All Episodes
The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA — 428 episodes
437: 16 Graphic Novels for your Classroom Library
436: Highly Recommended: This Free Vocabulary Tool
435: Start the Year with these AI Conversation Stations
434: What I'll be Doing on the First Day of School
433: The Uncrackable Justification for Choice Reading
432: ELA Classroom Design: What to Put on your Walls this Fall
431: Highly Recommended: This Vehicle for AI in ELA Conversations
430: What you Need to Know about Design Thinking for ELA
429: Don't Miss this Essential Lesson on Multimodality
428: Start a Classroom Library With Me
427: Try this Colorful Maker Tool: Digital Idea Blocks
426: I Read 17 PD Books this Year so You Don't Have to
425: 5 Engaging Ways to Review in the Final Days
424: Ready. Set. Engage with Dystopia!
423: Try this Multimodal End-of-Year Review & Reflection
422: 7 Research-Backed Steps to Better, Easier Feedback in ELA
421: Help for Teaching Poetry (Part II)
420: My 9th Grade Dream Curriculum (as I get an Unexpected Request)
419: Hate Teaching Poetry? Here's Help (Part I)
418: Highly Recommended: The New York Times Contest Calendar
417: Graduate Programs for English Teachers (Help to Launch your Search)
416: Book Club It: How to Restructure (Almost) any Unit into Book Clubs
415: Struggling to Teach Narrative? 6 Craft Strategies for Students
414: Highly Recommended: Play the Whole Game
413: Creative Lessons from Microschools and Portable Innovation Labs with Dr. Annalies Corbin
412: Fresh Ideas for your BritLit Curriculum
411: 41 Authentic Audiences for your ELA Students
410: The American Lit Curriculum I Would Teach Now
409: How to do a Multimodal Flash Verse Project
408: For Better Student Revision, Play the Matching Game
407: Build a Better Choice Board Project for any ELA Unit
406: Try this Choice Twist on Review
405: 5 Creative Activities for A Christmas Carol
404: The Missing Piece in Most ELA Projects
403: 5 Hexagonal Thinking Minis (Try One Tomorrow!)
402: Make Your Space a Partner with Flexible Resources
401: Easy Wins on the Sensory Dashboard (yes, in ELA!)
400: #evolvingEDdesign: Giving Students Real Agency
399: #evolvingEDdesign: Crafting a Flexible Classroom
398: A Simple Trick to Elevate Poetry Analysis: Poetry Blackout
397: The Humble Webquest Levels Up (How-To + Templates)
396: Try these Inviting Alternatives to the Research Paper
395: The American Dream: A Multimedia Introduction Lesson for ELA
394: Quick Win: Build your Reading Culture with this Fun Fall ELA Display
393: Research-Based Practices to Ignite Creativity, with Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle
392: A Mentor-Based Grammar Lesson Blueprint
391: A Done-For-You Literary Food Truck Lesson 🎁
390: A Lesson for Book Clubs with a Genius Hour Twist
389: A First Week Project Lesson: Building Research Skills + Community
388: A Low-Stress (Dare I say Fun?) Lesson Plan for Day One
387: A Summer Reading Lesson with Clear Creative Purpose
386: An Essay-less Argument Lesson Tapping Humor & Visuals
385: Re-engaging Rusty Readers: A Stamina Building Lesson
384: A Lesson for "The Paper Menagerie"(and the Cultural Revolution)
383: Bleeds, Ghosts, & Flash Verse: A Lesson for Long Way Down
382: An Action-Packed Born a Crime Lesson Especially for Gen Alpha (Bet That)
381: What if We're thinking Too Small When it Comes to Short Stories? (And Sometimes, Not Small Enough)
380: The Easiest Last Day in ELA (Community Favorite)
379: 6 ELA Review Activities for a Strong Finish
378: Improve Student Evidence Analysis: Meet Mr. Skeptical
377: Teaching Students to Write an Argument Introduction with Easy Puzzle Pieces
376: Gamifying Argument Basics
375: Try this Engaging Swift-Inspired Prompt with any Text
374: 5 Top Poetry Activities Worth Trying
373: The Most Popular Books to Teach 9th and 10th Graders (Tournament Results)
372: Teaching Long Way Down? Flash Verse, Colorful Character Analysis, and Outside-the-Box Discussions
