The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA

Guiding students in using maker elements to build their arguments and ideas leads to greater complexity in their thinking and writing. Plus, it helps overcome writer's block! Their are sooo many ways to incorporate the writing makerspace in your writing curriculum, and Angela Stockman is here to help you get started! Get ready for more engagement and enthusiasm for writing in your ELA classes.  Go...

Heard the buzz about sketchnote? Wondering how to incorporate this powerful strategy in your ELA classroom? Fabulous! Sketchnotes can help your students use their critical thinking as they listen to lecture, tune into podcasts, watch Ted Talks, and read or listen to books. They'll be more likely to remember the information they sketchnote, and the process is more fun than rote note-taking. In this...

Do your students love memes? Want to learn more about the popular strategy, interactive notebooks? Wish you understood YA just a bit better?  In this episode, I'm chatting with Tracee Orman about some of her favorite classroom strategies, and we'll be hitting on all of these fun ELA topics!   Discover how to use memes to help your students connect to literature, when and why to use interactive not...

Looking for more creative assessment options at the end of your novel units in ELA? Good for you!  Goodbye multiple choice tests, hello engaging final English projects!  Discover twenty-five new ideas in this episode, plus the secret sauce to keep them meaningful in terms of analysis. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast . Join our community, Creative Hi...

Are you in your first year or two? There's sooooo much happening! I remember it well, working until 11 pm and then getting up at 6 to do it again. Phew. It does get easier! But there are also some things you can do now to help make your first year smoother.  In this episode Kristy Avis, the blogger behind 2 Peas and a Dog, shares specific ideas to help new ELA teachers make their first year more p...

When I took Shakespeare in college, my legendary professor Martha Andresen had us perform A Midsummer Night's Dream on campus. We split into groups, worked on our scenes all term long, and then performed them in order in various locations around campus. It was one of the most memorable projects I ever participated in, and you better believe I put it right into practice as a teacher!  In this episo...

If you're feeling overwhelmed in your teaching life, and you'd like guidance with how to adjust your mindset, routines and goals to feel happier in the profession, this interview with Angela Watson will help you find your way. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast . Join our community, Creative High School English , on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram...

Planning the layout and components of your ELA classroom? It's so fun, right? But it can also be a bit intimidating.  These days I wish I could have my first classroom to design all over again, because I did not know about all the amazing possibilities! My seating was not flexible, my bulletin boards were not layered, and the special fonts I used for my posters came from a CD Rom, not Canva.  Ther...

I didn't hear about "The Ideal Week" until at least a decade after I started teaching, but it's such a simple and helpful tool to help you cut overwhelm as an ELA teacher. It's the difference between a thirty item to-do list hanging over your head all the time, and specific days and times when you know you'll complete certain tasks (work ones AND fun ones!). In this episode, I'll share how this si...

Got a day between testing and your new unit? A week between the end of term and a break? A month before the end of school and no new books left? No problem!  In this episode, discover ten great options for that hole in your ELA curriculum, whether it's large or small. This is also a helpful episode if you're writing a new course, restructuring a course, or looking to add a unit into a course you'v...

As the end of the year comes at school, there's so much to do! And yet, engagement and persistence start to drift as the cares of the year pile up and summer beckons.  What's a creative ELA teacher to do? In this episode, discover five simple strategies for ending the year with less stress and more creativity. Plus, I'll share some small tweaks you can make so you head for summer feeling less exha...

Ever wanted to put on a class play with your ELA students? With an audience and costumes and programs?  Don't be intimidated, it IS possible!  In this episode, Danielle from Nouvelle ELA, theater guru, shares her structure for a successful class play. This awesomely engaging activity is more doable than you might think, and OH so much fun. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Crea...

Book clubs are such a great way to give students choice and include a wider variety of books in your curriculum! Try novels-in-verse clubs, graphic novel clubs, memoirs, coming-of-age stories, or whatever theme suits you.  But how do you get started? And what will kids do in class during your book clubs unit? And is there a difference between book clubs an lit circles besides the name?  Join me as...

STEM, STEAM, or is it STABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPEAM?  STEM gets a lot of attention, but we all know the ELA skills play a huge role for scientists, engineers, and technology leaders.  In this episode, discover how to create interdisciplinary bridges between STEM and ELA  through creative novel projects, nonfiction articles that will peak student interest, the ELA makerspace, and social media campaign proj...

In this episode, I'll give you the roadmap for using genius hour in ELA.  Find out how it fits the standards, how to structure it, how to grade it, and where you can find an amazing free resource set to get you started using genius hour in your English classroom. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast . Join our community, Creative High School English , on...

Teaching Shakespeare? So often we're trying to help our students understand the language and context of the era, and make a real connection to the Bard. So whether you're teaching Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Hamlet, or one of his others, there are certain solid go-tos you can weave in to help your students get excited about reading a Shakespeare play. In this episode, fin...

Want to engage your students with murder mysteries? Make them laugh while they learn with SNL clips? Hook them with great Ted Talks? Uh, yeah, of course! Learn more about all these great strategies in this popular episode with special guest Amanda from the "Engaging and Effective" blog. I think you're going to love Amanda's fresh take on engaging students and helping them to buy in to your curricu...

One-pagers combine visuals with text to make ideas come alive in students' minds and memories. But it's easy for students to struggle with one-pagers if they're not naturally inclined toward art and have not previously been encouraged to represent their ideas this way. They may feel they're being graded unfairly on their artistic abilities. Some students will hear directions to create a graphic re...

When I took a job in Sofia, Bulgaria, I honestly wondered if I would be able to see out my contract. I was so new to the world of living abroad, and I had only just learned where Bulgaria was on a map of the world.  By the time we left Bulgaria, my husband and I had learned so much about teaching in a new place, and we'd traveled to over 20 countries along the way! Now, a decade later, we live in...

Do you ever feel like you're pursuing engagement, not empowerment, in your classroom? Do you ever feel like you're doing more work than your students?    John Spencer used to too. But now he's all about empowering students to pursue their passions and helping teachers make that happen. Whether he's sharing " 10 Creative Risks to Take with your Students this Year " via podcast, or adding video writ...

In this episode, Jenna Copper from Doc Cop Teaching and I dive into one of her most successful and engaging classroom strategies, a discussion format in which students rotate between the roles of discussion panelists and audience tweeters. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of  The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast .   Join our community,  Creative High School English , on Facebook. Come hang...

In this episode, I take a look back over many of the big and small mistakes I've made as a teacher, and give you a roadmap for how to avoid them. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast . Join our community, Creative High School English , on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram .  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a sc...

In this episode, I take a look back over the trends, resources, and strategies that stood out to me as the most interesting during this year in ELA.  Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast . Join our community, Creative High School English , on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram .  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging...

In this episode, I'll share five fabulous ways to empower your student writers in ELA through blogging.  OK, a quick update. When I first created this podcast, Blogger was an easy and awesome option for a free student blog. But now they've closed their doors to kids under 18. Many teachers are turning to Edublogs, though Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress also offer free versions. Whatever you choose...

Discover my TOP STRATEGY  for success with any discussion. Helping students to prepare with a fun, easy warm-up activity eliminates the awkward silence and empowers students to contribute easily. Get ready for increased engagement and less awkward silence when you try discussion warm-ups with your ELA students. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast . Join...