and see what wonders you discover. 

Links Mentioned:

Explore the Shakespeare Unlimited Podcast: https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/  

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The first time I really understood what flow meant I was barefoot in salty sand, building a beach sculpture in Mexico alone in the sunshine.

Two hours seemed to disappear in moments as I gathered water-smoothed scraps of painted tile and bright shells and arranged them into swirls and towers underneath the cliffs.

Take a second here and ask yourself - when do you feel that amazing feeling, where you are completely immersed in the thing you are doing so the rest of the world falls away?

When do you think your students do?

We’ve all noticed the challenges our students are facing right now in focusing their attention.

They’ve got addictive technology, constant social FOMO, and a streaming feed of big world problems competing for their attention every moment of the day. So how are they supposed to find their flow, or even their focus?

Today’s guest, Angela Watson, has turned her attention carefully to this matter in recent years. She’s here today to talk with us about how we can help our students find their way back to focus, and we all know how important that is right now. So let’s dive in!

Angela Watson is a National Board Certified Teacher with a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She has 11 years of classroom experience and over a decade of experience as an instructional coach.

Angela’s mission is to help teachers live a more purposeful and conscious life. Through her mentorship, countless teachers have learned to take charge of their time and energy so they can prevent burnout and stay in the profession they love for years to come.

Check out her new curriculum for middle or high school at Finding Flow Solutions.

Explore her website, Truth for Teachers.

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On this week’s mini-episode, I want to give my answer to a question I see all the time in our  Facebook community, Creative High School English, and it’s this: What’s the best way to spend a teacher budget? So let’s dive into five great options. . 

Classroom Poster Printing

Over the years I’ve seen a lot of wonderful classroom poster creation from fellow educators and artists across the world. And they look beautiful in framed 8 1/2 X 11. But what if you took your digital download and went bigger? Larger 18 X 24 inch posters in a glossy finish are just $15 when you print them through Canva, and then you can frame them, if you wish, in relatively inexpensive poster frames from Amazon. Larger scale decor in your classroom draws the eye without being overwhelming. Choose colors and art that you love and you can use it year after year. Maybe you want to print stylized book covers, the free PBS Great American Read travel-inspired posters, free digital downloads from Amplifier art, author posters, posters from your favorite Etsy or TPT designer, or something of your own creation. 

Classroom Printer and Ink

While the school photocopier is perfect for everyday handouts, a color printer or your own is a huge asset for all. The. Rest. Gameboards, escape room elements, station signs, bulletin board pieces, library signs, and everything else. 

Plants

While I’ve never had a green thumb, I’ve learned over the years that bringing nature into a space actually boosts productivity and health while providing a sense of calm. Your budget might give you the perfect opportunity to hang some plants by your windows or add a plant stand in the library corner. 

Books

If you’re struggling with restrictions on your library, a budget might allow you for more controlled choice when you order novel-in-verse or graphic-novel book club selections. If you’re happily located in a state where reading is still unrestricted - I hate that I’m even having to write this - then your budget is a wonderful opportunity to shore up your library shelves with new titles your students are drawn to. Maybe your copy of Long Way Down never came back last year, so you buy three more. Or you go ahead and dive in with the whole Heartstopper series. Whatever works in your library, budget gives you the chance to go for it.

Art Supplies

If you like integrating sketchnotes, one-pagers, open-mind activities, and similar forms that combine visual and written communication, having a stock of art materials you can pull out at the right moment will be a major asset. 

Of course, there are a million ways you might spend your teacher budget, and you know your classroom best! But if you’re looking for ideas, this week I recommend you consider the big five of posters, printing, plants, books, and art supplies as stellar options. 

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Today I’d like to share one of my favorite episodes from the Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast archives. In this special episode, I invited five creative guests to give their take on impactful classroom design. This back-to-school season felt like the perfect time to share it again. I’ll be back with a full episode on Thursday, but at the moment I’m in the throes of a 6,000 mile move with my two kids and our cat, and my office is basically a giant pile of boxes. So please forgive the change in routine, but I think you’re going to love this wonderful episode!

See the full blog post with all the links: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2021/07/130-build-connection-with-your-classroom-design.html  

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On this week’s mini-episode, I just have a very quick idea for you and it’s this. As back-to-school hits, it’s easy to immediately become isolated in your classroom. You’ve got a million to-dos for your space and your students. But the school year is going to feel better if you feel connected to the teacher across the hall, the teacher next door, and the teacher upstairs. Know what I mean? So this week I want to recommend that you host your department for something this back-to-school season. And I’m going to give you a few quick ideas for what that something might be, though really, the what doesn’t matter nearly as much as the why. 

One super simple way to get the department together would be to suggest a lunch potluck in your classroom during the return week. Just send a nice email out saying you’d love to catch up with everyone and you’ll be there with some kind of shareable food. Invite everyone to come, bringing their own shareable food. Emphasize that a veggie tray or chips and dip are just fine - no need for anyone to spend hours making homemade strawberry rhubarb pie unless they WANT to. (That would be me, I would want to). Feel free not to even bring up work at this little lunch bash, just welcome the new folks and chat with the returners and generally take a second to remember that you’re going into fall as part of a team. 

Another easy option would be to suggest an ice cream or Boba or even afternoon tea after work outing, following up on one of the teacher workdays. Again, very little prep needs to be involved as the “host.” Simply choose a venue and send out an invitation. If you want to use a fun Canva template for your invites, so much the better, but there’s no need to spend more than five minutes on it when you’re already busy. 

Last but not least, a third option is to invite your colleagues to a pedagogy breakfast. Now, you may laugh, but I’ve actually done this quite a few times, and it was fun. In this case, either choose a coffee shop or bakery near your school and invite your department to gather there in the morning before work for half an hour. You could invite everyone to share an idea they’re excited about that they found over the summer, something that worked well the year before, or something around a particular theme on everyone’s mind, like AI in the classroom or how they’re promoting choice reading. 

Of course, there are dozens of other ways you could get together for some no-fuss department bonding. Bowling? After-work swim at the lake? Happy hour? My goal today is just to say that as you turn your attention toward building community and connection with your students this fall, you might also want to think about some easy ways to do it with the adults you work with. Feeling like part of a team, maybe one that shares fond memories of the oatmeal-raisin scones down the road or the time Diana rolled three strikes in a row to defeat Shonda, will only help you feel safer and more supported at work. Maybe your decision to host a no-fuss gathering now will also lead others to sprinkle in team gatherings of their own throughout the year.

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Back-to-School season is the perfect time to set up your reading program for success throughout the year.

Heading into the school year with a well-organized library, a plan for routines like First Chapter Friday and Book Trailer Tuesday, a kickoff book tasting, an appealing book display, and a regular time to read will help so much in inspiring your students to read for joy throughout the year, and hopefully for the rest of their lives.

