The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA

This week on "Highly Recommended," I'm sharing my absolute favorite tool on the internet, which just so happens to be free for educators - CANVA!   So here's what Canva does - it give you (and your students) the ability to do the kinds of things that only designers used to be able to do. Once upon a time, you needed to spend fifty hours learning Photoshop to layer colors and images, get rid of bac...

Today on the podcast, I've got a great story for you. It's the story of how one senior class stayed engaged right up to the end through an incredible book club unit on verse novels. The heroine of this story? English teacher Caitlin Lore. She's about to tell you how she captured her seniors' attention and held it. Wait till you hear about her title selections, her book tasting, her pop-up poetry w...

So here's the thing. High school kids have about 10,000 things on their agenda just above going to the library to pick out a book. And if they do make it to the library, the librarian (through no fault of their own!) likely won't know them well enough to help them get the book that is going to have them flipping the pages at midnight when they know they should be asleep but the plot is just so ama...

Today on the podcast we're sitting down with Laura Lee Gulledge, the graphic novelist behind The Dark Matter of Mona Starr . She's an Eisner Award nominated cartoonist, teaching artist, musical librettist, and collaborative muralist based in Charlottesville, VA. Her books include YA graphic novels The Dark Matter of Mona Starr , Page by Paige , Will & Whit , and the interactive Sketchbook Dares: 2...

Do you know about Libro FM's free audiobook program for educators?  It's easy to sign up - they approved me in just one day!  You can register for a free account and sign up here.  Once you've enrolled in the ALC program, you'll quickly build an audiobook library in your account. Even if only a few books a month in the educator program feel exactly right for your classroom, that could be 30+ books...

Interactive wall displays are one of my favorite new things. Adding a QR code to a poster gives students the opportunity to take things further. If you've been hanging out with me this year, you know I've created interactive displays for you to celebrate Black History Month, Women's History Month, and AAPI Heritage month. Now it's Pride Month, and I've got another one for you. Maybe you're already...

This week on "Highly Recommended" we're talking about the guy who has been one of my top go-tos for years when someone asks for a book recommendation for  a student. Jason Reynolds.  In today's episode we're talking about a whole range of his fabulous books, including:  Ghost, Lu, Sunny, Patina (The Track Series) As Brave as You Stuntboy in the Meantime Long Way Down - graphic novel or regular All...

I see a lot of posts each month inside our Facebook group, Creative High School English, asking for text recommendations for different courses. What's the best book to teach ninth graders? The best short story to teach tenth graders? The best performance poetry for seniors? I love this type of collaboration, because we all make discoveries at our local libraries and bookstores, and in our own litt...

This week on Highly Recommended  I'm sharing my favorite online tool for Shakespeare, the free website My Shakespeare.  So what makes it so great? Well, let's start with the fact that it as FULL texts available for Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream , and Julius Caesar.   That give you OPTIONS.  You can choose one for a full class text OR have students ch...

If you tuned into the podcast last week, you know I received an email from Emily, an ELA teacher with big questions. In a nutshell, she asked - how do we fit it all into our English classes? The writing, the review, the whole class novels, the skills... Last week, we took a look at the big picture - how to plan the year to cover what you want to cover without getting overwhelmed. This time we're z...

The Dark Matter of Mona Starr , by Laura Lee Gulledge, is a STELLAR book to consider for your choice reading library, book clubs, or even full class text.  Here's why... It takes on the issue of mental health and well-being in a positive, real way without being prescriptive or moralistic.  It showcases healthy friendships and family communication. It has INCREDIBLE art, art that goes beyond bringi...

Last week I received this email from Emily, an English teacher with questions I think we can all relate to. Here's what she wrote... "I am in my 8 th  year of teaching, and while I love aspects of it, I work 10-11 hours a day and am burning out. And, I feel that I'm on an island sometimes at my school—I have to re-teach skills that they should have been taught in earlier years, etc. I have one foo...

This week on Highly Recommended  I'm sharing a rather unusual strategy to help you create connection among your faculty.   Unless you've already found that magic teacher down the hall who turns into your best friend, teaching can feel pretty lonely, even though you're surrounded by so many people all the time. Finding community among the adults at your school isn't easy, especially with everyone j...