371: Top Middle School Book Recommendations (A Teacher's Perspective)
370: An Easy Win for Differentiating Writing Instruction: Video Lessons
369: Highlight Real-World Connections for Any Book with this Easy Activity
368: The Glue: One Thing You Need in Every ELA Unit
367: Gamify ELA Review with a Colorful Memory Game
366: ELA Electives with a Twist: Outside-the-Box Ideas to Inspire You
365: 3 Easy Ways to Help Kids Build Better Arguments
364: Contemporary Authors to Feature this Black History Month (and all year long)
363: The Secret Sauce to Help Students Care
362: Art as Influencer: The Reason my Orwell Unit Failed and Why it Matters for your Students
361: Amplify Argument Engagement with a Mock Trial
360: The Ultimate Guide to One-Pagers
359: Don't Send Emails that Make your Heart Race
358: Try this Easy New Year's Vision Board Activity
357: Your Writer's Craft Tournament
356: The Best Last Day Before Break
355: When All Else Fails
354: Classroom Management: Lifting the Veil (Finally)
353: Your Poetry Video Project Roadmap
352: Holiday Activities for ELA (with Inclusivity in Mind)
351: 🤍 Gratitude Week: Revisiting Angela Stockman's Writing Makerspace
350: 🤍 Gratitude Week: Revisiting Dave Stuart Jr.'s Help for Student Apathy
349: 🤍 Gratitude Week: Revisiting Crucial Advice on Diverse Texts & Choice
348: 🤍 Gratitude Week: Revisiting Dr. Sarah Fine's Advice for Deeper Learning
347: 🤍 Gratitude Week: Revisiting Penny Kittle's Quiet Revolution
346: Highly Recommended: The Extensive Research to Support English Teachers Grading Less
345: How to use First Book Marketplace to Grow your Library Fast
344: Fighting the Sunday Scaries
343: Contemporary Playwrights to Spotlight in ELA
342: Easy Acting Games for Better Theater Units
341: Characterization Activities that go Way Beyond Round vs. Flat
340: 💬 Grading Discussion in a way that won't ruin your (Teaching) Life
339: 💬 When Discussion goes off the Rails
338: 💬 Discussion Dominators and Silent Students
337: 💬 Student-Led Discussion: Setting up Success + What Does an Observer Do?
336: 💬 How Harkness Won Me Over (Completely)
335: 💬 5 Discussion Types that Can Work for You, Even if You've Almost Given Up (The Discussion Series Begins)
334: The Writing Tip Every ELA Student Needs (that I Learned in Bulgaria)
333: How to Teach a Multigenre Essay Project
332: The Rec Letter Tweak that gave me my Octobers Back
331: Does Essay Writing Feel like Torture to your English Students? Try this.
330: Routines that aren't Boring for Whole Class Novels
329: Turn Dusty Old Books into a Stunning Display
328: The Short Unit that Never Fails
327: Dystopia Book Clubs: A How-To Guide
326: The Literary Travel Poster Project
325: 6 Creative Video Project Ideas for ELA
324: Try Tiny Audio this Fall
323: This I Believe (As My Life Changes)
322: A Super Simple Way to Learn Names
321: Jason Reynolds doesn't write Boring Books
320: A Simple Go-To for Better Discussions
319: Got Phone Problems? Help for a Distracted Generation, with Angela Watson
318: Try This with your Teacher Budget
317: Classroom Design with Real Impact (from the Archives)
316: Easy Ways to Connect with your Department
315: The Back-to-School Independent Reading Kickstart
314: How to Plan toward an Assessment
313: Don't Make My First Day of School Mistakes
312: Your Stress-Free Back-to-School Night
311: Teaching Life Skills
310: Rock the Reading Block
309: Exploring Modern ELA Mediums (The Elective Series)
308: Highly Recommended: Build an Easy Careers Unit in ELA
307: Teaching African American Literature (The Elective Series)
306: Help! My Readers have such Different Skill Levels
305: Teaching Dramatic Writing (The Elective Series Continues)
Trailer: The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast
304: The Day my English Students Questioned our Bleak Book Choices
303: The End-of-Year Checklist for a Better August
302: Is this your Canva Summer?!
