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Practical, self-paced professional development and college credit
for secondary ELA and general education teachers
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The Keys to Organizing an ELA Classroom
A well-organized classroom reduces stress and helps everyone focus on what’s most important, the literature.
Jul 2, 20213 min read


The Path to Easy, Exciting, Excellent Teaching
My school year finished this week, and as I watched my seniors graduate, I felt like we all deserved something special for making it...
Jun 26, 20213 min read


Graduation 2021: Love and Stories
Every year, I complete the final assignment that I give my seniors. I ask them to talk about how it feels to graduate, what they've...
May 30, 20213 min read


New Year, New Ideas
It’s hard to imagine that anything positive will come out of this year, but I’ve been thinking about what, if any, lessons I’ve learned ...
May 25, 20213 min read


A Fun Way to End This Year
We’re approaching the end of a wildly difficult year. We weren’t able to connect with our students like we normally would...
May 12, 20212 min read


Where to Find Real Stories on the Web
We’re finishing up a unit on Exit West by Mohsin Hamid this week so I’m asking my students to listen to a personal narrative of choice....
May 7, 20213 min read


LGBTQ+ Literature: Opening Up Language
About five years ago, I read an article by a high school student about the way to create a LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum...
Apr 29, 20213 min read


Real World Interviews and Conversations
I start the school year with a conversation about the value of literature, so I like to end by giving my students the opportunity to bring w
Apr 22, 20213 min read


7 Methods to Finish the Year Strong
If you have been teaching remote or hybrid you know that students don’t turn in as much work as they usually do. You’re not alone ...
Apr 14, 20214 min read


One Year Later: Reflection
Sometimes I like to complete the essay that I assign my students. In this case, I assigned a reflection on the last year. I also wanted...
Apr 8, 20214 min read


The Magic of Storytelling: Real and Fictional
I recently listened to the podcast “The Story of Your Life” on Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam. I felt like I was listening to ...
Mar 29, 20212 min read


5 Project Ideas for the Spring
The end of the year will be here soon and like any teacher right now, especially senior teachers, I’m worried about ...
Mar 23, 20213 min read


Outdoor Reflection: 1 Year Later
I recently saw Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows perform “A Long December” on Jimmy Kimmel and it got me thinking about last year. When...
Mar 17, 20212 min read


Meaning-Making in the Secondary ELA Classroom
It’s easy to say to our students that literature should be meaningful. It’s easy to ask students … what does that line mean?
Mar 12, 20217 min read


The Case for Content-Specific Professional Development
After some years teaching, I realized that my love of learning about literature turned into a love of learning about how to teach literature
Mar 4, 20213 min read


Magical Realism: Interpretation and Creation
Magical realism goes beyond the place that a metaphor takes us. It goes beyond the realm of comparison.
Feb 19, 20213 min read


Why Do You Want to Be a Teacher?
Introduction to Teaching the Magic of Literature: Using Imagination to Shape the Future It was one of the simplest, yet most complicated...
Feb 13, 20213 min read


Teaching Very Short Stories or Flash Fiction
If your students struggle to finish a novel, this unit is perfect for you. The stories are from Short: An International Anthology of...
Feb 12, 20213 min read


Screencast: The New Essay?
It’s pretty typical for a teacher, or anyone for that matter, to feel like they are swimming in new tech tools. But this year, it’s...
Feb 8, 20213 min read


Teaching Media Literacy
A lot of what we deal with in English language arts relates to strangers, people we don’t know. We read novels and non-fiction to immerse...
Jan 31, 20214 min read


What Makes a Superteacher?
This has been a challenging year for any teacher. Even during a regular year, teachers work hard to meet the many demands and...
Jan 19, 20214 min read


Teaching the Novel in a Remote or Hybrid Classroom
I’m trying to get as creative as possible when it comes to being flexible with students. After finishing a few units ...
Jan 11, 20213 min read


10 Creative Projects for Remote Learning
My colleagues and I recently had a conversation about the rest of the year and what we could do to keep our students engaged....
Dec 23, 20206 min read


Politics in the Classroom: 5 Goals
Even now, an open and honest conversation about politics can quickly turn ugly. Sometimes the conversation doesn’t happen at all because ...
Dec 15, 20203 min read
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