As an educator, I've always been passionate about instilling critical thinking skills in my students. It's a topic that I recently had the opportunity to reflect on during a professional development session, and I want to share with you the insights and strategies that I believe are essential for deep engagement in the classroom.

The art of pacing out the reading during a novel unit can be tricky, so we’re going to take some time today to talk through the process. Whether you’re teaching a classic or a contemporary YA title, there are special considerations to be made for the design of your calendar and how we backwards plan for ELA. Let’s jump in!

And here's the thing:  if your students are talking about Taylor, then so should you.  This is an open door into engagement and skill building that is not to be missed.  Here are three ways to pull the power of Taylor into your classroom and spike engagement among your students…

Lackluster literature circles? Boring book clubs? The remedy: lose traditional “role” sheets, declare freedom from organization by topic or genre, and build essential question-focused literature circles or book clubs instead. An EQ as the throughline for your lit circle/book club unit kicks up the impact that comes from having kids talk about what they read in a way that just does not happen with any other method. Here’s why…

Lackluster literature circles? Boring book clubs? The remedy: lose traditional “role” sheets, declare freedom from organization by topic or genre, and build essential question-focused literature circles or book clubs instead. An EQ as the throughline for your lit circle/book club unit kicks up the impact that comes from having kids talk about what they read in a way that just does not happen with any other method. Here’s why…

Try beginning your rhetorical analysis lessons by focusing on the rhetorical situation before heading into deeper analysis. When you’re ready, dig in using SPACE CAT and a great song from a musical that has a premise and an argument to examine. Here’s what we’ve done in my class using “Mother Knows Best” from Tangled.

Close reading is often confused or made synonymous with things it most definitely is not, making it seem too scary to even approach. Maybe you’ve tried it, hit a wall of frustration and abandoned-ship. Well, it’s time to replace frustration, uncertainty and fear with the truth, and bust three common myths of close reading.

Teaching The Great Gatsby is a massive task, but setting up students during prereading is a critical moment to help them feel successful as they’re tackling the novel from the start. Here’s how to use a Gatsby Party as a stations activity that helps students get to know each of the major characters in the novel.

Short story units have the potential to deeply inspire and impact learning with students, but if the approach is disjointed or lacking any sort of alignment, these units can feel like flops. Here are the ways that I craft meaningful, engaging, and interesting units to highlight the short stories that we love (and a few more that we should add to the rotation!)

Having your shelves stocked with LGBTQ+ protagonists and stories is great, but if students don’t know they’re available, don’t have a safe time to check them out, are intimidated by the cover, or simply don’t feel comfortable checking the books out, then the diversity of the library doesn’t really matter! Here are five steps to take to make sure those wonderful books actually make it into the hands that want them and need them.

Each year teachers welcome new students to embark on amazing learning journeys in ELA classrooms. Teachers try as hard as they can to provide activities that engage students, introduce new skills, and create environments that are welcoming to all students. Here are five ways to make sure that happens for LGBTQ+ students…

Unit planning can feel overwhelming, but this guest post provides practical, easy steps for getting started on any unit. Follow Samantha’s guidance as she demonstrates the ways in which she organizes her “The Crucible” unit here!

Teachers can have happiness and power over their own lives, but it all starts with creating good habits. These are three habits that changed everything about my teaching career.

Essential Questions are the backbone of inquiry-based teaching and learning, but writing them and using them can be challenging in a Shakespeare unit. Here are my favorite essential questions to use in some of the most popular plays that we teach in the classroom and how to move forward using them.

AP Language and Composition shouldn’t be the only place where students learn certain skills. In fact, these skills are so important, they should really be spiraled down into all of the grade levels leading up to Lang. Here are my top four recommendations to consider in your vertical articulation in your English Department.

In order to facilitate high-quality classroom discussion, we must set up purposeful scaffolds on the front and back end of each discussion; however, in order for students to engage with the practice needed to meet these goals, we have to let the discussion happen organically and without our interference. These are the time that we stay in the background and when to speak up.

Bring LatinX voices into your ELA classroom and curriculum all year long. Here are five easy places to start with a more diverse approach.

If you aren’t familiar with a makerspace, it is a place where students can create, problem solve, and collaborate. One of the greatest benefits of implementing a makerspace is that it shakes things up from your normal routine. It gives your students the chance to get silly and creative while giving you the gift of seeing your kids in a totally different light. Not only does it foster learning through inquiry, but it also helps to build overall classroom community.

Knowing your students begins with knowing their names. It begins with pronouncing them correctly. Prioritizing this part of the back-to-school phase is critical and this blog post offers some easy ways to use technology to learn names quickly and correctly.

Swapping out a few titles is not the only work of building an equitable ELA curriculum. Here are some reflection questions and suggestions to take to your department to have the real conversation today.