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A community-driven blog providing resources for educators, by educators.

    group of high school students having a conversation

    Structured Academic Conversations in ELA

    “Hey… hi… hello, can you hear me? Can you [take your earbuds out], [put your head up], [talk with a partner], please?”

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    Using Short Fiction in the AP® U.S. History Classroom

    When students think about history, they often picture dates, battles, and political leaders. But history is also lived experience—the way people saw...

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    High school students reading novels

    Summary vs. Analysis Lesson Plan for ELA Teachers

    Students often rely on summaries as a shortcut to understand literature. While summaries help review the plot, they flatten storytelling into a list...

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    AP® World History: Note Taking Strategies

    In this short video, veteran AP® World History teacher Dave Drzonek walks through a first-week lesson that turns note-taking into a structured...

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    Student-Generated Questions: How to Teach 3 Levels of Questioning

    There is no shortage of professional development on teaching educators how to write questions. We add them to our lesson plans, we spin manual or...

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    teacher talking to group of ELA students

    Relationship Building Activities that Still Teach ELA

    It's the first week of school; you don’t know the students, and they don’t know you. You want to start off building relationships but know you need...

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    Teacher at desk looks out window. Her laptop is open. A blue circle with white text inside reads

    What to Teach in the First Weeks of AP® Language & AP® Literature

    The first weeks of an AP English course carry more weight than the calendar suggests. Some students walk in certain they belong. Others were talked...

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    Start Your Year with Connections: 5 Reasons Why Your Students Benefit

    Having taught AP® for 25+ years, it’s tempting, and entirely understandable, to want to not add to your workload to maintain your sanity and give...

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    Student using AI chatbot on a smartphone while working on a school assignment

    Teaching Students to Have Original Ideas in the Age of AI

    As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly accessible, many teachers are asking the same question: How do we teach students to think for...

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    AP® Reader Reflection: 2026 FRQ 3 Argument

    The 2026 argument FRQ focused on the following 2009 keynote address quotation by physician, engineer, and former astronaut Mae Jemison: “Never be...

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