Lately I've been thinking about a well-run reading program like a reading escalator.

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Helpful Links: 

Grab the Free Bookface Challenge Kit: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/bookface 

How to Make Digital Bookshelves: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2023/08/the-step-by-step-guide-to-creating-digital-bookshelves.html 

The Ultimate Guide to First Chapter Friday: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2022/09/the-ultimate-guide-to-first-chapter-friday.html 

On this week’s mini-episode, I want to answer a question from our community about lesson planning. Here it is: “How do you plan? I’m struggling to put together a series of lessons that culminate into a bigger assignment. For example, if I want my students to end up writing a persuasive essay, what would I plan to prepare them to write it? Do you go with a theme? Make it part of a novel study? I’m struggling!” OK, this is a big question, but I’m ready for it.  In today’s episode, we’re digging into planning and demystifying the process.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “plan with the end in mind.” The concept of backwards design, now widely used for planning, comes from Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins’ book, Understanding by Design. The University of Illinois’ “Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence” online site has a useful quick summary. Let me give you the speedy version here: First, you figure out what you want your students to be able to do. Then you figure out how they could show that they can do it. Then you plan the activities and assessments that will get them there. 

So let’s apply this planning frameworks  to today’s problem - how do you plan a unit around a persuasive essay? The goal is to have students write a strong essay, presumably with some specific characteristics appropriate to their level. Along the way, they can show their mastery of elements of the final work through smaller argument practices, then they’ll show their overall mastery in the essay. But what would be good activities to build in along the way? 

The easy go-to for preparing for an essay would be to write lots of short pieces throughout the unit, which really could be centered on anything. You could embed work like this into a novel study, a deep dive into short stories, book clubs, poetry, or even podcasting. This will give you an inviting structure  in which to situate your writing practice.

You can practice thesis statements, introductions, text analysis paragraphs, and conclusions based on your larger unit. And you can think about how to come at each one from different angles and with different types of prompts to help students stay interested. You can share mentor texts, incorporate peer review, station work, and writing makerspace elements. There are so many ways to practice these skills. 

Here’s how I might plan the first week of a poetry unit focused on a final product of a persuasive essay. 

Monday I might do a deep dive on a contemporary poet, sharing two of her performance pieces and doing some creative writing around her work with my students. Then I might share an online article about this poet, arguing that she should have been the winner of a prestigious spoken word poetry competition and ask student to identify the thesis statement in the article and discuss, in partners, whether or not they find the argument convincing. 

Tuesday I might look at a contemporary poem in both its written and spoken form, and have a mini debate about which format feels more compelling. Then dive into a mini-lesson on thesis statements and have kids practice writing a thesis for the question we just debated, plus gather two pieces of evidence that could help them make their argument. 

Wednesday we might start by trading those theses and giving each other feedback based on a checklist, then move into a pop-up poetry workshop and create performance pieces of our own. 

Thursday we might look at a performance piece and work on annotating a text version of it, then again practice developing a thesis statement about it and gathering evidence.

 Friday we might start with a mini-lesson on writing a full  introduction and then write a practice introduction around that thesis statement looking at several models, before moving into our regular First Chapter Friday program for choice reading. 

Now I’ve planned one week of the unit building toward my final assessment but also moving through a poetry unit that I find valuable for both engagement and other types of learning goals, and continued with my choice reading program as well. In the following week, we can practice text analysis paragraphs and conclusions, and look at some more mentor texts involving poetry-related arguments, as well as continue exploring the work of contemporary poets and furthering our choice reading goals. 

Planning a unit means juggling a lot of different pieces - the learning goals, the types of activities that can engage and support many learners, the meaningful, ongoing programs you want to be consistent about, and of course, engagement. It gets easier the more you do it! This week, I highly recommend keeping backwards design in, well, the back of your mind, the next time you go to plan a unit. 

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Maybe you've heard the story of how I almost quit teaching on my first first day of school.

Despite the fact that I had spent three months preparing moment-by-moment lessons for fall.

Despite the fact that I was wearing my super cool white embroidered top from Bass and carrying my first ever leather shoulder bag.

Despite the fact that I had asked all my friendly, talented and kind new colleagues what I should do on the first day.

I totally blew it, big time. And I want better for you. I want you to feel happy and confident on day one, so you hit the school year running instead of crawling like me.

Because I almost quit that day. But then I didn't.

Today I've got some stories, and some advice...

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We moved this month, and it wasn’t one of your quick moves.

We did one of those once, from one cabin to the one next door, carrying our furniture and baskets of stuff across a soon well-worn path through the woods.

But no, this one was an international move across four flights and nine time zones, with some of our stuff going by shipping container across the Atlantic, some by moving truck across the U.S., and some by plane with us.

And then there was the cat.

Anyway, I’ve been meeting a lot of new people and trying to describe my work, which is always a humorous challenge.

"I write curriculum for creative English teachers," I might say.

"I’m a podcaster."

"I help English teachers try out new creative methods. I love it." People nod and smile, but really, they have no idea what I mean. There’s no glow of recognition like when I used to say “I’m a teacher.”

All this introducing myself has made me think about what’s really important to me, and I want to re-introduce myself here, with my own little spinoff of NPR’s famous “This I believe” series (one of my favorite writing units, by the way, check out episode 76).

So here goes. I guess you could call this my manifesto.

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On this week’s mini-episode, let’s talk about how to build an audio assignment in early in the year without feeling intimidated. Maybe you joined me for Camp Creative last summer and you’ve got alllll the student podcasting background, or maybe you’re new to the topic and feeling a bit wary. Either way, this episode is for you! Let’s walk through how to add a short audio assignment to your fall lineup that paves the way for more complex assignments later on.

First things first, you don’t need to use Garageband or Audacity for your mini audio assignment. Just let kids record on Chrome, using the Vocaroo website. There’s really just a big red button for them to push, and then an invitation to download their audio. It’s that simple.

Second things second, your first audio assignment can be just 90 seconds. This is a warm-up for what’s to come, and you just want your students to realize that they can communicate an idea through a recorded audio, and warm-up to the idea. 

And now, the part you’ve all been waiting for. What will they record? Here are three ideas.

Let kids record a quick story about themselves as part of your icebreaker/relationship-building series. Give them a starter, like “Hi, my name is ______, and I think you’ll be surprised by what once happened to me…” or “Hey there, I’m ________, and today I want to tell you about the time I……” Be sure to say up front if you’re going to invite students to share these back to the class or keep them private.

Ask students to record a short book review about their favorite book. You’ll get to know your students better as readers, and pave the way for your choice reading program too. If you want to go further, pull some of the most reviewed favorite books from your library or the school library and create a display with them, or create a slide deck featuring top recommended favorite books with links to student audio reviews.

