Prioritize Helping Our Students Fall in Love With Reading (Again)
When working with ELA and literacy educators to increase students’ engagement and achievement in reading, I often run into a set of common...
Inquiry in ELA: 10 Ways to Make it Work
As an English and speech teacher for mostly sophomores, I found myself frustrated when students seemed to be just going through the motions,...
Ideas for Engaging Students in End-of-Year Reading Reflections
It’s that time again when we will be saying goodbye to this year’s students. Whether they are moving on to a new grade, new school, or...
The Forgotten Strand in ELA: Speaking and Listening
Teachers of English know that the standards for language arts include more than literature and writing. We are responsible for language...
Create a Culture of Literacy
Creating a culture of literacy in the school isn’t just about raising reading scores. Instead, when a community comes together to celebrate...
Do We Need a New Definition of Literacy?
Most educators define literacy as the ability to read and write. And it is true, to be literate we need to know how to read and write. But is this...
Students Are Struggling. We Can Help by Letting Them Read!
The headlines and the frontlines agree on one important effect of the pandemic: Young people are struggling with mental health challenges like...
Want Adolescents to Read? Environment Matters!
It was workshop week at the high school where I teach sophomore English and a ninth-grade literacy course. I was just beginning a year where I...
Maximize Time by Braiding Learning Goals
Working with English/Language Arts teachers on developing highly engaging and intentional inquiry units of study, one of the concerns I...
Cultivate Confidence to Promote Motivation
Recently I decided that I was going to commit to beginning each day with yoga. My work-from-home body was telling me I really needed to start my...