7 Activities to Engage Students Before & After the Winter Holidays

Instead of fighting against the energy abound in secondary ELA classrooms in the days leading up to the winter holidays or the days after students return from their break, plan for activities that connect to the winter season and winter holidays, such as Christmas and New Years. Middle school and high school students will be engaged with different writing activities and reading poetry, short stories, and nonfiction in the 7 different lessons described below.

Make The Odyssey Epic: Before, During, and After Reading Activities to Engage Your Students

The Odyssey is a mix of action, fantastical adventure, rich characters, moral dilemmas, ancient culture, and lessons about perseverance and the essence of humanity. This classic text will always be a part of our curriculums as the discussions around character motivation, symbolism, and themes are endless. The connections to texts today are undeniable. Let’s take an epic journey of The Odyssey with all of the before, during, and after reading activities needed to make this a powerful and engaging unit! 

5 Myths & Legends Featuring Unforgettable Heroes

Myths and legends offer a rich tapestry of moral lessons, cultural heritage, and timeless heroes whose stories endure through the ages. Whether you're guiding middle school students or more advanced learners, these legendary figures invite deeper reflection, creativity, and an appreciation of the world's diverse cultures. Below we explore five captivating myths and legends featuring unforgettable heroes and the resources needed to craft an engaging and cohesive teaching unit.

7 Activities To Add To Your Of Mice and Men Unit

Teaching a novel or a novella requires careful planning and a variety of resources to keep student engagement high. Throughout a unit students should be engaging in close readings, reflecting on the text through text dependent writing prompts, applying literary terms and grammar skills, and showing their learning through activities that require creativity. Read on for 7 activities I use throughout my Of Mice and Men unit and how to add them to yours!

Teaching Of Mice & Men: Literary Elements To Focus On In Each Chapter

Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck is a classic text still alive in high school classrooms today. The novella’s short length makes it accessible, it is packed with literary elements to analyze, and its characters and themes lead to rich discussions. Below is a roadmap of how I maximize my time teaching Of Mice and Men and make this unit one that my students will remember as a favorite.

A Vocabulary Routine That Allows Students To Understand & Retain Words

As a high school teacher, I used Sadlier’s Vocabulary Workshop years ago and was dismayed to find that all of the answers to the exercises in the book were readily available online. I also knew that the exercises in the book alone did not provide enough exposure for students to master the 20 words per unit.

When I was asked last year to use Sadlier’s Vocabulary Workshop with my sixth graders, I took my qualms to teachergram and asked “what do you do?” I used the information and ideas I got from other teachers plus a few of my own to create a routine that worked for me and my students.

12 Reads to Enhance Disability Representation in Your Classroom Library

Disability Pride Month, celebrated every July, commemorates the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a pivotal law that removed barriers to societal inclusion. Despite the fact that most of us will face some form of disability in our lifetime, obstacles remain, and individuals with disabilities are often marginalized and misunderstood.

Celebrating Disability Pride Month offers an opportunity to acknowledge, honor, and respect disabilities and those who identify as having a disability. Below, you'll find a selection of books featuring characters with both visible and invisible disabilities, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, to enhance your classroom library.

14 Books To Celebrate Pride Month All Year Long

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is celebrated each June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a pivotal event in the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. This month serves to recognize the significant contributions lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals have made to history at local, national, and international levels.

Given that over half of book bans target books with LGBTQ themes, it is more crucial than ever to include these titles in our classroom libraries, providing both windows and mirrors for our students. Below, you'll find a selection of books featuring queer characters—many authored by queer writers—recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers for inclusion in your classroom library.

16 Reads to Highlight During Black History Month and Throughout the Year

Black History Month is dedicated to acknowledging the significant contributions of African Americans in shaping U.S. history and celebrating the achievements of African Americans, from activists and civil rights leaders to pioneers in industry, politics, science, culture, and more.

Below is a collection of books by Black authors, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, to feature in your classroom library. While some stories touch on diversity, most focus on themes of Black families, friendships, joy, and love. Below each book you'll find the Instagram handle of the person recommending the book. 

13 Titles Highlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander Voices

May is recognized as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, also known as Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. With 24 million people in the United States identifying as Asian, and 1.6 million identifying as Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, or a combination, this month is dedicated to honoring their rich and diverse cultures, traditions, and histories, as well as acknowledging their significant contributions to the United States.

Below is a list of books by Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander authors, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, to feature in your classroom library. Below each book you'll find the Instagram handle of the person recommending the book. 

15 Empowering Reads to Celebrate Women's History Month All Year Round

There was a time when the majority of books published and assigned in schools centered around male protagonists, but that's no longer the case. Today, there are countless middle grade and young adult books that highlight strong female protagonists, both in fiction and nonfiction.