Finally, you might create a mini-audio assignment around the popular prompt “What I wish my teacher knew.” This one would be for your ears only, and likely help you understand your students better going into the year at the same time that they get a chance to get familiar with the idea of recording audio. 

OK, that’s a wrap on today’s quick episode. Remember, audio is a powerful means of communication, and students can explore it without any high-tech hoopla. Start with something simple, and build from there.

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Video is everywhere in communication these days, including on Reels, TikTok, and Youtube, where our students are. Building creative video projects into ELA can help leverage students' interests in these platforms toward building skills in research, storytelling, speaking, and building an argument. Not to mention skills within the genre itself, which are bound to come in handy in many fields.

So today let's dive into video in ELA. We'll cover the best tech platform for straightforward editing, and explore six different project ideas. Hopefully by the end of today's episode, you'll be feeling excited instead of intimidated to get started with your first classroom video project.

Related Links:

Tutorial for creating videos in Canva: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/videopage/createavideo 

Sign up for a free Canva for Education Account: https://www.canva.com/education/ 

Free Canva Confidence course: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/getCanvaconfidence

Amanda Gorman's "Earthrise": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOvBv8RLmo 

Ada Limón's "A Poem for Europa": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgWbeDNPD6o 

"Enryo" (stop motion animation film): https://smilodon-tulip-cb8w.squarespace.com/winning-submissions (2nd video down)

Documentary Project Unit on TPT (also in the video projects section of The Lighthouse): 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Documentary-Film-Project-l-ELA-Project-l-ELA-Projects--10462782?st=a50b80660705713d043c9b0e88e8adbd&utm_source=Spark%20Podcast%209%2F10%2F24&utm_campaign=documentary%20film%20project 

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On this week’s mini-episode, I’d like to challenge you to get your students set up on Canva and help them get comfortable on the platform with a simple assignment that will give you a great fall display, literary travel posters.

Have you seen PBS’ The Great Read posters, which are available for free download on the PBS site? I’ll link them in the show notes. They’re fabulous. Each poster invites the viewer into a literary world. “Join Don Quixote on an Epic Quest” is overlaid on a lovely background of receding windmills with a small warning note, “Be Wary of Hulking Giants.” “Visit Wonderland” is fixed above a drawing of Alice falling down between purple mushrooms, with the catchy tagline, “See as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” The series includes Dune, Narnia, Harry Potter, 1984, Huck Finn, Gatsby, and more. They’re stellar additions to your classroom decor, for sure, but they also lend themselves beautifully as visual mentor texts for this little project.

Ask students to choose a book that’s been meaningful to them in the past, one with a richly imagined setting. Show them the PBS posters and ask them what components seem consistent across the posters. Ask them to consider which posters they find most appealing and why, then use similar components in designing their own, on Canva. 

If you’re new to Canva, I’m going to link a free step-by-step course I made for you so you can easily learn the basics that will help you and your students with a project like this. 

Starting with a simple project like this one is a great way to get everyone oriented onto the platform and help students warm up to design work, at the same time that you create a fun book-focused set of posters you can use on your door, in your hallway, or around your classroom library. 

OK, that’s a wrap on today’s quick episode. I hope you’re heading over now to set up a free Canva for Education account if you don’t have one yet! And no, I’m still not sponsored by them, but feel free to suggest me to any Canva Executives you know.

Check out PBS' The Great Read Poster Series: https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/resources/downloads/

Take the free Canva Confidence Course: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/getCanvaconfidence 

See an example poster I designed (guess what book it's from!):

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Let's talk about dystopia book clubs, a compelling unit option for ELA.

I taught my first dystopian fiction, 1984, to tenth graders in Bulgaria. They had very strong reactions to the way Orwell portrayed communism, since Communist rule had existed in their family's living memories. For some, Orwell nailed it. Others, outraged, clearly thought he was slandering their country's history. For everyone, the line between fiction and fact in the text felt blurry. Perhaps because of its intensity, its emotional nature, its closeness to actual events, they found it didn't read as fiction.

Thinking back, I'd now say they felt it was fiction with an agenda. Fiction with a clear argument that used evidence like characterization, setting, tone, and mood to drive home its thesis.

That experience has flavored the way I've read all the dystopia I've picked up since - Fahrenheit 451, The Hunger Games, Scythe, Dry...

And I think it leads to fascinating questions to bring to kids. How does dystopia wield its influence? Where is the line between art and propaganda? What do dystopian authors have in their writing arsenal that other authors don't?

Today I hope to convince you that dystopian book clubs are worth your time, and give you the building blocks to design your unit. We're going to talk texts, activities, and assessment possibilities.

Links Mentioned: 

1984 Apple Commercial

Motorola Empower the People Commercial

Dismaland (Maddox Gallery Writeup)

Dismaland Video Tour

WWI Posters from the Library of Congress

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On this week’s mini-episode, I want to tell you about a one week unit that has never failed to produce incredible results from my students. I’ve done it with 10th graders and 11th graders, honors students and their counterparts, American students and Bulgarian students speaking English as their second language. And I’ve loved it every. Single. Time.

Wow, it’s kind of fun setting up all this suspense, but as you know, Thursday episodes are quick, so we better hop to it. The one week unit I’ve loved every time is a poetry slam unit, and I think you should try it too. Let’s walk through the week.

On Monday I introduce the concept of slam. I explain the arbitrary judging, the standing up with your poem and your guts and your dream, and I explain that we’re having one on Friday. I share some of my favorite performance pieces to help kids start thinking through what performance poetry is, and I invite them to score the poems on a 1-10 as if we were having our own slam already. Hilarious disagreements ensue, and everyone quickly realizes that judging is incredibly subjective. As we get ready to prep for our slam on the next three days, I let kids sign up to be on committees that will take care of the Slam venue, the slam judging and P.R., and the slam program and emceeing. 

On Tuesday, we roll into poetic devices and performance techniques, looking at, analyzing and scoring more performance poetry and beginning to workshop ideas for their own poems. We write “I am from” poems. We meet in committees. Everything seems incredibly important, because everyone knows they’ll be performing a poem in just three days.

On Wednesday, we watch more poems, write more poems, and meet in committees again. At this point, most kids are zeroing in on a poem to perform in the slam. I check in with the venue committee to make sure they are formally requesting use of whatever school space they want to use on Friday and that they get approval. I check in with the program committee to make sure they are getting everyone’s titles, figuring out a fair order, and prepping an emcee who will do the event justice. I check in with the judging committee to make sure they’ve reached out respectfully to possible guest judges in the community and that they are getting some acceptances. 

On Thursday, everyone is writing madly and practicing intensely. They perform alone, perform for partners, ask me questions, and keep experimenting. We might watch a few more performances. We’ll definitely meet in committees again.

