The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA

This week I want to talk about getting you in front of an audience this year. My first year in the classroom I had an amazing mentor. Anne, my department chair, invited me to her house for lunch regularly. I brought pastries, she made fruit salads, and then over oatmeal-raisin scones and papaya, she listened to me talk about everything I was learning and doing. She nodded and smiled, and focused on supporting my enthusiasm rather than telling me what to do.  If only everyone had a mentor like that in their lives.  I remember one piece of wonderful advice she gave me then, and that was to start publishing. She suggested a local teaching newsletter that I could submit an article to, and I did, and it was accepted. Even though I was 22 and in my first year of my first teaching job.  That got me started thinking of myself as someone who could share my ideas with others. I submitted an awful lot more articles after that, and began applying to present on what was going well in my classroom. Sometimes I presented to a crowd at some lovely hotel. Sometimes I presented to my colleagues at my own school. Both were satisfying, and pushed me to see my classroom as a place for trying new things, analyzing the results, and sharing what I learned.  So today I want to give you the same advice my mentor gave me nineteen years ago.  Put your work out there. Ask to present to your department, your whole faculty, or at a local or national conference. Submit a presentation proposal to your state council of teachers of English conference or to the annual NCTE conference.  Write about what you’re doing and send it off to English journal, Read Write Think, We are Teacher, or Edutopia. Pitch yourself as a podcast guest! Send in an Op Ed to the New York Times. Whatever feels like a good step to you, do it! I believe you’ll start to see your work in a new light when you share it. You’re a change-maker, an agent of creativity in a profession that is lucky to have you. And I highly recommend you share your best ideas with as many other people as you can.    Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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 are so many reasons why a student may be quiet in class. The language may be difficult. They may need more time to think than the pace of discussion allows. They may not have been able to read because of other things happening in their lives that they can't control. They may be really shy. But there are ways to help quiet students build confidence and begin to participate. In today's episode, I'll share what I learned over many years putting a strong focus on student-centered discussion in class. We'll talk about discussion warm-ups, individual conversations with kids who are dominating, discussion role cards, and my favorite strategy for student-centered discussion, The Harkness Method.  To grab the free resources that complement this episode, sign up for the Better Discussions Toolkit right here (coming by email Friday if you're already on my list!). Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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 let’s talk about a unique masters program - and the one I did - The Bread Loaf School of English. Quick Details: Summer Program out of Middlebury College M.A. In English, but almost all participants are teachers, so there's a teaching angle! Campuses in Vermont, Oxford (England), and California Unique Classes and Activities (Opera, "Discovering the Imagination," and my Independent Study on Travel writing were three of my personal favorites...) Learn more here: The Bread Loaf School of English   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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!   

Have you reached for a turtleneck sweater yet? Bought one of those big pumpkins or bright purple mums at the stand along the road? Sipped your first spiced latte? It's that time of year again! As the leaves turn and we move into the flow of the school year, it's a nice time to sprinkle in a little holiday fun for Halloween. Today, I've got a creative buffet of options for you, and I hope you'll find a few you can't wait to surprise your students with next month. In this episode, we'll talk about murder mystery parties, escape rooms, spooky podcasts, creepy poetry, and more. Find the Links: Make your copy of the Halloween writing prompts here. Explore episode 31, when Amanda from Engaging and Effective shared several year’s worth of experience crafting a wildly successful high school themed classroom murder mystery lesson. Check out the full post  about student-designed escape rooms.  Read the full step-by-step instructions and pick up my free student guide to creating a blackout poem here. Grab the easy printable Halloween book display set - Make your copy here.   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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 let’s talk a different kind of topic, asking for what you want in education. When I was five, my mom took me to a raspberry farm. I leaped out of the car, basket in hand, ready to harvest heaps of my favorite berry. Only to see a closed sign. I headed back to the car, distraught.  “Well,” said my mom. “Let’s just ask if we can pick. It can’t hurt.” I watched with very little hope as she knocked at the farmhouse and made her request. Soon we were piling up berries in the sunshine.  I’ve always remembered that day. The power of asking for what you want. It stuck with me in my teaching career. I’ve asked for... ...classroom art supplies ...a season off from coaching when I was pushed past my max. ...admin guests to judge my poetry slams.  ...books from the library for my choice reading program. ...budget for a visiting theater professional to give workshops for a week. ...to run a PD day for my entire school and gotten it. Help from my tech team to run a podcast project. ...to present at CATE and write for ECIS and spend a week learning Harkness and go to graduate school…  The answer to all these requests was yes. Do I always get everything I want? No. But just think if I had never asked So today, I’m highly recommending that YOU ask for what you want.  Ask your local librarian if they can help with your classroom reading program. Ask your department chair if there’s budget for 10 new graphic novels. Ask your local paper to come and cover your 11th grade poetry jam. Ask parents to come and speak during Career week. Ask if you can paint a wall of your classroom with chalkboard paint. Ask your colleagues if they want to go speak to the school board about something important to you. Ask if you can present on hexagonal thinking at a PD day. Ask the ice cream shop to donate prizes for your debate contest.  Don’t be afraid to ask for whatever it is that you need.  For budget, for PR, for time, for support. Isn’t it worth a try?  I know it is, because I can still remember those big perfect raspberries.   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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 have to admit that even though I wrote three college essays, got into college, went to college, got my graduate degree in English and taught English for many years, I never really understood the college essay until a year ago. When I listened to this workshop on this very podcast, given by two high school college counsellors and two experienced university admissions officers. Sure, I knew that the essay was a chance for kids to show off their writing skills and share about themselves. I knew that specific, vivid examples and clear writing were important. But I didn't really understand the one message that came through in all caps from the workshop - that students should write about what they actually care about - there's no secret mystery topic that colleges are actually hoping to hear about. So it won't come as a surprise to you that I think you should start your college essay unit by playing this workshop, but then what? Once student know what colleges ACTUALLY want from their essay, how can you help them write it? Well, that's what THIS podcast is for. To give you a step-by-step plan for helping kids write their essays this fall. By the way, I've created a curriculum set to help you out with teaching the college essay. You can sign up for the free kit right here. Mentor Text Links Mentioned: "Enryo" and a piece from the online collection Humans of New York   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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 let’s talk about the simplest audio recording tool out there for students, Vocaroo.    Getting into activities like student podcasting, multigenre projects involving audio, or film projects with audio overlay can feel really intimidating.    But not with Vocaroo.   Vocaroo is actually a website you can visit on Chrome. In the middle of the page there's a big red button. Student simply click it and start recording. Then when they’re done, they click to download the audio file. It’s that easy.    With this one simple (free) tool, you can have students record short podcasts, poetry or personal narrative to overlay on a video, documentary scripts, or anything else you want. You don’t need a mic, and you don’t need to dive deep into the details of programs like Garageband and Audacity, though those might be great steps for someday.    So next time you get a great idea for a project involving audio, I highly recommend you calm those nerves and head over to press that big red button and try Vocaroo for yourself. It’s the easiest route to student audio, and it takes just ten seconds to master.   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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!   

