Teaching an ELA elective that you've dreamed up yourself is such a joy. Today I want to stir up some ideas together for the next time you've got the chance to put your own spin on an older course or propose a new course altogether. So let's start with a few questions: Would you rather take a course called "Theater" or "Contemporary Theater: The Triumphs of Hamilton & Wicked "? "Creative Writing" or "Writing for Change across Platforms"? "Film & Literature" or "How the Oscars got it Wrong"? "Argument Writing" or "How to Get What You Want (with your Writing)." "Digital Literacy" or "Understanding Spin: How the Sites You Choose Impact What You Believe." While many schools continue to run electives like "Creative Writing" and "Poetry," which are often wonderful courses, I believe it's time for a shift in framing. Writing is EVERYWHERE today, playing a vital role in our politics, our science, our businesses, our media creation and consumption, our entertainment, and our understanding of the world. To help our students see that, we can tap into modern platforms and media to hook our students, teaching similar key skills and texts in a new context, alongside more contemporary voices. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Get my popular free hexagonal thinking digital toolkit 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you! 

Like most of us, Christina Schneider didn't find teaching writing one bit easy at first. Despite her background as a journalist, putting all the puzzle pieces together in the classroom to help her students understand how to build a thesis, introduce and analyze evidence, and express their ideas felt like a pretty tough task. But over time she had one breakthrough after another with her high school students in California. She figured out how to meet them where they are and guide them through the process of building their academic writing skills day by day throughout the school year. Now she steps up to the plate each August with her new students feeling confident that she can take them where they need to go. She's recently written a new book, Building Strong Writers, where she shares everything she's learned in step-by-step walkthroughs to make it easy for you to try too. Today on the pod, we'll be exploring three of her top writing scaffolds, and how you can get started with them tomorrow to make argument writing instruction simpler and more successful in your classroom. Connect with Christina, from The Daring English Teacher Hi! I’m Christina. I’m a full-time high school English and journalism teacher, wife, and mom. I’ve taught every high school grade level, and I love sharing my ideas, lesson plans, and ELA resources with other teachers. One of my passions is providing engaging, robust, and differentiated learning experiences to my students while helping other teachers do the same. Explore more of Christina's work on her website: https://thedaringenglishteacher.com/  Grab your copy of her new book, Building Strong Writers: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Strong-Writers-Strategies-Scaffolds/dp/1956306854  Follow along with her tips and ideas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedaringenglishteacher/  Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Get my popular free hexagonal thinking digital toolkit 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!  

It's February, the perfect time to feature work by contemporary Black authors in your book talks, poetry clip showings, First Chapter Fridays, book displays, and bulletin boards. It's also a good time to look ahead to next year and consider whether you want to order some of these books for book clubs and whole class texts in the 2025-2026 school year.boo Of course, I know you know every month is the perfect time to feature these books in all kinds of ways. But today let's talk about five authors you might want to highlight especially right now, and why. As always, you know your classroom best, so be sure to preview books before teaching them to be sure they're the right fit for your students' ages and your community. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!   

How many times have you sat in a PD meeting that didn't apply to you? One where you were learning an 11 letter acronym for a strategy you'd never use, a 3 point plan for a new program that wouldn't fit with your curriculum, or a training you'd already had? A PD meeting that was... irrelevant.  In their book, Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst use one word to describe a key component we need in our in our curriculum in order to keep students' attention: relevance (115).   Relevance hit home for me, conceptually.  For many years, I've argued here for authentic audience, more contemporary texts featuring diverse voices, real-world projects like genius hour and podcasting, exploring modern mediums for communication, and student-led discussion.  Relevance - in the words of the latest visual trend on Insta - fits the #vibesibringtothefunction here at Spark Creativity. I want it for you, of course, in your professional learning, and that's why I'm here. And I want it for your students, in their learning in your classroom. When Beers and Probst polled high school students on what issues they'd be interested in exploring, the issues that feel relevant to them, they named things like solving hate/bullying, fighting racism, ending discrimination around mental illness, and protecting the environment (117). It's not easy to dive into issues like these if you're tied to an aggressive standardized curriculum.  As Beers and Probst put it, it's easier to create a learning environment that matters to students "if the question begins, 'What do kids want to know?' rather than 'What does the curriculum say we must cover?'" (116).  And yet, there are inroads you can make in your classroom toward relevance, while you have larger conversations with your colleagues and administration about the wider curriculum and the freedom (or lack thereof) it allows you as you design your units.  So today, I want to explore ways to build more relevance into the curriculum, even if you don't have carte blanche to teach whatever you want, however you want to. Links Mentioned: Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's Book: Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters David Kelley's Incredible Ted Talk: How to Build your Creative Confidence Jared Amato's Book: Just Read It Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Grab the free Better Discussions toolkit 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!   