Celebrate AAPI month in your ELA classroom with a bright display I made for you, featuring bios and QR code links to the work of ten AAPI creators.  In this episode, discover easy ways to use the display for classroom activities in this busy month, as well as learning more about some of the authors and creators featured, like: Ken Liu Amy Tan Malala Yousafzai George Takei Gene Luen Yang SEE THE DI...

This week on Highly Recommended  I'm sharing one of my favorite strategies for saving time AND adding quality to daily work tasks. Doesn't seem possible, right? Have you heard of decision fatigue? We make thousands of decisions every day, and it gets harder to make good ones as they stack up. That's one good reason for having a set wardrobe you like - Steve Jobs-style - or always making tacos on T...

You've probably seen me amplifying Amplifier already this year, in the episode about  featuring contemporary Indigenous voices in your ELA classroom or the one about  spotlighting Black artists, activists and authors in your ELA classrooom . Amplifier.org is doing such powerful things with art. Empowering things. And I love it! That's why when I saw their new interactive poster series on wellbeing...

This week on Highly Recommended  I'm sharing one of my favorite sources for writing prompts, Dr. John Spencer's video writing prompts channel . Personally, I love his short, impactful videos for educators as well as for students. I like how they get to the point in three or four minutes, and how they incorporate sketchnotes - one of my favorite things - to help us as viewers to visualize the most...

Thinking about a trip overseas to Europe someday? Or in the mood for a little armchair travel?  OR, maybe you're thinking about teaching abroad, and you're curious about the travel part of living in a new place... I've been getting some fun requests for tips about travel to this region of Europe where I live now, and they make me so happy! I love sharing about the beautiful places we've been lucky...

This week on Highly Recommended  I'm sharing a hilarious podcast episode you can use from Smash Boom Best titled "Baths vs. Showers."  I discovered Smash Boom Best this year while I was on the hunt for great class podcasts. It's a debate show, in which two guests come on and argue for their side of an argument topic suggested by kids. I've listened to shows on Dogs vs. Cats, Trick-or-Treating vs....

If you're currently seated dead center on the struggle bus, or your seniors are waving senioritis flags in your ELA classes, you're not alone. As summer beckons and the buildup of busy from the year weighs on you (and your students), the last six weeks can be a tricky time. I know you want to acknowledge that the end of the year is close, you want to do something a bit lighter and extra engaging,...

Welcome to this week's episode of the Highly Recommended Series. Every Thursday we take a quick look at something I think you'll love. What will that something be? It might be a compelling book for your students, a power-packed activity to try ASAP, my favorite new episode of a podcast I think your class will love, a free resource you might have missed, or even a recipe for your next Monday night...

Looking for the "right" approach to AI in your English classroom? Find out how the New England Innovation Academy is working WITH students to design their approach, and how you can too.  Ben Farrell - our guest today- brings a wealth of experience working with students into our conversation. He's been a dean, a head of school, an upper school director, and more, and in his current position at the...

Looking to bring more Antibias Antiracist work into your creative ELA classroom and curriculum? Liz Kleinrock of Teach and Transform has written a wonderful book to help, and she joins me on the podcast today to share some of the highlights.  In this episode for creative ELA teachers, you'll learn specific strategies for helping make your classroom a place where students can share their identities...

This creative spin on classroom decor gives you dozens of options for creative, interactive writing, reading, and arts integration lessons in your ELA classroom. Get inspired with these fifteen fun ideas. Ever since I interviewed Brown Professor emeritus Eileen Landay  in episode seventy-seven about arts integration , I've been wanting to return to one particular concept she shared, Brazil's "Lite...

Want to teach rhetorical analysis in a way that's creative, engaging, AND gets the job done? Mix and match these fun ELA strategies to suit your needs. This week on the podcast, let's talk about why rhetorical analysis is actually a blast. Sure, it sounds complicated to students at first. Ethos, pathos, and logos? Rhetorical situations? Logical fallacies? Rhetorical techniques? Phew! But soon enou...