373: The Most Popular Books to Teach 9th and 10th Graders (Tournament Results)
This winter, inspired by cool bookish tournament projects by Melissa Alter Smith of Teach Living Poets and Jared Amato of Project Lit, I decided to launch my own English teacher-y tournament. I wanted to know - of the hundreds of amazing books out there - which were working BEST in the classroom for the teachers in our community? After polling over 2000 teachers over in Creative High School English for their favorites in 9th/10th grade (11th and 12th grade coming soon!), I landed on 16 great titles and we've been voting ever since. Today on the pod, I'll be sharing the top titles and some of the comments and rationales teachers have shared along with their votes. If you're looking for a new book for your curriculum, or you're curious what other teachers are focusing on in theirs, today's show will help! See the links below for comments and voting from teachers throughout the tournament (additional voting happened live through Instagram stories which I can't as easily share): The initial poll calling for titles for the tournament The Round of Sixteen: Long Way Down vs. The Book Thief Animal Farm vs. Romeo and Juliet Night vs. Macbeth Fahrenheit vs. Of Mice and Men The Odyssey vs. The Lord of the Flies Speak vs. The House on Mango Street Dear Martin vs. Born a Crime The Firekeeper’s Daughter vs. The Poet X The Quarterfinals: Long Way Down vs. Lord of the Flies Night vs. House on Mango Street F451 vs. Born a Crime Romeo and Juliet vs. The Poet X The Semifinals: Night vs. Long Way Down Poet X vs. Born a Crime The Finals: Night vs. Born a Crime. If your podcast player doesn't support links in the show notes, you can find the full show notes with graphics and links at nowsparkcreativity.com. Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting and shared your thoughts and experiences! Go Further: Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. 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!
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372: Teaching Long Way Down? Flash Verse, Colorful Character Analysis, and Outside-the-Box Discussions
If you’re teaching Long Way Down (and ready for some Long Way Down lesson plan ideas!), let me just start by saying “YAY!” It’s a reader-maker, an incredible book you can teach in a short time with a high impact. Today, I’m going to be sharing some of my favorite ideas and resources for you to pair with this book. We'll talk about discussion formats, project ideas, Jason Reynolds-themed multimedia waiting around the web, and a creative writing pairing that I think you're going to love too. Heads up, as I’m sure you’re aware, this book does have some language. You may need to give a heads up to parents, depending on your school community. But you can, at the same time, mention the Walter Award, Coretta Scott King Award, Printz Award, Newberry Honor Book Award, etc. Maybe throw in the fact that the Library of Congress named him the national ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Here's a quick peek at the visuals available in the FULL BLOG POST: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2025/04/long-way-down-lesson-ideas.html. Discussion Option: Hexagonal Thinking Discussion Option: Silent Discussion on the Walls Activity Option: Flash Verse Creative Writing Activity Option: The Open Mind for Character Analysis Links to Explore: One example of conversations happening in Creative High School English about Long Way Down in our Book Brackets Dear, Dreamer documentary about Jason Reynolds Long Way Down graphic novel opening There was a Party for Langston read aloud Ain't Burned all the Bright trailer Jason Reynolds on working with artist Danica Novgorodoff Long Way Down Curriculum
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371: Top Middle School Book Recommendations (A Teacher's Perspective)
Today's guest, middle school teacher Susan Taylor, has repeatedly gone the extra mile to build a reading program that makes an impact. Not only does she guide her students towards the best books available, she guides her teaching network the same way, through her podcast, Wonder World Book Cafe. Today, we're going to go rapid fire through her favorites to recommend to students, and why she likes them so much. You'll walk away with fantastic recommendations for novels-in-verse, graphic novels, historical fiction, and much more. You'll discover Susan's top pick for First Chapter Friday, the one book she thinks every classroom library should have, and the superb (easy-to-copy) way she helps students recommend books to each other all year long as part of their regular reading routine. Go Further: Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. 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!
