This week on Highly Recommended I’m sharing a hilarious podcast episode you can use from Smash Boom Best titled “Baths vs. Showers.” I discovered Smash Boom Best this year while I was on the hunt for great class podcasts. It’s a debate show, in which two guests come on and argue for their side of an argument topic suggested by kids. I’ve listened to shows on Dogs vs. Cats, Trick-or-Treating vs. Birthday Parties, Kung Fu vs. Tap Dancing, and Books vs. Movies. They’re pretty much all hilarious. A ...
Apr 20, 2023•6 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast If you're currently seated dead center on the struggle bus, or your seniors are waving senioritis flags in your ELA classes, you're not alone. As summer beckons and the buildup of busy from the year weighs on you (and your students), the last six weeks can be a tricky time. I know you want to acknowledge that the end of the year is close, you want to do something a bit lighter and extra engaging, but you don't want to wag any flags of your own. Plus, you don't necessarily have the energy to inve...
Apr 18, 2023•21 min•Ep 178•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to this week’s episode of the Highly Recommended Series. Every Thursday we take a quick look at something I think you’ll love. What will that something be? It might be a compelling book for your students, a power-packed activity to try ASAP, my favorite new episode of a podcast I think your class will love, a free resource you might have missed, or even a recipe for your next Monday night or a city here in Eastern Europe I want to share with you! This will be a fun, free-wheeling series ...
Apr 13, 2023•6 min•Ep 177•Transcript available on Metacast Looking for the "right" approach to AI in your English classroom? Find out how the New England Innovation Academy is working WITH students to design their approach, and how you can too. Ben Farrell - our guest today- brings a wealth of experience working with students into our conversation. He’s been a dean, a head of school, an upper school director, and more, and in his current position at the New England Innovation Academy, he has the job of helping guide a program modeled on human centered d...
Apr 04, 2023•34 min•Ep 176•Transcript available on Metacast Looking to bring more Antibias Antiracist work into your creative ELA classroom and curriculum? Liz Kleinrock of Teach and Transform has written a wonderful book to help, and she joins me on the podcast today to share some of the highlights. In this episode for creative ELA teachers, you'll learn specific strategies for helping make your classroom a place where students can share their identities, have difficult conversations, make mistakes and repair those mistakes, and learn through units that...
Mar 21, 2023•32 min•Ep 175•Transcript available on Metacast This creative spin on classroom decor gives you dozens of options for creative, interactive writing, reading, and arts integration lessons in your ELA classroom. Get inspired with these fifteen fun ideas. Ever since I interviewed Brown Professor emeritus Eileen Landay in episode seventy-seven about arts integration , I’ve been wanting to return to one particular concept she shared, Brazil’s “Literatura de Cordel” and the many creative possibilities it provides. It’s such a simple idea, stringing...
Mar 07, 2023•25 min•Ep 175•Transcript available on Metacast Want to teach rhetorical analysis in a way that's creative, engaging, AND gets the job done? Mix and match these fun ELA strategies to suit your needs. This week on the podcast, let’s talk about why rhetorical analysis is actually a blast. Sure, it sounds complicated to students at first. Ethos, pathos, and logos? Rhetorical situations? Logical fallacies? Rhetorical techniques? Phew! But soon enough all these bits and pieces combine into a really interesting way to see how the songs, conversatio...
Feb 21, 2023•22 min•Ep 173•Transcript available on Metacast Want to showcase Black authors, poets, artists and activists in your ELA classroom? Celebrate Black History Month all year long with these ideas. Black History Month is here, and while it’s vital that we celebrate Black poets, authors, leaders, playwrights, and activists throughout our curriculum, this is a great time to put a special focus on spotlighting all the wonderful Black voices in the ELA world. There are so many to choose from!! So today, I want to share some easy ways to do that, toda...
Feb 07, 2023•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Try using graphic novels in your ELA classroom to create powerful reading ladders, launch literature circles, help make the classics accessible, and more! Today on the podcast, you’ll find six perspectives on why graphic novels are a GREAT addition to your ELA program, and how you might use them in different creative ways. Each of our five creative guests brings something wholly unique to the table, and I’m so pleased they all took the time to come on and share their experience and innovation. T...
Jan 25, 2023•26 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast Want to introduce your ELA students to the creative joys of graphic novels? Find out how to run a quick and productive book tasting to help introduce them to the genre. Maybe you’ve got some new titles for your choice reading library, a graphic novel or two lined up for First Chapter Friday, or even a graphic novel on the horizon as a whole-class read, and you wish your students were more aware of and excited about the graphic novel genre. Ooooh boy, have I got an easy win for you. Head for the ...
Jan 11, 2023•19 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast Gareth Hinds has created appealing graphic novel versions of many great classics of English literature, like The Odyssey, The Iliad, Beowulf, and Shakespeare's plays. In this episode, find out how to use them in class to help deepen engagement. Gareth Hinds is an English Teacher’s superhero. He takes the most challenging works of classic literature for our students, spends years studying them deeply, and creates graphic adaptations students get excited about reading. I mean, come on! How great i...
Dec 28, 2022•32 min•Ep 169•Transcript available on Metacast Worried about the new AI and its repercussions in the world of ELA? In this quick episode, let me share why I think it might actually be a good thing for our profession. For many years now, students who are so inclined have been able to grab a paper off the internet. I remember the paranoia I felt after learning that the students at a new school where I was teaching a decade ago had actually created their own website for sharing work. To hear other teachers tell it, the answers to EVERYTHING any...
