Genuis Hour project idea for ELA researching a topic of student's choice regarding WWII and/or the Holocaust. Preview image Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash

Although this blog title emphasizes teaching students to analyze nontraditional texts, teachers too will appreciate the strategies the author suggests for learning to conduct textual analysis.

Includes suggestions for how to increase student engagement and participation during class discussions.

The author describes an eighth-grade language unit that helps students understand the value of dialects and standardized English.

Provides evidence-based strategies to support students (geared towards a university audience but many of the suggestions can be adapted/used in secondary contexts).

In this online book, Traci Gardner defines the process of standards-based writing assignment design and assessment with a research-based approach.

This is an example of the Genre Planning Chart you will submit for Evidence of Preparation and Planning.

This document provides a concise but practical overview of the dimensions of text complexity. It also provides applicable and accessible examples of the application of these principles to texts commonly taught in English and language arts classrooms.

This accessible overview of principles of vocabulary instruction describes the three tiers of words and how to integrate effective vocabulary instruction into curriculum. It also includes a list of links and articles that provide additional information about vocabulary learning.

In this English Journal article, Heller suggests that teachers’ approach to writing assignment design and response should focus more on a response cycle that prioritizes writing as a process rather than as a product. He offers suggestions for teachers to make this shift in their planning and teaching.

This article provides guidelines for teaching students to organize a presentation or speech effectively, speaking with credibility and confidence.

In this Cult of Pedagogy podcast, Jennifer Gonzalez guides teachers to consider how to better define and align assessment criteria with their identified learning goals so that assessment is used to measure student learning progress in writing.

Tookwee’nup, legends, are Paiute stories told during the winter months. They are mythical, often humorous, and they contain a moral. Tookwee’nup teach Paiute children why things are like they are. The stories give spiritual instruction and expose the children to human characteristics that we all possess. This lesson uses this Paiute tale to help students learn about fire myth patterns, wildfires and develop vocabulary. 

In this Writers Who Care blog post, Ellen Foley offers strategies through a list of Do’s and Don’ts as teachers develop and implement their approaches to giving feedback to student writers. Be sure to check out all of the hyperlinks to see the research and additional resources that support the practices shared here.

This article describes ways teachers can be intentional about calling on a diverse set of voices, ensuring multiple perspectives are represented in class discussion.

Inspiration and ideas to encourage educators to expand the possibilities when it comes to any genre they teach.

In this lesson activity students create visual representations for the data presented in the book, "If the World Were a Village" by David J Smith and Shelagh Armstrong. Students are challenged to create different representations and reason why one representation may be better than another. Suggested representations are pictographs, bar graphs, and tables. The activity includes the problem, teacher notes, hints, and solution suggestions.

This article provides guidelines for teaching, modeling, and practicing the basics of effective speaking.