On Friday, everyone arrives ready (and very nervous) for what is always one of the best days of the year. The venue committee has the ambiance dialed in, usually with refreshments, fun lighting, and a surprising location. The emcee steps up to the plate and keeps everything going. The guest judges lend an air of professionalism, and make everything feel higher stakes. The poets tend to surprise themselves. I love it every time! 

OK, that’s a wrap on today’s quick episode. I hope I’ve convinced you to try a poetry slam this year when you teach poetry. For me, it’s the mini-unit that never fails to engage kids around poetry in a way they didn’t expect.

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Do you have old books lying around taking up space in your classroom? Books no one is ever going to read again? Recently in our Facebook group, Creative High School English, a fun visual thread erupted all about bookish page displays. So in today’s one minute idea-isode, I want to suggest you try one. You’ll clear space on your shelves, help the earth with your reuse/recycle mentality, and end up with a stunning display.

Here’s how…

Start by pulling the pages out of some old books. It will feel weird, I know. Save a few for the next time you’re going to do a blackout poetry project, but stack up the rest and head to your bulletin board or wall. 

Ideally you’ll now work on a solid color, so paper the back of your bulletin board or choose an area of your wall with nothing on it.

Next it’s time to staple or tape your pages up in the design of your choice.

You might create a river of pages coming across your bulletin board, paper the bulletin board entirely in pages so it’s filled in entirely, or form the pages into a shape, like a tree, a bird, or a spiral.  

Last but not least, it’s time to overlay a bookish quotation on top. Choose from the dozens of wonderful ones out there from the last few centuries of authors. You can cut out letters to make a big and bold statement, or hand letter your quotation onto a big piece of paper you can overlay on the pages. 

OK, that’s a wrap on today’s episode. If you’d like more display ideas for your ELA classroom, head to the blog version linked below where you’ll see 10 fun visuals to inspire your next display. 

Visit the Full ELA Bulletin Board / Display Ideas Post: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2024/09/10-creative-ela-bulletin-boards-for-middle-and-high-school.html 

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If you’ve ever felt like you were stuck in a rut doing the same thing day after day, I’ve got a quick mindset shift to help. I do NOT want you to give up on whole class novels, so let’s talk about how to make them work. 

In theory, whole class novels are the bread and butter of the English classroom. But if you struggle to get students to read at home and you’re finding the daily routine of covering a few pages every day a total slog, I hear you. You might have heard me talk about this with Amanda from Mud & Ink Teaching last year on the pod, and I really appreciated her ideas, which, combined with hearing from lots of teachers trying to figure out how to run a whole class novel unit successfully, have led me to think even more about this.

So here’s my suggestion - create days of the week that are focused on different things, and give that whole class novel a break sometimes. Sounds pretty simple, right? Too simple? Hear me out. 

I’ve always been amazed at just how many things English teachers are supposed to cover, and going through every standard from 7th grade ELA to 12th grade ELA last year when I was creating planning materials for The Lighthouse just drove that point home. No doubt you’re trying to figure out how to advance your students’ work in vocabulary, writing forms, reading comprehension, public speaking, and listening. Plus, you’re a creative teacher who wants them to be engaged in real world work with an authentic audience. 

Making a shift away from covering each night’s reading the next day in class will help you move forward across your priorities, and give your students more time to read in between text-centered classes.  

Maybe on Mondays you spend fifteen minutes on choice reading and then you’re working on podcasts related to the essential question of your whole class novel. Tuesdays you’re doing a quick reading check-in activity and then a Harkness discussions on the chapters students have read across the previous few days on their own. Wednesdays might be focused on 15 minutes of choice reading and then  writing practice, trying a variety of creative prompts around short stories, poems, audio clips, and articles related, again, to the themes of the whole class novel but read right there in class so you know everyone is on the same page. Thursdays might be a deep dive into the whole class novel with small groups or partners engaging in activities like close reading, reader’s theater, mini-debates, theme one-pagers, or whatever else you’re excited to do related to the novel. Then Friday could be for First Chapter Fridays, 15 minutes of choice reading, and some vocabulary work. 

This is just one imagined example of how you could structure a week with plenty of variety. The bottom line is, you don’t need to talk about your whole class novel every day to DO a whole class novel. 

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It's no fun announcing an argument paper and being met by groans. If your English students have arrived at your class afraid of essays, you're not the only one. And we all know, buy-in matters. When students are confronted with a task they're horrified by, it's hard for them to access their skills and motivation to do their best work. So what are you supposed to do when you hit the groan skid?

Today I want to talk about some on-ramps and side paths to the argument highway. Visual tools and modern mediums to help you help your students realize argument isn't so scary.

By the way, an extremely step-by-step process with lots of modeling is a classic go-to for breaking down the essay writing process and making it feel manageable, and I don't want to ignore that. Brainstorming. Outlining. Drafting. Peer editing. Self editing stations. Final drafting. That's all wonderful.

But probably you do that already, and you're still here.

So let's explore some other approaches you can use to complement that oh-so-valid step-by-step process that just doesn't always work to help ELA students get past their paper-writing fears.

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Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, a podcast for English teachers in search of creative teaching strategies. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You sit down to write a rec letter  after a long fall day of teaching, meetings, coaching, and everything else on your plate. Maybe it’s 9 pm and you’re trying to remember all of Erica’s shining moments from the last three months. But they’re a bit jumbled together in your head with your grocery list, your toddler’s sleep training regimen, and your other 120 students. Your eyes start to droop. The latest episode of Bake-Off just dropped and you are soooo ready to fall asleep on the couch. So you decide to push the college rec to the next day.

Ugh. It’s a terrible cycle that can start to feel like it’s dominating your life. And I’ve been there so many times. Today I want to tell you about  the simple switch I pulled that made a big difference.  I hope will help you too.

Early in my career, writing rec letters began to feel like my second full-time job. I taught all juniors. I liked them and they liked me, and it seemed like every time I turned around another student was standing in front of me hopefully, eyes wide, waiting to ask me to write their rec.  I found myself sitting in front of my computer at all hours staring at my blinking cursor. Combining dozens of rec letters with my role as varsity tennis coach in the fall soon left me sleepless and strained.

I asked for a meeting with my talented colleague in college guidance to find out what was most important to include in my letter, hoping to streamline my process and make my work more effective for my students. 

As an English teacher who has probably told your students a million times that they need specific evidence to back up their points, it probably won’t surprise you to hear that the top tip I received was to load my college recs with specifics. Of course, college admissions folks want us to paint them a picture of  our students with anecdotes, project descriptions, amazing moments in class when the student shone. And of course, you want to do your student justice by doing just that. 

