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

    ELA (13)

    hand holding open a book of poetry

    Rock Star Poets

    The “Greatest Hits” album. All the greats do it—Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tom Petty, Elton John, Madonna, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mariah Carey—so it only...

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    girl reads from poetry book

    Aggressively Poetic

    Leaves caked my front yard, suffocating the burgeoning grass below as I sat on the couch and told myself only one more episode of Law & Order and...

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    young girl reading from a poetry book

    Dead White Poets Society

    Scads of English teachers have shown the movie Dead Poets Society in class to either begin their poetry unit or to try and inspire an appreciation...

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    copy of lifting as we climb next to cactus plant in a classroom

    Women’s History Month: Lifting As We Climb

    My favorite thing about Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Boxby Evette Dionne is that it’s accurate, and the author highlights...

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    high school student using ipad has headphones around neck

    Using Immersive Reader as Part of a Close Reading Routine

    One of the key shifts in English Language Arts classrooms is the move for students to engage routinely with complex text. To prepare students for the...

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    illustration of mouths appearing to shout at each other

    Women’s History Month: Fighting Words

    In Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s Fighting Words, 10-year-old protagonist Della gives readers a front row seat to her daily life in foster care with her...

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    book cover of I am Malala with classroom in the background

    Women's History Month: I Am Malala

    In recent months, the Taliban in the Middle East has taken over once again after American troops removed themselves. The first person I thought of...

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    Black and white photograph of a woman appearing to yell, from her mouth come illustrations of multicolored and multiextured triangles

    Women's History Month: The Girl with the Louding Voice

    The main character in The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré, Adunni, is on a personal journey to give herself the best life she can despite...

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    Women holding up fists and cardboard sign that says

    Women's History Month: Powerful Women

    If we all trace our lineage back generation by generation, you will almost always find a fearless woman at the forefront of care, kindness, and the...

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    Covers of novels Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry and The Field Guide to the North American Teenager

    Black History Month: Death by Journal

    Okay—circle of trust here. After dropping my youngest child off at college all the way from San Antonio, Texas, to Lawrence, Kansas, at The...

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