"5 short texts to introduce any dystopian unit" reads atop a white background. below the title is a completely gray and desolate city. one remaining building has a heavy fog and fume cloud arising from it.

Introduce any dystopian unit using these 5 important short texts

I have to admit…I am biased toward teaching any dystopian unit. I find any opportunity I can to have students evaluate how a society becomes a dystopia and whether they can break free from one. This analysis builds a bridge of understanding to real-world dystopian examples–past and present. As a result, I typically have students engage in a summative mock trial where they convince a jury of their peers whether America is a modern-day dystopia. Although America gives its citizens plenty of dystopian evidence to dissect, this essential question can guide students to be critical of any place. No matter how you decide to end your unit, I have five compelling dystopian literature examples students can analyze for any dystopian unit! Resources to introduce your dystopian unit TERMINUS – a digital adventure series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYZKEOzvE5IWhat is

Carina Assayed March 14, 2023

7 MORE YA Fantasy Book Recommendations

New year, new bookshelf goals! A personal goal of mine this school year is to add more diverse genres and, of course, more diverse YA books to my classroom library. When I conducted a bookshelf audit to find what was missing on my shelves, I realized I was low on YA fantasy books and YA sci-fi books. After reading Danielle’s post for 12 diverse YA fantasy books and YA sci-fi books, it inspired me to curate a list of seven more to add to my shelves this year. Diverse YA Fantasy Books & YA Sci-Fi Books 1. Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano (MS) If you’re a fan of… ✨ Coco (who isn’t?), ✨ The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (or Sabrina the Teenage Witch for us older folks),✨or Harry Potter (sans

Carina Assayed January 24, 2023

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Best YA Books of 2022 for the Classroom Library

Looking for the best YA books of 2022? Look no further! These new releases are all great choices for your classroom library. Are you looking for book recommendations for your classroom library? I polled my Instagram followers and got their picks for the best YA books of 2022. You’ll love the variety of stories. Best YA Books of 2022 for the Classroom Library The Getaway by Lamar Giles “Welcome to the funnest spot around . . . Jay is living his best life at Karloff Country, one of the world’s most famous resorts. He’s got his family, his crew, and an incredible after-school job at the property’s main theme park. Life isn’t so great for the rest of the world, but when people come here to vacation, it’s to get away from all that. As

Danielle Hall December 20, 2022

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ELA Texts & Resources for Honoring Native American Heritage Month

Looking for text recommendations and engaging resources that you can use during Native American Heritage Month (and year round!), look no further! How many Native American/First Nation voices are present in your curriculum or your classroom library? If you aren’t sure, I have a free tool that allows you to see what’s missing, representation-wise, from your classroom library. Indigenous stories aren’t just underrepresented in schools, they are vastly underrepresented in publishing as well. According to data compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 1% of children’s books released in 2018 were written about Indigenous characters. That number deteriorated even further when we looked at how many books were written BY Indigenous authors. Even though there are hundreds of nations and tribal affiliations across Turtle Island – with a variety of diverse experiences, customs, and practices

Leila Hobbs November 9, 2022

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4 Short Stories to Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month

From sci-fi to fantasy to historical fiction, this list of short stories has something to interest every reader during Hispanic Heritage Month! Happy Hispanic Heritage month, y’all! I LOVE using short stories to help make a curriculum more diverse! Why? Because I think their length makes short stories uniquely helpful for helping students gain insight into new perspectives. A student could read several short stories in the same time as one novel, and being exposed to those different authors and different POVs helps emphasize the diversity within a culture or nationality. (If you are familiar with the amazing TED Talk “The Danger of A Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie you’ll know exactly the point I am making.) There isn’t one singular Latinx story or one universal Hispanic perspective, but many. But of course, there

Leila Hobbs September 20, 2022

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Teaching Classic Literature in Secondary ELA

Teaching classic literature doesn’t have to be boring! These tips, lesson plans, and low-prep resources will help engage every student. Does your required reading have even *you* yawning? Chances are your students are getting bored too. I’m here to help! Should classic literature still be taught? With only a few exceptions, my answer is yes! Or more accurately, “yes, and…” I absolutely believe classic literature still has a place in the Secondary ELA classroom, and I think we can make it even more impactful to our students by pairing it with other, modern texts. Many teachers are working to diversify their curriculum to include more voices, and it’s been a big focus for me this year. I’ve been working with Dr. Sheila Frye (from Teaching Literacy) on a project called “Rethinking the Classics” to help

Leila Hobbs September 13, 2022

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9 Tips to Encourage Independent Reading with Simplified & Successful Book Conferences