But adding more specifics was hardly going to save me time. So I started asking every student who wanted me to write their rec to fill in a sheet FULL of specifics.

I asked things like: What are you most proud of from my class? When did you feel like you had a breakthrough with your writing, and how did you show it? Can you share about a specific day in class where you really felt like you shone? What’s one project that you feel like showed your ELA skills in top form? 

I asked them to be as specific and detailed as possible, to help me be as specific and detailed as possible. And of course, I used their details to remind me of my own take on their work, using my own perspective ultimately to describe their success. But those sheets made all the difference as a shortcut to more effective, quicker recs. 

Did all of my student love doing this? No. Some of them complained a bit, but it was a non-negotiable. It helped me write them a better letter, and it helped make it possible for me to fit it in on top of all the other things I was doing in my job. I didn’t feel even slightly guilty about it, and I don’t want you to either.

Grab your copy of the ELA Reflection Sheets Here: https://spark-creativity.ck.page/a8ec1e39d1 

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Want to teach a multigenre essay project? Good!

Our students see story splashed across so many platforms these days. Video, audio, visuals, and words all mixed up together in a daily swirl. Understanding how to tell a story across mediums is a highly relevant skill for students, and one they can quickly see the relevance of every time they switch on their phones or pop in their airpods.

Enter, the multigenre essay project - a chance for students to tell a story of their own through multimedia details that bring it to life.

A multigenre essay project can work in your identity or memoir unit, or provide an alternative path for students who don't want to write a college essay because they've chosen another path.

Today, let's break down how you might structure a project like this so the tech doesn't feel intimidating and student stories have a chance to shine.

Mentor Texts Mentioned: 

• Good Morning, my Wife in Heaven, by YingFei Liang and Shumin Wei
• Enryo, by Jessica Bukowski and Kristin Sato
• "I've been on a Mission for seventeen years. It's my holy grail." From Humans of New York.

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The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows of our tiny English department office as I ran in to grab the papers I’d just printed. As I waited for them to finish, I examined the old books stacked on the shelf above the printer, brought to our school in  Bulgaria by another ex-pat teacher many years ago, judging by the dust. One caught my eye - William Zinsser’s guide to writing nonfiction - On Writing Well. I snagged it with my papers and headed upstairs. Little did I know, I had just picked up my new favorite writing book, and the one that would give me my most consistent improvement for my own writing. It’s the switch that made me start this podcast with “The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows” instead of “It was late one afternoon.” Did you spot it?  Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, a podcast for English teachers in search of creative teaching strategies. Today we’re talking about a simple but highly impactful piece of writing advice you can give to every student. I heard it first from William Z all those years ago, and now I want to share it with you.

OK, here’s the simple rule. English students need to watch out for the verb “To be.” Sure, it’s useful. I just used it. But it’s actually too useful. It can quickly become the driver of any piece of writing with constant lines like: “He was bored,” “they were hungry, “she was late,” “we’re tired.”  When we see writing like this, we might be tempted to launch into a fairly complex explanation of show don’t tell. But it’s even easier to give students a highlighter and ask them to find all the “to be” verbs in their piece. Have them highlight “was,” were,” and “are,” then pause to take in the fact that their whole piece is now bright yellow. Then show them how to flip the switch.

Let’s take “he was bored” as our model. How can a kid write “he was bored” without the “to be” construction? 

How about this: “After six hours of waiting at the airport gate, Ben had finally mastered the art of sleeping standing up.” 

Or we can try “They were hungry,” switching in “Jen and Jenny felt sure they could eat a dozen of the salted caramel cream donuts immediately. Each.” 

As you can see, in general the switch away from “to be” leads to far more specific descriptive writing. It’s like a game, shifting writing from black and white to full color. 

Will there still be times when “to be” makes sense? For sure. You don’t want kids to change it every single time. But making them aware of the potential can make a huge impact on their writing. I know it has on mine over years of writing for you! 

If you’re looking for a way to help students remember this tip, try spending fifteen minutes on a poster project. Invite every student to create a poster featuring a boring “TO BE” sentence in black and white, with the “To be” verb construction in red. Then have them make a second poster for a new version of the sentence with more vivid description matched by more vivid, colorful imagery. Put the best ones up on your wall as a reminder of this tip, then refer back to your models when students are editing their writing. 

Such a simple rule, but it makes such a big impact. Remind your students that “to be” can BE boring, and you’ll help them level up their writing game across genres. 

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Discussion. Theoretically it’s the bread and butter of the English classroom, but sometimes it feels like all crusts and crumbs.

How can you get students excited to talk about voice and theme, metaphor and symbolism, when they have a million other things going on?

How do you inspire them to dive in together to the ways that literature illuminates life and life speaks back to the page, when they’re already nervous about speaking up in class and afraid they’ll look bad in front of their friends?

If a good discussion feels like a distant dream to you on rough days, and a tantalizing almost-there vision on good days, the new discussion series is here to help. We’re starting today with five types of discussion that can work for you, and in the coming episodes, we’ll be going much deeper.

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Today we’re talking about a model that influenced every discussion I ran in my classroom from my first year to my last, across grade levels, years, and countries. I’ve run hundreds of Harkness discussions - terrible ones, experimental ones, pretty ok ones, good ones, and absolutely incredible ones. Today I want to tell you how Harkness discussion changed the way I see group dynamics and why I can’t talk about class discussion without centering this model. I want you to try Harkness, or some spin off of it that fits your classroom space and size, and here’s why.

Maybe you’ve heard me talk before about the new teacher conference I attended in Northern California when I was 22. At some point during that loaded weekend, someone handed me a sheaf of papers labeled “Harkness Discussions.” Inside, I found some example discussion charts, a summary of the model, and a dream. 

Harkness was originally developed at Philips Exeter Academy, where a philanthropist named Edward Harkness made a gift to the school that was channeled into creating and implementing a model of discussion centering student voices. It sounds pretty simple - students sit in a circle, ideally - but in practice rarely - around a large oval wooden table, and talk to each other in class. They face each other, look at each other, acknowledge each others’ ideas, rather than all facing toward the teacher leading the way.

By the time I started flipping through my packet in 2004, more than seven decades after that initial gift, teachers had been experimenting with and improving the model for a long time. I read everything I could find online, then decided to roll out a one month experiment in every class. I was waaay into experiments at that point, and my students were used to seeing my metaphorical jazz hands as I rolled out poetry slams, performance projects, transcendental showcases, and whatever else I cooked up late at night and on the weekend while I was working all. the. time. 

So they were game enough when I explained what we’d be doing. I showed them a picture of a discussion chart and explained that a student observer would chart each discussion and give a compliment and a recommendation for improvement at the end of the discussion (not mentioning specific names). I explained that my role would be to help them prepare in advance for the discussion but not to moderate it during the actual conversation. I warned them about the vast potential for awkward silence, promised that they’d get through it, and also promised not to ruin everything by rescuing them. We talked about what could make a student-led discussion go well. And then we started. 