Below is a selection of books written by and about women and girls, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, that you can add to your classroom library. These titles are ideal for showcasing during Women's History Month in March and on International Women's Day, celebrated on March 8. Below each book you'll find the Instagram handle of the person recommending the book.

15 Books to Enhance Jewish Representation on Your Classroom Shelves

As I reviewed the books in my classroom library, I noticed that nearly all of the titles by Jewish authors or featuring Jewish protagonists focused on the Holocaust. Similarly, a teacher of younger grades might find that their collection predominantly centers on Jewish holidays. Since recognizing this gap, I have been working to broaden the representation of Jewish experiences in my library.

Below is a selection of books by Jewish authors, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, that you can add to your classroom library. Click on the Instagram handle of the person recommending the book to view their account.

16 Books Highlighting Native American Stories

November is Native American Heritage Month, also known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. This month is dedicated to celebrating the rich and varied cultures, traditions, and histories of Native peoples and acknowledging their significant contributions.

To educate your students about different tribes and the historical and ongoing challenges faced by Native people, ensure that your classroom library includes books by Native American authors and those featuring Native American characters. It’s also worth considering whether to include books on Native stories and history by non-Native authors, and how these might impact representation.

15 Must-Read Titles to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month Year Round

Hispanic Heritage Month is observed annually from September 15 to October 15 to honor the history, culture, and contributions of Americans with roots in over 20 Latin American countries, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.

This month is an excellent opportunity to feature books that highlight Hispanic and Latinx experiences. However, these books should be a staple in your classroom library year-round. With Hispanics making up 18.9% of the U.S. population, making them the nation's second-largest racial or ethnic group after non-Hispanic whites, it is crucial that their stories—encompassing friendships, family dynamics, first loves, heartbreaks, struggles, and triumphs—are represented in literature.

My Plans For My First Week Of School

After years of teaching, I have settled into a routine for the first week of school that accomplishes my goals of getting to know students and beginning to build a reading community. It is a first week that is low prep and low stress so that I can enjoy meeting my new learners.

Like any good first week plan, it is flexible, and while everything we do is meaningful, it is also easily adjusted. Activities can be shortened, moved around, or continued another day. I may not be back in my teaching rhythm that first week of school so the pacing of my class periods may not be 100% on point yet.

How to Support Students With Reading Shakespeare's Plays

When I taught high school, I always ended the year with one of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo & Juliet for ninth grade and Julius Caesar for tenth.⁠ Students loved getting into character and acting out scenes from the plays. But it can be a challenge to make modern day connections with a text written over 400 years ago.⁠ Here's how I supported students with reading one of Shakespeare's plays.⁠

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Stocking Your Classroom Library: 8 Inexpensive (Or Free!) Possibilities

Building a robust, diverse, and inviting classroom library is something I truly enjoy. Spending lots of my own money on it is not. Students interests can change from year to year, so I am always looking for books that match those, and offering new books is a great way to keep reading enthusiasm high throughout the year. 

If you are building your classroom library or just starting one, you don’t have to spend a lot of money (or any!) either. Before you spend any of your own money, ask at school to see if money from the budget can be used to purchase books. If you get a yearly stipend for your classroom spending (I do), try to save your book purchases until you receive that. If you are spending your own money, consider setting a budget for yourself for each month or the school year as a whole. Read on for 8 places to purchase inexpensive books or get them for free.

6 Things I Tried This School Year

Last year I tried a number of new things related to how I organized and managed my classroom. You can read all about the 7 things I tried here. Some of the ideas stuck and I continued to use them this year, some of the ideas I modified to see if they would work better, and some of the ideas I dropped completely. 

Different things work for different groups of students, but also if it isn’t working for me as a teacher then it isn’t worth my time and energy to continue it. Just like last year, I tried some new things in my classroom this year and some were successes, but some still need work. Here’s a review of the 6 things I tried in my classroom this year.

4 More Ways to Prepare Students for Standardized Testing

Like it or not, standardized testing is not an educational fad that has come and gone. And even worse is that, as much as we like to tell students that a test score doesn't define who they are, those scores can have an impact on students' future. 

For my middle school students, those test scores determine which high schools they are eligible to apply to. For high school students, those test scores can determine which colleges they apply to and the grants and scholarships they'll be awarded. And if students seek education beyond a four year degree, those test scores can determine their eligibility for law school, medical school, and more.

That's a lot of pressure for students (and their teachers too). I try to alleviate some of that pressure by making sure my students feel as prepared as possible as we approach standardized testing (find other stress relieving ideas here). While that preparation has really been happening all year long through our curriculum, it can be reassuring for students when they know that the activities we are engaging in are explicitly prepared them for the upcoming test. I previously wrote about nine different ways to help prepare students and boost their confidence levels. Read on for four more ideas.