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

    ELA (6)

    Outline of head with books inside stacked on shelves

    8 Books to Promote Social Emotional Learning in Your Classroom

    The wonderful thing about Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is it isn’t content-specific; it can span all curriculum and grade levels. Knowing the five...

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    6 Books For Arab American And Middle Eastern Heritage Month

    The best part of being an ELA teacher is getting to expose students to a diverse set of stories. To appreciate the new cultures and heritages more...

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    High school students looking at phone and laughing

    ELA: Tweets to Check Reading Comprehension

    I don’t know about you, but I hate grading reading comprehension questions. First of all, the answers usually could be “borrowed” from websites like...

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    March is Women's History Month, colorful shapes

    Exploring Dynamic Female Characters in Young Adult Literature

    Dynamic and flat characterization has been in language arts and English curricula forever, it seems. How do we up the rigor as students advance in...

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    hand holding printed worksheet of the character analysis diagram

    ELA Activity: Character Analysis Diagram

    Analyzing complex characters in a novel or a short story requires students to look at many things such as how they’re described physically, but also...

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    slips of paper with vocabulary words on them and a magnifying glass lay on wooden floor

    Creative Ways to Teach Vocabulary

    Teaching vocabulary—integrated into a text or isolation can be tricky when it comes to thinking of engaging ways to create meaning. We fall back on...

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    teen girl sits on couch and reads book

    Award-Winning Books That Will Inspire Students to Start Again

    Many young adult books embrace the idea of a fresh start and characters who also have to rise up, advocate, reassess, and sometimes just get over it....

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    Middle school students reading books at a table in a school library

    Free Choice Reading for Engagement and Academic Success

    Join Michael Guevara to discuss a strategy for letting students choose their own books to engage them in more texts. The books in this video were...

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    paper snowflakes

    6 YA Books to Put You in the Holiday Spirit

    Light the menora, hang the mistletoe, and slip on your fuzzy socks—here are 6 YA books that will help get you in the holiday spirit!

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    girl holding hand to ear to eavesdrop on a conversation

    ELA Activity: Eavesdropping Poetry

    In this creative writing activity, secondary ELA students will use what they overhear in the hallways to write poems! Download the lesson template...

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