In today’s episode of our podcast Is that a fact?, guest host Jake Lloyd digs into how misinformation manifests in the sports world with author and journalist Jemele Hill, a contributing writer for The Atlantic and host of the Spotify podcast Jemele Hill is Unbothered. Hill discusses not only how sports falsehoods spread, but also how the nature of sports reporting makes it more resistant to manipulation than news coverage.

A resource for students to read Macbeth with audio recordings, vocabulary, character descriptions, and more!

This blog post provides an overview of how mentor texts fit in lessons.

In this English Journal article, Mazura et al. describe six strategies to use during the revision process, showing how these strategies support the development of students’ voice and agency as writers.

This is an example of the Mentor Text Table you will submit as Evidence of Preparation and Planning.

This blog post on the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership website offers a concise and clear overview of how to read and analyze a text in preparation for unit plan design.

Describes a study that integrates grammar into the teaching of writing. Provides a good review of other articles and titles that will help explain the research base for this approach.

Assessment definitions and principles for literacy assessment adopted by the National Council of Teachers of English.

This document walks teachers through the questions to ask in preparing a writing task and helps them consider all aspects in creating a writing prompt.

This position statement from the National Council of Teachers of English defines the components of effective reading instruction and cites research to support these ideas. It provides a comprehensive overview of the teaching of reading in the 21st century as well as recommendations for teaching reading for teachers and guidelines for policy makers.

This Nearpod resource allows students to explore the life and history of Shakespeare and helps them prepare to read the tragic play, Hamlet. This resource has interactive discussion boards, short assessments, matching games, virtual tours, and informative videos to help students learn about Shakespeare.
This resource can be completed in a class setting or assigned to individual students as a homework assignment. This resource will give them the needed background information to understand and enjoy reading Shakespeare.

In this English Journal article, Elizabeth Thackeray Nelson describes a writing unit she taught with 12th-grade students. She defines the learning goals and describes the range of writing strategies she used with her students throughout the writing process––from inquiry to drafting to revision to publication––of developing community action projects. This article may help teachers who would like to read about how a teacher builds a unit and integrates writing strategy instruction and reflection with student writers.

My project is making One Pagers to show their understanding of the text they have read, in this case, a novel that they read independently. One Pagers can be used to respond to a variety of texts, but for this lesson plan, I have the One Pager for students responding to a novel that they have read independently. I have included the requirements for both 7th and 8th grade as some of the requirements are different. I have also included some websites on how others use One Pagers. Anchor Standard 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize key supporting details and ideas.Anchor Standard 3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas interact over the course of a text. The photo that I am using for my thumbnail was taken by me, Melanie Shurtz. 

This text provides an overview of the components of effective vocabulary study for middle grades readers. It includes meaningful supports for selecting words, word study, vocabulary development, and assessment.

The focus of this project will be a personal narrative of an event or situation that caused a major change in the students' lives for the better. Instead of a traditional written story, students are required to complete a digital story using school tools available to them through the school license or on their personal devices. The face-to-face lesson instruction will take 45 minutes. The remainder of the 90-minute block will be given to students to work on their projects. An additional class period should be added to finish, revise, edit, and share their projects within small groups. This plan is for high school grade levels. 

How are concepts, such as freedom, represented in works of art? What do specific works of art or architectural features tell us about what was important to the people who designed or made them, particularly if they are telling a story about the importance of freedom?

After reading John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player," students write poems describing themselves five years in the future. The teacher takes the poems and mails them to students in five years.

NCTE and its constituent groups have developed position statements on a variety of education issues vital to the teaching and learning of English language arts.

Contemporary nonfiction for young people plays a crucial role in the reading and writing lives of K–12 students. It is a rich and compelling genre that supports students’ development as critically, visually, and informationally literate 21st-century thinkers and creators. The purpose of this position statement is to propose a paradigm shift for teaching and learning with nonfiction literature in K–12 education.

This article provides guidelines for teaching students skills to successfully present in front of the class including addressing stage fright, effective voice, gestures, and posture, and a downloadable and editable grading rubric.