301: The Easiest Last Day in ELA
300: Teaching Summer English Classes? 2 Paths to a Happier July
299: 3 Years Overseas: The Highs & Lows (as we prepare to say goodbye)
298: This Shakespeare Podcast connects the Bard to Modern Life
297: How to Squeeze Choice Reading into ELA (even if it feels impossible)
296: My Favorite Final Exam (I mean, not that I don't love Multiple Choice)
295: Revision Frustration? Try This.
294: Crying in the Dusty Stairwell (on Hitting a Wall in Teaching)
293: Creative Exam Review Activities for ELA (that don't involve a packet)
292: Try the Sesame Street Quiz (5 Different Ways)
291: When Genius Hour WORKS (The Elective Series)
290: Try this Hack to Teach Varied Sentence Structure
289: How to Launch Book Talk Podcasts in English Class
288: A Lesser-Known Amanda Gorman Gem
277: How Erica Used the AI PBL Project to give her Students Voice
276: Let All Books Count: A Tale of Two Kids
275: Teaching SciFi & Fantasy (The Elective Series continues)
274: Using Students' Love of Youtube to our ELA Advantage
273: First Chapter Friday: Nancy Tandon Reads
272: You Need to Know about this Short Story
271: #Bookface is Well Worth a Look
270: Try a March Madness Poetry Bracket
269: Teaching Research to Digital Natives
268: Try These Google Translate Tools in Class
267: So your Students aren't Doing the Reading? Here's Help.
266: Summer PD that Delivers for English Teachers
265: Teaching Conversation in a Polarized World (The Elective Series Begins)
264: Launch Tiny Podcasts (don't be intimidated)
263: Let's Reimagine the "Teacher Work Room"
262: Let Students Design Escape Rooms
261: Skill Practice that Isn't Boring: Grammar Edition
260: Try this Super Bowl Activity for Rhetorical Analysis that's Fun
259: First Chapter Friday: Matt de la Peña Reads
258: A Simple Trick for a Better Discussion
257: Build a Common Errors Hyperdoc to Dramatically Speed up Grading
256: Highly Recommended: Try a Pancake Project (It's Not About The Pancakes!)
255: How to Set Up Self-Editing Stations in English Class
254: Highly Recommended: Try This For Black History Month
253: No More Taking Grading Everywhere you Go
252: The First Chapter Friday Series: Megan E. Freeman reads from Alone
251: Highly Recommended: My Favorite Planner Routine
250: Fire up your Choice Reading Program, with Abby Gross
249: Highly Recommended: Make Over your Work Space
248: A Simple Solution To The First Day Back
247: Highly Recommended: This Book Project Kids Like
246: Inspire Winter Break Reading with a Book Tasting Now
245: Highly Recommended: "Sketchnote Fever"
244: Creative Winter Poetry Activities for ELA
243: Highly Recommended: The Chunk-and-Schedule Method
242: Building Better Book Clubs, with Martina Cahill
241: Highly Recommended: Reframe Argument like This for English Students
240: Easy Ways to use Performance Poetry in ELA (and why you Should!)