So you've heard the buzz about podcasts, and you're intrigued. You want to play an episode in your English classes, but you wonder what that would even look like? What would kids do while they listen? What would they do after they listen? Which show would be best? How would it fit into everything else you're up to? Yeah, I hear you. It's a whole new genre and you might be the first English teacher on your hall to use it. A few easy wins to help you get started wouldn't hurt! So today on the podcast, I want to help you get started with... podcasts! I know you know they can be a great resource for learning, because here you are, listening to one. So let's talk about how to try one out in class ASAP. Strategies and Links Mentioned: Play a Podcast and Practice Sketchnotes Episode 46 with Mike Rohde Episode 140 with Sylvia Duckworth Popular free sketchnotes templates  Play an Episode and use it as a Prompt Baths vs. Showers from Smash Boom Best Episode one of The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel Feature Podcasts on an Interactive Bulletin Board Play a Podcast Episode to Provide Helpful Information Active vs. passive voice from Grammar Girl Episode 160 of this very podcast - The College Essay Workshop Play an Episode to Introduce an Author Hip Hop and Shakespeare, or the Pop Sonnets episode of Shakespeare Unlimited This short episode from "A Little Happier" about Trevor Noah's memoir Interview with Jerry Craft Play an Episode and Use it as a Mentor Text Sign up here for the free mini-course on Student Podcasting   Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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 let’s talk about research, and the ways it shows up across the world these days. Because I’d like to highly recommend you build some research activities into your class this year that don’t end in papers.  I vividly remember my seventh grade social studies class, where we sat in groups at rounded tables trying to look cool and learned about how to take notes on a single source using a notecard. We built up our notecard stack over time, then arranged and rearranged our research into our first ever research paper.  Teaching the research process is just as important now as it was back then, but there are a lot more ways to help kids show off what they’ve learned. You can practice the skills of finding good sources, taking notes, analyzing information, and sharing and citing that information with student podcasts, Instagram-style carousel posts, or infographics, as well as papers. This will allow you to weave research into more arenas, and give kids more creative variety in showing what they’ve learned.  So this year, as you think about building in research skills, I  highly recommend you consider having students share their takeaways in a new medium. Something that incorporates visuals or audio as well as writing. Try a quick infographic assignment, a 5 minute research-based podcast, or my favorite, the Instagram-style carousel, where kids create a connected series of square images that teach their viewer about their topic through both writing and visuals.    Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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!   

Today on the podcast, I’m so excited to bring you the first writer ever to win three very important prizes in literature - the Newberry Award, The Kirkus Prize, and the Coretta Scott King Award - for a single book. Would it surprise you to know the first person to win all of these for one amazing book is a graphic novelist? That’s right, today we’re talking to the creator of the new Kid Series, which now includes New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip. This is a special episode designed to be played right to this special author’s favorite audience - students. My hope is that you'll play this episode - or a part of it - in class. I've designed a sketchnotes sheet for you that students can use while they listen (make your copy here). Check out all three of Jerry's popular graphic novels for middle schoolers here.  Explore Jerry Craft's website here.    Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. 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!