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I Was Wrong About…
Gretchen Schroeder invited her students to write personal essays inspired by the 2022 New York Times series “I Was Wrong About.” Gretchen shared with her students (and with us) the way she was wrong about her mammy collection.
Alternatives to a Literary Essay: Two-Voice Perspective Poems
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills offer an alternative to writing a literary essay for middle school students. Providing alternative ways to discuss and demonstrate understanding about reading can be a welcome break from an essay for both students and educators, with valuable learning still taking place.
Delving Deeper Through Inquiry-Based Learning
Jodie Bailey suggests using books, pictures, or examples to begin or increase inquiry-based learning in your classroom. Using an example of learning more about pi from her classroom, Jodie offers ways to help students deepen their learning in any content area.
Girls’ Sports Books
Leigh Anne Eck noticed a gap in her library when it came to books with athletic female protagonists. After discovering many titles to add to her own library, Leigh Anne compiled this booklist so we can all fill this gap in our classroom libraries.
Literacy Skills in All Content Areas
Julie Cox reminds us that each content area is full of opportunities for students to give shape to their ideas in all kinds of ways that don’t look like traditional essays but still help them develop their literacy skills.
Love Poetry: Take It or Leave It, but Tell Me Why
In today’s world we are bombarded with opinions that are increasingly polarizing, and this is especially true for teens and their opinions of love poems. Gretchen Schroeder uses love poems to help students learn how to back up an opinion with criteria, details, and examples.
Considerations for AI in the Classroom
Julie Cox wrestles with the use of AI to support high school writers. In this article she offers filters for educators to determine the role of AI in their classrooms.
Literary Salons: Book Clubs, Elevated
Inspired by the 17th-century popularity of literary salons, Gretchen Schroeder changed the usual book club routine for her high school students. Literary salons allow people to explore big topics and ideas together without reading the same book. They can create engaging discussions, expose students to new ideas and books, and give them the chance to learn from one another in a relaxed way.
How to Promote Civil Discourse in Your Classroom
Matt Renwick shows how to build the capacity of all students to engage in civil discourse.
Navigating the Election Season Booklist
Mandy Robek shares a booklist inspired to give students background about U.S. presidential elections.
Putting Political Talk into Perspective
Gretchen Schroeder encourages teachers to help students know how to talk politics by establishing a positive mindset and attitude when approaching conversations.
Let’s Begin
Gwen Blumberg reflects on the community developed at a writing retreat and encourages teachers to consider the community of learners they will intentionally nourish this school year.
Fluency Practice in Middle School
Leigh Anne Eck tackles fluency strategies with her middle school readers.
Examining Power Dynamics
Gretchen Schroeder leads her students to consider the power and privilege in the texts they read. By creating a power continuum, students become more aware of issues of power and oppression in society. Once this happens, they can move to discussions of how to take action for positive social change.
Empowering Students Through Thinking Routines
Jodie Bailey shares practical ways to nourish students’ thinking routines in her math classroom. She is inspired by Peter Liljedahl’s book Building Thinking Classrooms.
Using Drama Games to Approach Difficult Conversations
Gretchen Schroeder is committed to having conversations about race and racism with her high school students. Sometimes it’s difficult to engage students, so Gretchen used drama games as a means to think about concepts metaphorically, then ground them within the text, and, finally, have students apply them to their own lives and the world.
When Reading Practices Drift
When Leigh Anne Eck noticed her students’ reading practices weren’t as robust as she expected, she realized she was the one who had drifted away from key instructional practices. Leigh Anne offers several ways to support students in their independent reading lives.
Kintsugi
Given an assignment to break a china bowl and rebuild it allowed Gretchen Schroeder to engage in the Japanese art of kintsugi. What surprised her were the lessons she learned about growth and innovation in her teaching practice.
Sparking Curiosity: Developing Ownership of Learning Through “What If” Questions
Jodie Bailey encourages us to use “What if” questions in all content areas to give students the space to use their innate curiosity to engage in meaningful learning.
Detours: A Reminder of the Humanity of Students
Gretchen Schroeder reminds us of the importance of checking in with students and gauging how they are feeling—and then responding with authenticity and joy.
Increasing Student Choice
We want students to be lifelong learners, eager to grow, and equipped to face challenges. For this to happen, we have to let the classroom be a place that reflects these qualities. Julie Cox offers three innovative ways to leave choice in the hands of students. In turn, they learn to trust themselves and their learning, and believe that they are capable of finding answers.
Anchor Charts: A Tool for Every Classroom
Leigh Anne Eck reflects on the importance of anchor charts and the way they help students be more independent.
Author Moves: More Than “Lots of Detail”
Julie Cox deconstructs craft moves—literally and figuratively—with her high school writers. If you are looking to move conversations about craft beyond “The author used a lot of good details,” then you’ll want to try Julie’s suggestions.
Considerations for AI in the Classroom
Gretchen Schroeder considers the positive ways AI will influence her high school English classroom.
Does Gender Impact Reader Engagement?
Gretchen Schroeder questions whether the protagonist’s gender influences her students’ engagement with a text. Using the dystopian novel Legend, which has two protagonists of different genders, Gretchen gathered feedback from her students. What she discovered was that a reader’s engagement with a text has more to do with empathy than with gender. You’ll love Gretchen’s new way of selecting whole-class texts for her students.
Considering Positionality and Developing New Sight Lines
Gretchen Schroeder shares a powerful approach to reading response to help students consider their positionality in a scene. Your identity, your thoughts, and your experiences influence the way that you relate to a text. This is your positionality as a reader, and it’s important to consider your positionality within a text because it explains how and why we come to certain conclusions as we read.
How Long Does This Have to Be?
Students often question how long a piece of writing needs to be. Gretchen Schroeder shares a strategy that changed the focus of writing projects from length to meaning.
Putting Together the Pieces of a Classroom (Classroom Organization)
When Julie Cox moves into a smaller classroom, she realizes that to make it a room where students learn and thrive, she needs to shift her mindset. Rather than simply putting things where they fit, she asks three questions to make intentional decisions that will support learning.
From a Blank Canvas to a Community Space
Jodie Bailey approaches setting up her math classroom as a blank space with an invitation for students to engage in establishing identity, creativity, and collaboration.
Emoji Book Talks
Jen Vincent outlines a twist on book talks—the Emoji Book Talks. This is a fast and fun way for students to share books and build their Books to Read lists.
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