239: Highly Recommended: Use One-Pagers as a Creative Gateway
238: Let me Plan your ELA Lessons the Week before Thanksgiving
237: Highly Recommended: Don't Grade it All
236: When your English Students just... Don't Care
235: Highly Recommended: Gene Luen Yang's Ted Talk
234: Closing the Opportunity Gap, with Reid Saaris
233: Highly Recommended: Teach Living Poets
232: Building More Inclusive Classrooms with Dr. Mark Gooden
231: Highly Recommended: Try using your Whiteboard like This
230: Creative Short Story Station Ideas for ELA
229: Highly Recommended: These Stunning Posters
228: Taylor Made for ELA: The Swift Collabisode
227: Highly Recommended: Don't Play Email Whack-a-Mole
226: Banned Books Week Starts Now (Here's Help)
225: Highly Recommended: Present or Publish your Work this Year
224: Here's How to Help Quieter Students into Discussion
223: Highly Recommended: The Bread Loaf School of English
222: Creative Halloween Activities for October in ELA
221: Highly Recommended: Ask for What you Want
220: Try Teaching The College Essay like This
219: Highly Recommended: Vocaroo
218: A Beginner's Guide to using Podcasts in the English Classroom
217: Highly Recommended: Research with a Twist
216: Let's Talk Graphic Novels with Jerry Craft
215: Highly Recommended: Book Trailers
214: Build a Bridge to the Library this Year
213: Highly Recommended: The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel
212: The Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Digital Bookshelves
211: Highly Recommended: An Easier Back-to-School Night for ELA Teachers
210: Creative Alternatives to the Summer Reading Essay
209: Highly Recommended: Alone
208: A New Approach to Differentiation with Kareem Farah
207: Highly Recommended: Book Clubs
206: Help Students Consider the Ethics of AI with this Free PBL Unit
205: Highly Recommended: Attendance Questions
204: Students need Diverse Texts and Choice - Here's Help
203: Highly Recommended: Name Tent One-Pagers on Day One
202: Silent Discussions Made Easy
201: Highly Recommended: Penny Kittle's "Beautiful Words" Project
200: Do THIS in July to make August Better in your ELA Classroom
199: Highly Recommended: Playing the "Whole Game"
198: Take One of These Virtual Field Trips with your ELA Students
197: Highly Recommended: Canva
196: How Caitlin's Verse Novel Book Clubs Engaged Seniors 'til the End
195: Highly Recommended: The High School Classroom Library
194: 4 Graphic Storytelling Activities from Graphic Novelist Laura Lee Gulledge
193: Highly Recommended: The Libro FM Educator Program
192: Who's on your New Pride Month Display?
191: Highly Recommended: Jason Reynolds
190: My Top Contemporary Text Ideas for your ELA Classes
189: Highly Recommended: My Shakespeare
188: Feel like it's Impossible for an English Teacher to Teach it All? (Part II)
187: Highly Recommended: The Dark Matter of Mona Starr
186: Feel like it's Impossible for an English Teacher to Teach it All? (Part I)
185: Highly Recommended: Faculty Fun
184: How to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month with this Interactive Display
183: Highly Recommended: Time-Saving Templates
182: Want to Support Student Well Being? I Know! (Here's Help)
181: Highly Recommended: John Spencer's Video Writing Prompts
180: The One about Eastern Europe
179: Highly Recommended: SBB's Baths vs. Showers
178: Struggling to Make it to the End of the Year? Try this.
177: Highly Recommended: Starfish
176: Reasons to Feel Hopeful about AI at School
175: Actionable ABAR Steps in ELA, with Liz Kleinrock
174: A New ELA Go-To? 15 Ways to use La Literatura de Cordel
173: Enjoy Teaching Rhetorical Analysis (with these Strategies)
172: Celebrating Black Authors, Artists, & Activists in ELA
171: 6 Wonderful Ways you can use Graphic Novels
170: How to Host a Graphic Novel Book Tasting
169: Turning Classics into Graphic Novels, with Gareth Hinds
168: Why I'm not Worried about the New AI Tools
167: Fight Erasure. Feature Contemporary Indigenous Voices in Class.