During that first month of Harkness, I watched four different classes go through four very different evolutions. 

F block skipped the floundering stage and went right to the “we’re awesome and we can rock this” stage. They had lots of kids who did the reading and wanted to talk, so after the initial observer comments that not everyone was talking (which is pretty much always the observer comment in every class in the first few Harkness discussions), things progressed quickly. With a little bit of help from me in chatting with observers before class, observations became more nuanced, and the class moved into the common next stages of Harkness, like helping students work on not interrupting each other, finding ways to subtly invite and support comments from students who were reluctant to speak, bringing more specific textual evidence into the conversation, making better transitions, and asking good questions.

B block, on the other hand, floundered with the best of them. Maybe the trickiest transition into good Harkness that I ever saw over 25 different classes. Still, not to ruin the ending, but they got there by the end of the month. In D block I learned a lot about how to work with a slow-starting class. I integrated strategies like careful warm-ups to give students plenty to talk about, staring down at my notebook and writing “this is awkward” over and over again with careful focus during awkward pauses so that kids would know I wasn’t going to rescue them, and helping guide my observer in positively reinforcing the smallest improvements and giving a specific focused goal that was achievable for the next discussion. 

That first month built the foundation to continue for the rest of the year, though we stopped integrating the method every single day. Harkness became our go-to discussion method, more like once or twice a week, which is how I continued into the next years. But that sense of the method as a living experiment, an evolution that never ended, stayed with me.

The next year I surveyed my students about their experience with Harkness, and here are some of their comments: 

“I think I’ve always been able to share my thoughts, but I’ve definitely changed as a listener. I’ve learned how to pay attention.”

“I have changed. I seem to like to talk a lot more than I thought I would have. Harkness has allowed me to gain confidence in myself and what I believe is right.”

“Harkness teaches hesitant speakers to be more confident with their ideas. Conversely, it shows talkative people the value of listening to their peers’ opinions.”

“I have yet to feel like sleeping during a discussion.” 

“I’ve learned to think before I speak.”

Over the years, I watched powerful transformations. Learned how to help silent students break in. Learned how to help dominators step back. Learned how to team up with my observers to chart dynamics relating to ever more complex factors in the room, like gender, friend groups, types of question, and topic transitions. I watched a brave young woman, our student body president, break down in tears after class as she realized for the first time that quieter peers she didn’t think had anything to say had rich contributions to make when space was made for them. I watched emerging bilingual students realize others cared about their opinion and were willing to make space to hear it. Awkward silence became funny instead of scary. Wide-ranging student-led discussion became the norm.

And that’s where we’re going to leave it today. Next week we’re digging into specifics. Expect to see one episode in your feed Tuesday on setting up success and the role of the observer, and another on helping discussion dominators and silent students. I’ll be coming at it through the perspective of Harkness, because that’s the discussion country where I’ve got my citizenship, but you can apply similar ideas to Socratic Seminar or whatever spinoff of student-led discussion you prefer. 

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Welcome back to our ongoing discussion series. If you missed the first two episodes, covering five types of discussion worth trying and introducing the Harkness method for student-led discussion, you might want to pause and go back to the last two episodes before continuing with this one.

Today we’re diving deep into student-led discussion, specifically setting up a structure that will let you be successful.

I’ll be sharing both highlights from what I learned at the Exeter Humanities Institute about helping students be successful - which, by the way, I couldn’t recommend more as a summer PD opportunity - and also, what I learned personally working with twenty-five different classes of students as their skills with the method evolved over the course of our year together.

You’ll walk away from this episode ready to run your first student-led discussion, whether you choose the full Harkness method or create your own twist on student-led discussion.

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Remember in elementary school, how some kids were so excited to answer a question that they would wave their hand back and forth in the air, lifting ever so slightly from their seat? The Hermione Grangers of 2nd grade. Yeah, that was me. 

So I have real sympathy for students who become discussion dominators. Though on the outside, this appears to make them successful students, it’s really just as important for them to adjust their approach to group dynamics as it is for students who are completely silent in class.

Both groups present a challenge for educators looking to use student-led discussion methods, and today on the podcast, I’m sharing everything I’ve learned about helping kids on both ends of the participation spectrum. 

Because in fact, helping one is helping the other. Quieter students won’t have a chance to participate until dominant students take a step back. Dominant students won’t understand why it’s important to step back until quieter students begin to use their voice. The first steps are the hardest on both sides of this story, but it IS possible, and the results ARE so worth working for.

This is the fourth episode of our discussion series, maybe the one you’ve been waiting for. Because we’ve all been in discussions carried by three kids while the rest watch, turning their heads like they’re at a tennis match. But not anymore.

Key Points:

• Try brainstorming with the class about ways to get into the discussion if you’re feeling a little nervous or you like more time to prepare: ideas might include… be the first person to start a discussion or topic because you can read your question, quote, or answer to the warm-up, write down an idea as you read that you want to bring up, arrange with a friend to turn the floor over to you as they finish a comment, like “Jenny, we were talking about this before class. What were you saying?”, folks talking more have to make room for other voices

• Remind everyone of the bean bag story we talked about in the last episode - the discussion is incredibly enriched when everyone contributes their personal history and knowledge, their curiosity and questions

• Use the observer with nuance, asking them to think about how they can chart the discussion and report back with suggestions in a way that will help everyone improve the dynamics of balance

• Individual conversations -  you might try gently inviting a dominator to try limiting themselves to three contributions or even just listening for a day to see what others say. You might talk with a quiet student and suggest a goal of one comment on a single day, and brainstorm together how to make it happen. It’s a push and pull. As one group start to make small adjustments, the other group is affected. It never looks the same in any class!

• Try the ABC Game

Think about all the group situations you’re in day after day: faculty meetings, dinner tables, school board meetings, neighborhood potlucks. Chances are you know dominators and silent observers in your adult life too. Maybe they never had the chance to explore these group dynamics issues in school. This process is a gift you can give to a student for their future. In an increasingly partisan world, where everyone is talking about the bubbles we live in, what could be more important than learning to talk to each other? Whether you use Harkness, Socratic, or your own twist on student-led discussion, I believe these messy life lessons of student-led discussion are worth the complicated emotions and conversations they require. 

Go Further: 

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We’ve all been in a discussion hurtling off the track and into the canyon, far, far below. Chances are, you’ve been in this type of discussion as a student AND as a teacher, and it’s no fun in either scenario.

So how do we prevent it?

And what do we do if it’s already happening and glaze is washing over our students’ eyes?