I've been reading Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's Disrupting Thinking: How Why We Read Matters this week, and one of their points that has really come home for me is how often the standards and the pressure to boil books down to skills leads to pulling plot-based facts and point-based evidence out of a book, blocking opportunities for students to think about what the book means in the context of their lives. How it might change them, influence them, give them something new to think about in the way they approach the world. It reminded me of a comment my son's history teacher made recently, asking for him to focus not just on the events of history, but on "making meaning" out of them. I loved this directive, and at the same time, I knew a lot of follow-up was required. "Making meaning" out of what we learn is right up there at the top of Bloom's taxonomy, a combination of "evaluate" and "create," and not something that will just happen by itself. So how DO we bring our students from memorizing plot details to creating a dialogue with books that help to shape who they become? Today I want to share a story with you, about a time I taught a novel without considering the implications in the lives of my students, and how their reaction changed me as a teacher. As you'll see from my story, helping students make meaning from reading isn't as simple as some catchy acronym or a certain type of double-sided journal. But I will share some ideas for starting points you can use in class, strategies, discussion questions, and project possibilities that can help students ask a text: what do you want from me? And why? What do I want from you? You can listen in below, or read on for the written version. Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Grab the free Better Discussions toolkit 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you! 

Dive into the engaging world of mock trials as a dynamic classroom tool! Discover how re-enacting literary trials can energize students' argumentative skills. Hear a personal favorite project involving Gustave Flaubert's obscenity trial and how a teacher creatively adapted this concept for a modern classroom using 'The Crucible.' This innovative approach not only enhances public speaking but also fosters critical thinking and collaboration among students.

Open The New York Times today and you'll see photos, headlines, interactive infographics, audio, videos, and text articles. I could name almost any newspaper, magazine, social media platform, campaign website, or brand home page, and say the same. Communication today switches mediums like a chameleon switches colors wandering in a field of Skittles.  Our students know communication has changed. They need practice sharing ideas in different mediums and weaving those mediums together.  Enter, one-pagers, an easy on-ramp for communicating through multiple mediums at once. Students learn to play with color, icons, and imagery that complement their quotations and analysis in bringing home their ideas.  Today I want to walk you through everything I've learned about one-pagers over the last decade or so working with them. We'll start with the nuts and bolts of what they are in a quick review, and then talk about where to find models, why templates are such a helpful scaffold, what elements you might require on your one-pagers, and a laundry list of ways to use them creatively in class. Oh, and we'll wrap up with some ideas for other projects and strategies you might try in class if you love one-pagers. Links Mentioned: Grab the Novel One-Pagers 4 Pack Free Download: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/ready-for-one-pager-success Grab the Rhetorical Analysis One-Pager Free Download: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/ready-for-one-pager-success Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Snag three free weeks of community-building attendance question slides 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!   