Dec 14, 2022•8 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast Featuring contemporary Indigenous voices in your ELA classroom - on your walls, in your research and writing projects, and on your shelves - can make a big difference in fighting erasure. Help your students of all backgrounds learn about Indigenous leaders, artists, and activists. In today's episode, I'm sharing concrete options to help. Discover the best free posters, leaders to feature in your research projects, strong contemporary titles, an easily accessible poem by our Poet Laureate Joy Har...
Nov 29, 2022•30 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast Want to help the independent readers in your ELA classroom enjoy audiobooks? Whether you want to use Audible, Libro FM (do you know about their free educator advance listening program?), Libby, or Sora, in this episode I'll walk you through the process of creating easy access for your students at your own classroom listening station. The bookstores of Bratislava, where I live now, are quite dazzling. In one, an entire wall is made of the open pages of books. A moving portrait – Harry Potter styl...
Nov 16, 2022•22 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast Want to improve your classroom dynamics? Start with relationships, and watch how they can positively impact your daily life as a teacher in so many ways. In this episode, learn fun and easy strategies like post-it compliments and the googly eye connection from our guest CJ Reynolds, from Real Rap with Reynolds. Then watch - as your relationships deepen, your pedagogy will strengthen too. Today’s guest, CJ Reynolds, has spent seventeen years teaching high school literature and the history of hip ...
Nov 02, 2022•37 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast Looking to engage your secondary ELA students in creative public speaking projects? Try podcasting, debate, mock trials, mini speeches, or genius hour talks! Who hasn’t felt a few cold chills at the prospect of public speaking? Teaching year in and year out definitely helps though. As you stand up in front of groups of kids over and over, it starts to feel normal. Not for our students though. Public speaking is so intimidating for them. But we know from our own experience that practice helps, so...
Oct 18, 2022•16 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast Find out how veteran teacher Jane Wisdom successfully incorporated a social media twist on the traditional research project, with great results from her students. 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 sh...
Oct 05, 2022•27 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast Beat the after-lunch lethargy with these active classroom strategies for ELA. Learn how to use stations, escape rooms, speed debating, hexagonal thinking, performance, and more to help keep your students up an engaged. In this episode, we're running through my favorite ways to help shake it up with movement in the English classroom. 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 In...
Sep 21, 2022•29 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast First Chapter Fridays let you introduce students to a wide range of diverse compelling authors even if you can only spare a few minutes a week. In this episode, discover book choice inspiration, display options, author video options, sketchnotes templates for students, and more. Plus, get some ideas for how to save your voice! I've been singing the First Chapter Friday song for years, but here's a complete take on how to do it right, with tons of resources and visuals waiting for you in the podc...
Sep 06, 2022•19 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast Need help teaching the college essay to your students? Learn about what makes a strong college essay from four experienced college admissions officers and high school college counselors from around the United States. Play this episode for your students too! Find the show notes and grab the free companion curriculum at: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/podcast
Aug 23, 2022•21 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast Want to teach sentence structure in a creative way that really helps? Try these three fun twists on the traditional worksheet. Check out the visuals at nowsparkcreativity.com. Just click the "podcasts" tab at the top of the page!
Aug 11, 2022•15 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast Want to try an international classroom collaboration? Learn the tips and tricks from Andrea Greer, who runs a five country collaboration from Japan. Check out the show notes and find a collab partner through the link inside at nowsparkcreativity.com.
Jul 27, 2022•25 min•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast What if faculty meetings deepened relationships and helped people feel connected and inspired? In this interview, get ideas for changing the design of back-to-school with Dr. Susie Wise of the Stanford D School.
Jul 13, 2022•48 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast Want to build more contemporary poetry into your ELA classroom? Find out how with #teachlivingpoets founder Mel Alter Smith. Discover poetry collections, activities, and full units ready to use in class through her work at teachlivingpoets.com.
Jun 28, 2022•46 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast Goodbye chapter comprehension questions, hello creative lesson ideas! In today's episode, discover 21 creative lessons, activities, and units you can use in any ELA class. These are the most popular tried-and-true options I've discovered over the last decade! Try blackout poetry, silent discussions, hexagonal thinking, literary food trucks, book tastings, digital poetry tiles, and so many more!
Jun 13, 2022•31 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Looking for creative vocabulary activities that aren't boring? Want students to get excited about using words in interesting ways? Check out these colorful vocabulary options for your secondary ELA classroom. See the images and sign up for the vocabulary quiz templates in the show notes at: https://nowsparkcreativity.com Come hang out on Instagram @nowsparkcreativity.
May 31, 2022•24 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast Looking for creative multimedia mentor texts for your ELA students? Check out these options, from picture books to podcasts, videos to poetry, student work to YA novels. Get mentor texts kids will reallys it up and pay attention to! Sign up for Camp Creative: The Roadmap to Student Podcasting here.
May 17, 2022•19 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast Want to get started with class podcast projects? Good for you! Get inspired with this creative list of options for your high school English students. Don't forget to sign up for Camp Creative: The Student Podcasting Roadmap coming June 13-15. Visit the show notes at nowsparkcreativity.com.
May 03, 2022•20 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast Looking for the teacher technology that will really make an impact in your classroom, not just replace processes you use with newer, more complicated ones? In this fun conversation with Jennifer Gonzalez, we talk about the tools and ideas inside her Teacher's Guide to Tech and how they can help in your ELA Classroom.
Apr 20, 2022•26 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast Discover the power of choice reading, modern mentor texts, and writer's notebooks in this actionable podcast workshop with Penny Kittle. Get Penny's tips on gently challenging what's not working at your school. Find out how she integrates choice reading and writer's notebooks to ignite student interest. Discover her favorite choice reads for students right now and the authors who have helped inspire her practice.
Apr 05, 2022•51 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast 