In today’s episode, the fifth in our discussion series, we’re diving into how to deal with discussions that go off the rails. Because even if YOU prepare in all the ways, those days happen. And it doesn't mean all is lost.

 Ooh, by the way, do you have my free discussion toolkit yet? It contains many of the tools we'll be talking about today.

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My son and I love a few certain characters from the books we've read aloud over the years. Gum-Baby, from Tristan Strong, Boots, from Gregor the Overlander, Maniac Magee. For my daughter, it's Junie B. Jones and Ramona from their named series collections. For me, it was always Anne (of Green Gables) I returned to growing up, and Jo from Little Women. Oh, and of course, Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes.

Incredible characters are everywhere we turn in literature, and they make such an impact on us. We see through their eyes, experience their transformations, build empathy through their experiences.

Maybe that's why when I think about characterization, I tend to think about activities that showcase characters visually. That come at them from many angles. That require students to consider their evolution, their growth, their nature vs. their nurture.

Because sure, by all means, let's talk about what it means to be flat or round, static or dynamic. But then let's go much further.

Today on the podcast, I'm sharing six creative characterization projects I've come up with over the years, in hopes that one (or two, or three) will fill a hole for you. I love them all for different reasons, and I hope you will too.

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Grading discussion can feel like juggling cats. How can you be present in a class discussion while also trying to grade thirty people’s comments? But over the years, I’ve tried three methods that that have worked for me without causing too much strain. I call them the bump, the challenge, and the chart. In today’s mini-episode, I’ll walk you through all three so that the next time you feel you need to give credit where credit is due during a discussion, you’ve got a plan that doesn’t feel like a cat-splosion.

First, there’s the bump. With the bump method, discussion provides that intangible bump that defines whether kids on the borderline move up or down. A kid working hard in discussion will go from an 89.5 to an A-. A kid who is unprepared or often interrupts will stay firmly at a B+ with that 89.5. 

This method is easy to explain to kids, and doesn’t require a constant running paper trail. I can’t recall ever having an argument over this with a student, but I CAN recall encouraging students to push themselves harder in discussion with this small carrot as a reminder that it matters both to the community and to their own results. 

Next, there’s the challenge. For this method, I invite students to focus on something we’ve been working on and work together to have a discussion that crushes this one aspect of our group dynamics. I let them know that EVERYONE in class will get a 10/10 on that day as a free bonus grade if they complete my challenge. If they don’t, no harm no foul.

For example, say you’re working on making more text references. You might create a challenge in which if the class is able to make ten different text references (that feel relevant) during the discussion, everyone gets the bonus grade. The nice thing about this method is that it allows you to grade for something really targeted, helping the class move forward in its discussion evolution. 

Third (and last, for now), there’s the chart. This method is the most time-intensive, but it gets easier with time. Keep a chart for each class with students’ names. At the end of a class period, jot down a check minus, check, or check plus for each student, based on their participation. Then assign grades at the end of term based on whether they are mostly check plus, mostly check, etc.

The pros here are that this method provides you a very clear paper trail and allows you to make discussion a significant part of the grade if that’s what you want to do. You’ll be able to defend a discussion grade by showing any student the chart at any time. However, if you find you are always juggling a lot in those moments between classes, it can feel like a major task that is always hovering over your shoulder. Maybe you’re wanting to pull books for a book talk, grab a student for a quick chat, or send an email, but you’ve got to fill in that discussion chart every single time. For me, it wasn’t a good long term solution, and I preferred to rely mainly on the bump with occasional challenges. But everyone’s situations is different, so I thought I’d share it here as a solid option if it feels right to you. Maybe you finish up class with an exit ticket or another activity that would give you time to fill in a chart like this without much stress. Whatever feels right for you!

OK, there you have my top tested methods for discussion accountability - the bump, the challenge and the chart. Whether you use one, use ‘em all, or maybe just use one of them as a springboard for a totally new option that just occurred to you, I hope these possibilities will help you destress the grading process when it comes time for your next discussion. 

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This week I want to share a fabulous resource I recently discovered, a website full of short video models for acting games you can use in class.

The first time I taught a play in class, I sure wished I had more theater background to help my students act out the scenes. Luckily, I was able to connect with a creative theater professional to come and visit my classes for a few days. Soon she had them playing acting games, creating scene sculptures, and generally having a great time while relaxing into the idea of playing new roles. 

After that week I always incorporated acting games into my theater units, and they never failed as a community-builder and theater-bolsterer. I bought two books to complement what I learned from my theater guest: Acting Games, by Viola Spolin, and Games for Actors and Non-Actors, by Augusto Boal. 

Which brings me to my recent discovery, a website showcasing many of Viola Spolin’s acting games through video demonstrations. With a few minutes on this website, you can easily gather games to use in class and learn how to use them. Let me suggest a short routine similar to what I’ve used, and then I’ll link the activities in the show notes so you can head straight over to the website for the details. 

OK, so before I ever asked students to act Prospero or Willy Loman, we’d spend five or ten minutes at the start of class with games that would help them loosen up and trust each other a little more.  I suggest you start by making space in the center of the room by pushing desks and tables to the side. Then invite students to start walking around, trying to keep a bubble of space around them so they fill the room without ever touching each other. Start slow, then invite them to speed up a little, and a little more, then slow back down, then go into slow motion. Then, perhaps start a game of slow motion tag (linked) or start playing with an invisible ball (linked). After a couple of minutes, you might play a game of lemonade (linked) or invite partners to try mirroring each other (linked). 

As your students become more comfortable, you can move into more complex games, or you can just stick with this simple routine to break down everyone’s “I’m too cool to pretend to be doing anything I’m not actually doing” facades. 

Remember, while acting comes naturally to a few students, many teenagers are just really nervous about embarrassing themselves around their peers. Acting games help everyone get more relaxed before diving into Shakespeare or O’Neill, and this lovely website will help YOU get more relaxed before diving into acting games! 

Links: 

The Mirror: https://spolingamesonline.org/mirror-follow-the-follower/ 

Lemonade: https://spolingamesonline.org/lemonade-new-york/ 

Play Ball: https://spolingamesonline.org/play-ball/ 

Slow Motion Tag: https://spolingamesonline.org/slow-motion-tag/ 

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Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill get plenty of spotlight on the ELA curriculum stage. And sure, it's well-deserved! But they aren't the only incredible American playwrights to pick up a pen in the last century. If you're looking for some contemporary plays to share with your students, and you're struggling to find ones that fit your vision AND fit the maturity level of your kiddos, I've got a quick idea for you today.

So here it is. You've got your stack of A Streetcar Named Desire or Death of a Salesman ready for your students, as always, AND you have a series of Pulitzer-Prize winning contemporary playwright snapshots to share. It's the classic "yes AND" combination that comes straight from the improv playbook.