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370: An Easy Win for Differentiating Writing Instruction: Video Lessons
If you've ever felt stymied over the fact that some of your students aren't sure how to write a thesis while others are ready to tackle counterargument, today's episode is for you. Not so long ago, Kareem Farah of the Modern Classrooms Project was here to share the MCP vision for a differentiated blended classroom, and how it can support all learners (and all teachers!). Today, his founding partner, Rob Barnett, joins us to follow up, sharing specific techniques for easily creating instructional videos and learning roadmaps in ELA. We want to help you design writing units that let your students move through the material at their own pace, reviewing and repeating lessons when they want to, skipping ahead when they're ready. Let's dive in. Go Further: Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Snag three free weeks of community-building attendance question slides 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! Related Links: Explore Classrooms using MCP pedagogy: https://www.modernclassrooms.org/exemplars Take the Full Free Course to learn about MCP: https://learn.modernclassrooms.org/ See the Progress Tracker Templates from MCP: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1i46SSU3PozMk3bQ06-d1Od09vqZLqIx_2St7FTX8A50/edit Discover Rob's Book, Meet Every Learner's Needs: https://www.meeteverylearnersneeds.org/
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369: Highlight Real-World Connections for Any Book with this Easy Activity
It all started with 1984, as so many things do. I wanted students to see how the ideas in the book were splashed across the world around them - yes, in their magazines and ads, but also in the current events they saw on the news and the news sites covering them. So I asked them to create collages, connecting 1984 to their lives. As we put the collages up across one wall on the classroom, the startling connections between what they were reading and what they were seeing in the world around them sprang out in bright colors. Sitting beside us as we discussed and wrote about the novel, they provided a constant reminder that Orwell’s writing was as relevant as it gets, many decades later. So am I suggesting you do a context collage next time YOU teach Orwell? Nope, today I want to suggest that a context collage as a stellar go-to anytime you’re trying to help students see the connections between a text and their lives. Let me walk you through it. Go Further: Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Grab the free Better Discussions toolkit 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!
Acerca de The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Want to love walking into your ELA classroom each day? Excited about innovative strategies like PBL, escape rooms, hexagonal thinking, sketchnotes, one-pagers, student podcasting, genius hour, and more? Want a thriving choice reading program and a shelf full of compelling diverse texts?
You're in the right place!
Here you'll find interviews with top authors from the ELA field, workshops with strategies you can use in class immediately, and quick tips to ignite your English teacher creativity.
Love teaching poetry? Explore blackout poems, book spine poems, I am from poems, performance poetry, lessons for contemporary poets, and more.
Excited to get started with hexagonal thinking? Find out how to build your first deck of hexagons, guide your students through their first discussion, and even expand into hexagonal one-pagers.
Into visual learning? Me too! Learn about sketchnotes, one-pagers, and the writing makerspace.
Want to get your students podcasting? Get the top technology recs you need to make it happen, and find out what tips a podcaster would give to students starting out.
Wish your students would fall for choice reading? Explore top titles and how to fund them, learn to make your library more appealing, and find out how to be a top P.R. agent for books in your classroom.
In it for the interviews? Fabulous! Find out about project-based-learning, innovative school design, what really helps kids learn deeply, design thinking, how to choose diverse texts, when to scaffold sketchnotes lessons, building your first writing makerspace, cultivating writer's notebooks, getting started with genius hour, and so much more, from our wonderful guests.
Here at The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, discover you're not alone as a creative English teacher. You're part of a vast community welcoming students to their next escape room, rolling out contemporary poetry and reading aloud on First Chapter Fridays, engaging kids with social media projects and real-world ELA units.
As your host (hi, I'm Betsy), I'm here to help you ENJOY your days at school and feel inspired by all the creative ways to teach both contemporary works and the classics your school may be pushing. I taught ELA at the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade levels both in the United States and overseas for almost a decade, and I didn't always get support for my creativity. Now I'm here to make sure YOU get the creative support you deserve, and it brings me so much joy.
Welcome to The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, a podcast for English teachers in search of creative teaching strategies!
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