Empower Students Now

In this episode of the Empower Students Now podcast, Amanda introduces her new course, The Empowered English Classroom, which aims to increase student engagement through equitable teaching practices. The host discusses the Empowered English Classroom framework, which includes steps for increasing student engagement, implementing equitable grading practices, and developing a systematic planning sys...

In this podcast episode, Amanda discusses the negative impact of shaming kids and ourselves for screen use. She argues that screens can have benefits for neurodivergent individuals and others seeking community, and emphasizes the importance of cultivating a safe environment for students to communicate with each other in the classroom. Amanda also shares her personal experiences with therapy and th...

In this episode of the Empower Students Now podcast, Amanda discusses how to handle apathetic and defiant students in the classroom. She shares her personal experience as a parent of a neurodivergent child and suggests a collaborative approach that involves building relationships with students and engaging them in conversation about their behavior and the impact it might be having on others. Amand...

In this episode of the Empower Students Now podcast, Amanda shares that she is currently enrolled in a mindfulness and meditation teacher program and leads a guided meditation for teachers called "Dropping the Suitcases of Worries and Regrets" to help them reduce anxiety and let go of feelings of not doing enough for their students. Amanda instructs listeners to find a comfortable place...

Are you looking for fun and engaging writing projects for your students at the end of the school year? Look no further! In this episode, I share five writing projects that will keep your students motivated and excited about writing until the last day of school. You can recreate these projects yourself using Google Docs and Slides or purchase them below. You can find information about all the proje...

Any English teacher can tell you that argumentative essays written by students are more often than not, dry, dull, and formulaic. I’m here to tell you, it’s not our students’ fault. The writing units most teachers follow to teach argument essays are dry, dull, and formulaic. Common core standards require that teachers prioritize the core concepts of argument writing such as the writing process, th...

Rules dictate so much of our lives in schools. But, so many of the rules we follow in schools are extremely outdated and even oppressive. These rules need to be questioned and changed. In this off the cuff episode I share steps for teachers who are ready to start taking rule breaking and action taking seriously. Even if you aren't, which I totally respect and understand, this episode is defin...

Over the years I've learned that the first lesson of an argumentative writing unit is key to the success of the entire unit. The first lesson needs to accomplish a lot, so it's hard to do it right. Argumentative writing can also become boring fast. I want to help you save planning time and boost engagement through the lesson plans I create. I believe argumentative essay writing can be mo...

The neurodiversity movement is happening right now. It’s exciting, invigorating, and gaining more and more momentum every day. But, what is the neurodiversity movement? Why do students need to know about it? How can we introduce students to the complex and sometimes controversial concepts related to neurodiversity? I'll answer all these questions and more in this episode!

This podcast is no longer called The Workshop Teacher Podcast. I'm changing the name of the podcast to The Empower Students Now Podcast! Listen to this episode to find out why.

It's about time for teachers to start their opinion, persuasive, or argumentative writing units (depending on the grade you teach). Most teachers realize that sample sentences and essays are an important component of any writing unit. But, one of the hardest parts about teaching this type of writing is finding writing samples that are age appropriate. It's easy to look on websites of pop...

The best way to handle new technology being introduced to the education world is to investigate the tools for ourselves, with an open mind, rather than getting caught up in fear and overwhelm. I know this is hard to do, believe me, I'm a fairly neurotic, anxious person. But, as an English teacher, it is our job to teach students how to utilize critical thinking, be open minded, and organize a...

Now that students have easy access to artificial intelligence chatbots like Chat GPT, teachers are pondering how to prevent students from using these tools to do their work for them. Cheating seems to be easier than ever these days. English language arts teachers are especially panicked. When I started playing with Chat GPT I felt a mixture of excitement and fear. I was excited about the potential...

I believe the topic of AI tools and how they impact education is incredibly important. So important in fact that I’ve decided to dedicate the next series of episodes to helping teachers grapple with these new and fast moving technological developments. In this series I’ll discuss three essential questions teachers are asking about AI tools like Chat GPT. I’ll also attempt to answer these questions...

Sign Up for the Free Webinar 3 Steps to Finally Getting Students Consistently Reading and Writing Independently: https://www.workshopteacherschool.com/reading-and-writing-independence-webinarEvery classroom has struggling writers. There are many reasons young writers struggle during our writing units. They may feel overwhelmed, be uninterested, have writing skill deficits because of past experienc...

https://amandawritenow.com/rethinking-reading-assessment-with-equity-in-mind/I wrote this six part equity series to better understand the inequities surrounding the ways in which we teach and assess reading and writing skills in the United States. I wanted to know more. Not only that, I wanted to find practical solutions for the problems all teachers (not just English teachers) face, such as: A la...

In this episode I challenge some of the inequitable grading practices that pervade our school systems. I also lay out a step-by-step solution to some of the issues we face when it comes to grading writing.

In this episode, Amanda discusses three problematic issues when it comes to unit planning. She proposes solutions to these problems too! Take a listen to discover the problems and solutions. This part four of a six-part series all about rethinking workshop practices with equity in mind.

https://amandawritenow.com/rethinking-conferencing-with-equity-in-mind/We know conferring is a vital component of promoting equity in our classroom because doing so provides students with opportunities to advocate for themselves, voice their needs, and get support from the teacher. We know conferencing is important. But, how do we overcome all the problematic issues we as teachers face when trying...

In this episode I examine reading workshop through an equity lens. I discuss three problematic aspects of reading workshop and propose solutions to these problems. Check out the full blog post here: https://amandawritenow.com/rethinking-reading-workshop-with-equity-in-mind/

This is part one in a six part series outlining exactly how I’m rethinking my workshop classroom with an equity lens. For part one I focus on rethinking writing workshop with an equity lens. I discuss three problematic aspects of writing workshop and possible solutions for these problems.

I’ve learned and changed tremendously since the events of 2020-2021, you might even call what’s happened an identity crisis…I want to share this story here to make sense of everything for myself but also because I know there are many teachers out there that can relate.https://amandawritenow.com/the-story-of-a-teacher-authors-identity-crisis/

This summer I'm hosting the first ever English Teacher Summer Reading Series! This event is taking place June 4th-August 14th. We will delve into 8 very popular professional development books and you don't have to read a word. I'll do all the work for you:) Go to amandawritenow.com to sign up. In this episode I share a brief summary of each of the 8 books including the most importan...

The end of the school year can be chaotic, so keeping students engaged and having fun is incredibly important. I have used the project detailed in this episode every year I’ve taught and it never fails to keep students loving their school work and writing until the very end. In this episode I discuss how simple this project is to get going and the steps to get this project rolling.

How big is the stack of books you want to read this summer? If you are like most English teachers, the stack is sky high. This is exactly why I’m hosting The English Teacher Summer Reading Series! It’s a free event that is happening between June 4th-August 7th! Attendees of the event will:Go deep into 8 super popular professional development books without reading a single word (unless you want to...