166: How to Add an Audiobook Listening Station to your ELA Classroom
165: Classroom Management Strategies you can Actually Enjoy
164: 5 Public Speaking Projects for Secondary ELA
163: Case Study: A Meaningful 21st Century Research Project
162: Active English Teaching: 10 Out-of-their-Seats Activities
161: The Ultimate Guide to First Chapter Friday
160: The College Essay: What Students (and Teachers) Need to Know
159: 3 Creative Ways to Teach Varied Sentence Structure
158: How to Create a Successful International Classroom Partnership
157: Designing Back-to-School for Belonging, with Dr. Susie Wise
156: How to Teach Living Poets, with Mel Smith
155: 21 Creative ELA Lessons you can use Immediately
154: Colorful Vocabulary Activities: Story Tiles, Wordy Decor & More
153: 6 Powerful Mentor Texts for Secondary ELA
152: 5 Class Podcast Projects for ELA
151: Here's the Teacher Tech that Actually Helps, with Jennifer Gonzalez
150: A Quiet Revolution in Reading and Writing, with Penny Kittle
149: Two Inspiring Children's Book Projects, with Pernille Ripp
148: The Power of Children's Books for Older Kids, with Pernille Ripp
147: 6 Fresh Ideas for your Writing Program
146: Authentic Audiences aren't Hard to Find
145: Teaching Annotation just got Fun
144: 3 Flexible ELA Units for an Omicron Winter
143: What We Can Do about Teacher Demoralization, with Doris Santoro
142: Choice Reading: Building a Reading Culture in your English classroom
141: Setting up your ELA Classroom Library
140: Every Student can Sketchnote, with Sylvia Duckworth
139: We Moved to Bratislava, Here's what it's Like
138: Hexagonal Thinking with Brave New Teaching (Bonus Episode)
137: Creative ELA Activities to Pair with Any Novel
136: Creative Real-World Research Projects in ELA
135: When Students Design Escape Rooms
134: Creative Escape Rooms without the Fuss
133: Body Biographies & Digital Escape Rooms with Danielle Knight
132: A Case Study in Successful Student Podcasting
131: Help for Integrating SEL, with Dr. Lorea Martinez Perez
130: Build Connection with your Classroom Design
129: Try Hexagonal One-Pagers
128: Take your Hexagonal Thinking Activities Deeper
127: How to Create a Hexagonal Thinking Deck
126: 5 Ways to Use your Writing Makerspace
125: How to Start a Writing Makerspace
124: 6 Free Canva Tools for English Teachers
123: Creative Blended Learning (Now and in the Future), with Dr. Catlin Tucker
122: The Ultimate Guide to Genius Hour In ELA
121: When Lit Circles WORK, with Krista Barbour
120: Collegiate High School's Digital Literary Food Truck Festival
119: 5 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes in ELA
118: Big Ideas for Better Writing Instruction, with EB Academics
117: 10 Ways to Encourage a Reading Culture in your (Online) Classroom
116: Connect with your Students as a New Year Begins
115: 5 Creative Digital Poetry Activities
114: Easily Reduce your Digital Paper Pile
113: Breakout Rooms, Community Building, and Grading Policies for Online Teaching
112: An ELA Teacher's Gift Guide
111: Creative Uses for Jamboard, with Matt Miller
110: Take Your Writing Workshop Digital (It's Easy), with Amanda Werner
109: How to Make Digital "Magnetic" Poetry Activities
108: Try a Virtual Travel Research Project
107: Virtual Discussion Problems? Try this
106: Doing a Podcast Project? Let me be your Guest Speaker
105: How to Creatively use T.V. Clips in ELA
104: Create a Hyperdoc in 6 Easy Steps
103: Off Screen Activities for Remote Learning in ELA
102: Taking your Literary Food Truck Festival Digital
101: How to Run Online Literature Circles in ELA
100: How to Run a Virtual First Chapter Friday
099: How to Get your Students listening to Podcasts, with Ashley Bible
098: 5 Flexible ELA Unit Ideas
097: A Flexible Plan for Blended Learning in the English Classroom
096: Summer Priorities in the Face of Fall Uncertainties, with Angela Watson
095: Remote Teaching: Grading, Discussion, and Building Community with Marie Morris and Amanda Cardenas
094: Project Lit, Sketchnotes, and Classroom Design with Laquisha Hall
093: A Plan for your First Fall Unit in ELA
092: Distance Learning: A Creative End to the Year
091: Project-Based-Learning in the City, with Laura Deisley of Lab Atlanta
090: Bringing Transformation to your School, with Trace Pickering of Iowa Big
089: Adventures at Home
088: Help for Teaching through Coronavirus Closings
087: Easy Ways to use Hexagonal Thinking in ELA
086: Take Action for Deeper Learning, with Sarah Fine
085: 5 ELA Tech Tools to Try
084: These are a Few of my Favorite (English Teacher) Things
083: Engage your Snapchatters with Booksnaps, featuring Tara Martin
082: Innovative Elective (or Unit) Ideas for ELA
081: Empowering Students with Project-Based Learning
080: Let's Teach Students how to Collaborate
079: Less Testing. More Innovating.