This week I want to share a piece of advice that really comes from my wonderful husband and it’s this: Don’t send emails that make your heart race. That email will only make it worse. Let me explain. Just a few days ago I found myself in bed at eleven, eyes wide open in the dark, building an email in my mind. I laid there meticulously building a case in my imaginary email to explain why I was mad at a person who was mad at me.  Soon I was bathed in the midnight glow of my screen, writing the email. And rewriting it. And editing it for grammar. Rereading it again. And feeling more and more and more upset as the clock ticked on to 1 a.m.   I sent it to my husband the next day to ask if he thought I’d explained myself well. The email was temporarily dominating my life, and I wasn’t sure anymore if it was saying what I wanted to say. He called me as soon as he got my message, rather than write back.  “It’s well put. But it’s not an email,” he said. “It’s a conversation. This is just going to stoke a fire, it’s not going to do anything to resolve the situation.” I didn’t send it. So much for the three hours I spent on it. But on the other hand, I didn’t feel like I was going to throw up all day waiting for whatever response would have come.   Perhaps you can relate to me when I say I am quite conflict-averse. I feel much more comfortable explaining myself in writing than having emotional conversations, especially at work. I’ve been involved in several back-and-forth email tangles over the years where the drama grew and grew and grew as we emailers exchanged missive after missive between classes, over lunch, after school, at night.  Whether an email whirlwind like this is with an angry student, an upset parent, an administrator, or a colleague, it rarely ends with sunshine and rainbows.  But here’s what my husband has learned from years working in the student life department at different schools, trying to help upset people resolve situations. Usually, if your heart is racing as you go to click send, it’s meant to be a conversation. Where you can see the feelings of the other person on their face. Where you can explain what you meant when they look blankly at you. When you can see that they’re maybe having a hard time with something else and it’s exploding out at you. Or they can see that. So this week, as much to myself as to you, I want to highly recommend that if our hearts are racing, we have a conversation instead of hitting “send.”  Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Get my popular free hexagonal thinking digital toolkit 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!   

There's a lot of takes on the New Year and how it fits into our lives. There's the change-everything-starting-January-1 take. The New-Year-Same-Me take. The choose-your-word take. The pick-your-theme-song-take. There are SMART goals and stepping stone goals, personal goals and professional goals. Then of course there's the gentle twist that takes goals and turns them into habits and then stacks them, á la James Clear.r. But what - she said with a gentle chuckle - about sneaker goals? Yep, today I'd like to offer you a little twist on the whole goal smorgasboard. An activity your students can do this week as you return to school that will help them think through what they want from next year in a serious way, with a lighthearted frame. They'll create vision boards... on sneakers. Paper sneakers. Grab your Copy of the Curriculum: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/vision-board-activity Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Snag three free weeks of community-building attendance question slides 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you! 

Lately, I’ve been working on gamification. Not the kind where you get points and add custom outfits to your hamster avatar when you advance through a lesson - though don’t get me wrong, that seems cool - more the kind where learning takes place through an actual game structure. We’re big fans of games at my house - Catan, Parcheesi, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Wordle, Uno, Apple to Apples - and so I’ve had a lot of fun brainstorming ideas. But today I was zeroing in on brackets. You know, tournament brackets. Like at March Madness time, or at weekend pickleball tournaments. I’ve seen lots of folks try March Madness brackets with poetry, which I love, but I was brainstorming out at the edges of that idea today. What else could we bracket?  So here’s my last quick idea for you as we all swirl into the break tornado and leave work behind for a while. What if we held a bracket for writer’s craft moves?  Imagine it. Sensory details vs. Personification. Symbolism vs. simile. Appositives vs. strikingly short sentences. The semicolon vs. the dash. Which is more useful?  Which paves the way to a great line and why? Where have students seen the move in action and was it truly powerful? How can they use it in their writing and just how handy is it? When you’re doing the faceoff, you could have students partner up and search for examples to share, or write examples to read aloud as part of the discussion of the merits of each side.  Can you imagine debating which deserves to move forward, symbolism or simile, and then voting for one to advance in the tournament WITHOUT generating a pretty strong understanding of what it is and how to use it? And can you imagine how fun it would be to see students get fired up over the dash being better than the semicolon? Or are the parentheses crushing the ellipses?  Yeah, I just had to tell you about this idea. Even though I know  you don’t have time to use it just at the moment, it was too exciting for me to hold off until next year. I can’t wait to hear about your writer’s craft tournament in 2025. You can reach me, as always, at betsy@nowsparkcreativity.com with your fabulous stories.   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Grab the free Better Discussions toolkit 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 screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!