Each snapshot will let students learn about an award-winning contemporary playwright by exploring their background, learning about the play which won them a Pulitzer, and then watching a little bit of that play. You'll get to showcase a diverse range of writers and topics, and you can avoid moments in the plays which might be too intense or mature for the age of your students. My deep dive down the Youtube rabbit hole leads me to believe that most award-winning plays feature at least SOME scenes that are rated PG.

It's a little like First Chapter Fridays, except for plays. You're introducing your students to a much wider world than the single lens on theater that whatever your assigned play can provide (wonderful though it may be!), by showcasing complementary work regularly. At the same time, you can work through a whole class read with rich literary merit (that your school has already purchased and approved.)

So how can you get started quickly and easily? That's what today's episode is all about. I'll walk you through how I created some of these snapshots - which I'll share with you - and then you'll be ready to create more of your own if you want to go further.

Go Further: 

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This week, I want to talk about Sunday nights. If you’re struggling to figure out how you can be a good partner, parent, person, and teacher, and it all seems to come to a head on Sunday nights, I want to offer three ideas. I’m not saying I can solve the teacher work-life balance issue that plagues our profession in one short episode, but I hope one of these ideas will help you feel more free to follow your instincts towards less stress and pressure on yourself, and maybe, just maybe, happier Sunday nights. 

#1 Don’t Grade it All

I put this one first for a reason. It’s huge. Let’s say your students are doing a ten minute writing prompt each day to practice a specific skill. Maybe you’ve got 30 students, times five days a week, times five classes. That’s 750 writing samples you’re trying to grade every week. Even if you just put a smiley face on top to show that you put your eyeballs on their work, it’s still going to take you hours. Instead, try having them choose the sample at the end of the week that they feel best represents their ability with the new skill, polish it, and turn it in the next week. Now your eyeballs just have to scan 150 writing samples. 

Students need way more practice writing than they need detailed feedback. Is detailed feedback amazing? Yes. Is feeling like you have to give it constantly likely to ruin your Sunday nights, your holiday breaks, and eventually, your ability to stay in teaching? Probably. 

Not only do I think you should heavily reduce your grading via selective feedback, stickers, stamps, and peer feedback, I think you should start a conversation in your department to help everyone consider these options. 

#2 Stop Playing Email Whack-a-Mole

Do you open your email every time you have a second and try to get rid of all your new messages? I did too, for sooo long. And it messed with my mood, left me with no time for more major projects, and made me feel like I was always behind. 

If it’s possible for you to block off time to check your email once in the morning and once at the end of school, I’d like to plant a flag in your inbox and say hip hip hooray! It’s not your job to give all your attention to others’ priorities every single time you have a second. 

Take five minutes between periods to get a breath and set up your next activity in a relaxed manner instead of worrying about a parent’s frustrating message. Spend lunch watching Kristen Bell and Adam Brody while you eat or hanging out with a friend for ten minutes over sandwiches instead of running through emails. 

Email never stops, but you’re allowed to. And in case it wasn’t clear, I’m definitely suggesting you don’t have to check it at night and on the weekends too. 

#3 Get Help in Key Places

There’s help for an awful lot in the world these days. Is laundry a specter that makes you feel terrible all week because you don’t have time to get to it? You can probably hire someone to come in and do it for you - maybe even your teenager who needs extra money. 

Is cooking a nightmare for you when you get home after a busy day? Approximately one hundred meal service kit companies would like to help, and so would the ready made section at Trader Joe’s.

 Do you hate writing lessons after your kids go to bed? I spend all my time writing curriculum to help with that, and so do a lot of other people. Give yourself permission to join a curriculum membership like The Lighthouse or pick up units that you love and that fit your style from TPT. 

OK, my friend. I could definitely keep going, but I wanted to keep this short with three genuinely doable ideas. If you can cut your grading load dramatically, stop playing email whack-a-mole, and choose one stressful area to get significant help, I believe Sunday nights WILL get a little easier. 

Go Further: 

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If you’re a teacher in a Title I School, you need to know about First Book Marketplace.

I’ve heard about it in passing so many times, and this week I decided to dive in and figure out how it works. And boy, does it work.

Today I just want to walk you through how this site works so that you can start taking advantage of its many resources as soon as possible.

Now, if you’re NOT a teacher in a Title I School, and you’re also trying to find resources to support your wish to bring incredible books to your students, I’m going to refer you back to episode 56, The Dos and Don’ts of Donors Choose, where I’ll walk you through the best way to get funding on that site.

OK, for now, let’s dig into First Book Marketplace and how you can get started with it right away.

Are you a Title I Teacher? Register for First Book Marketplace: https://www.fbmarketplace.org/register/ 

Not a Title I Teacher? Check out the "Do's and Don'ts of Donors Choose" post here: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2019/01/the-dos-and-donts-of-donors-choose-for.html 

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In today’s short episode of “Highly Recommended”, I want to recommend an article I read at Edutopia this week, because it’s chock-full of the research you need to support conversations at your school about grading less. Changing the culture of grading in our ELA classrooms won’t just benefit teachers, it benefits students too. So today I want to share two highlights from the article, “Why Teachers Should Grade Less Frequently,” by Stephen Merrill and Youki Terada, and then give you the link in the show notes so you can go read it and send it to everyone in your department. Seriously.

Terada and Merrill share the research around nine reasons that grading less benefits both educators and educatees (students). This is not a both-sides-of-the-story type of article. It is VERY clear about its argument. Less grading for the right reasons is the way to go. Hopefully, if you’ve been around here for long, that sounds like a familiar story.

One of my favorite points in the article is #3, “Grading Obligations reduce teacher creativity and innovation.”   According to the research, most teachers are splitting their time between grading and lesson planning, devoting about the same amount of time to each. As a result, and I imagine you’ve experienced this at some point or another, many folks are unable to give the necessary time to the reflection and discovery that would let them unlock their most creative classroom ideas. 

Another key idea comes in #6: “Grading reduces opportunities for student practice.” According to the research, repeated practice counts for a lot when it comes to improving writing, and prioritizing feedback over reps isn’t the answer. If teachers feel they must grade everything students do, students won’t have as many opportunities to build the pathways that lead to better writing.

The big components of this article are ones our teaching community has been talking about for a long time. But what I love about this article is how it boils the ideas down into a three minute read with clear evidence and research links to back up what English teachers have learned through experience. That means you can point to the evidence online as well as the evidence in your classroom when you take these ideas to your colleagues, and explain your methods to parents who think papers are meant to be coated in red ink before they’re returned. Remember, I’m dropping this link in the show notes right now, so be sure to click over and read this great article from Stephen Merrill and Youki Terada!

READ THE ARTICLE: https://www.edutopia.org/article/why-teachers-should-grade-less-frequently 

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