078: The Quick Guide to First Chapter Fridays
077: Integrating the Arts & ELA
076: Host a "This I Believe" Radio Show
075: 10 Review Activities that aren't Boring
074: Try an Infographic Project in your English Classroom
073: Help for Harkness Discussions
072: Connecting your English Classroom to the World
071: How to talk about Equity and Inclusion, with Liz Kleinrock
070: Help for Student Apathy, with Dave Stuart Jr.
069: 40 Ways to Reduce your Grading Time
068: Confronting Teacher Exhaustion, with Angela Watson
067: Look Forward to Teaching Vocabulary
066: We Need More Diverse Books
065: Final Exams in English Class that feel Meaningful
064: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Workshop
063: Using Stations Creatively in ELA
062: When Students Choose their Own Assessments, with David Rickert
061: Using Podcasts as Texts in ELA
060: Students won't read? Don't care? One Year to Change That
059: Maybe Teaching doesn't have to be so Lonely
058: How to Match Student Readers with Books they'll Love
057: Creative Tech Tools for ELA Teachers, with Jennifer Gonzalez
056: Get Funding with Donors Choose (Dos and Don'ts)
055: Hyperdocs, Authentic Audience, and Screencastify with Kristy Louden
054: Winter Holiday Activities for ELA
053: How to Plan an ELA Unit in 30 Minutes
052: The Easy Guide to Blackout Poetry
051: Mock Trials and E-mail Etiquette with The Daring English Teacher
050: The Power of Imperfect Action
049: Get Creative with Google Classroom, with Matt Miller
048: Reading Program Accountability that doesn't Ruin Everything
047: The Power of the Writing Makerspace, with Angela Stockman
046: Sketchnotes are Awesome, with Mike Rohde
045: Classroom Memes and Interactive Notebooks
044: 25 Creative ELA Assessments for Any Novel (Whoa)
043: Tips for New English Teachers, with Kristy Avis
042: My FAVORITE Theater Project (for any play)
041: Teacher Mindset & Happiness with Angela Watson
040: Building a Creative Classroom Space
039: Overwhelmed? Try this simple strategy.
038: 10 Ways to Fill a Hole in your ELA Curriculum
037: Cut Year-End Teacher Stress
036: Host a Successful Class Play
35: Crush it with Book Clubs
034: 4 Ways to Integrate STEM into ELA
033: Your Genius Hour in ELA Roadmap
032: Shakespeare Activities for Any Play
031: Using Murder Mysteries, Ted Talks, and SNL Clips in English Class
030: The Simplest Method for One Pager Success
029: A Beginner's Guide to Teaching Abroad
028: Empower your Students, with John Spencer
027: Turn your Class into a Discussion Panel with Audience Tweeters
026: My English Teacher Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
025: The Best of ELA this Year
024: A Beginner's Guide to Student Blogging
023: Why you Need Discussion Warm-Ups
022: 10 Top Books for your Classroom Library
021: The Best Websites for ELA Teachers
020: Authentic Audiences for Student Work
019: Active Learning outside the Classroom Walls
018: My Favorite Trick to Cut Grading Time for English Teachers
017: Get Started with ELA Escape Rooms
016: ELA Maker Spaces
015: Building Professional Community as a Teacher
014: Creative Secondary Decor in your English Classroom
013: The First Day of School doesn't have to be Boring
012: 3 Simple Systems for a More Creative English Classroom
011: Classroom Mini-Flips
010: 12 Creative ELA Assessments you can Try Tomorrow
009: Show your Administration your Strengths
008: Harkness Discussions (are awesome in English class)
007: Why You Should Try Poetry Slam
006: 10 Ideas for your Professional Development (Besides Conferences)
005: How to Get Started with a Classroom Collaboration
004: Theater and Performance Activities for ELA
003: Start your Choice Reading Program
002: Easy Strategies for Differentiation
001: My Favorite Strategy for Every Single ELA Unit