I love independent reading (or student-selected reading), and I love talking about books! It only makes good sense to me, then, to allow my students to show their growth in independent reading through book conferences. Book conferences are an informal conversation between the teacher and student to show completion of and reflection on a novel. Whether you are trying out reading conferences for the first time, or you are looking for ways to make them more effective, I can help! What makes a good reading conference? Obviously, the main goal of a reading conference is to assess the students’ comprehension of their book choice, but I think a successful reading conference should also strengthen your relationship with the student. In order to make effective book recommendations to them in the future, it might help to

Leila Hobbs June 28, 2022

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8 Captivating Novels in Verse for Secondary ELA Students

Whether you’re hosting a lit circle or adding to your classroom library, these novels in verse will be a big hit with your secondary ELA students. I love incorporating verse novels into the classroom! The fact that they have compelling stories, and easy-to-connect with characters makes verse novels an ideal choice for reluctant poetry readers. Students that aren’t typically interested in poetry, but who are interested in the story, can grow to appreciate the writing style. Keeping a few verse novels in your classroom library is also a great way to let students explore poetry in a “no pressure” setting. In this post, I’ll share some novels in verse for middle and high school ELA, plus some extension/enrichment activities that you can use to accompany the books. If you want to pick up any of

Leila Hobbs June 7, 2022

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5 International Texts to Promote Diversity In the Classroom

One tool for promoting diversity in the classroom is using texts by international authors. Here are 5 texts from around the world your students will love! Note: This is a guest post, written by Abena. She’s a writer and educator who focuses on promoting diversity in the classroom. Check out her blog, DiversityInMind, and follow her on Instagram @diversity_in_mind. Now, enjoy her text recommendations! What is Cultural Diversity In the Classroom? When I taught in the UK, texts from other cultures were part of the curriculum. Often, this meant British-Africa, British-Asian, and so on. It felt like minority cultures were only being validated in part because of their relation to ‘Britishness’ rather than their own individual cultural experiences. (I see this reflected in diverse book lists from other places, like the USA, too.) As time

Abena April 13, 2022

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12 YA Dystopian Novels for the ELA Classroom

Whether you’re planning a lit circle or you need classroom library recs, I’ve got you covered with this list of YA dystopian novels. Last week, I blogged about how to conduct a Dystopian Literature Circle in your classroom, and as promised, here are my recommendations of YA dystopian novels: Note: If you decide to purchase any of these books for your classroom, please consider using my Bookshop affiliate list. Bookshop’s mission is supporting independent bookstores, and as an affiliate, I receive a small percentage that helps with blog upkeep 🙂 Dystopian Novels for Literature Circles and Beyond: The Program by Suzanne Young Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have

Danielle Hall April 5, 2022

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Dystopian Literature Circles in Secondary ELA

Want to have a dystopian literature circle in your classroom? Let me plan it for you! This post has book recs and a step-by-step guide. Students love dystopian literature, and there’s an endless amount of quality texts covering different themes. That’s why I love to do dystopian literature circles with my students. This allows us to compare themes across different settings and characters. If you haven’t tried literature circles in high school, I’ll share some tips about getting started with those as well. Introduction to Dystopian Literature Before we ever start literature circles, we come together as a class and create a common understanding of what dystopian literature is. We discuss four types of control present in dystopian novels: Corporate (Minority Report) Bureaucratic (1984) Technological (The Matrix) Ideological/Religious (The Handmaid’s Tale) As we’re discussing these

Danielle Hall March 29, 2022

A copy of the book "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer on top of a quilt with blue and purple fabrics. At the top of the image there is a white banner and pink text reading "Ideas for Teaching Braiding Sweetgrass"

Ideas for Teaching Braiding Sweetgrass

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer is part poetry, part memoir, and part ecological treatise. Here are some ideas for teaching Braiding Sweetgrass in excerpts. “Like Creation stories everywhere, cosmologies are a source of identity and orientation to the world. They tell us who we are. We are inevitably shaped by them no matter how distant they may be from our consciousness.” -from Braiding Sweetgrass I’m a high school English teacher. I’ve taught both mythology and American literature and have used Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer as a tool for teaching different concepts in both classes. Before I begin: it is incorrect to call Indigenous stories “mythology” and I acknowledged that in my teaching of the course. We cannot refer to a group of people’s deeply held beliefs as mythology. Hence, I prefer the

Victoria C February 22, 2022

a photo of the book Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes, lying on top of a weeking planner. At the top there is a white banner that says "Teaching Ideas for Bronx Masquerade" in pink text.

Why I Love Teaching Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes

In this post, I share tips, ideas, & resources for teaching Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes. My students love this book – yours will too 🙂 In Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes, high school narrators explore themes of identity, family, and community at the new Open “Mike” Friday in Mr. Ward’s class. Each chapter includes a prose section that reads like a journal entry *and* the narrator’s slam poem. In this post, I’ll be sharing some ideas for teaching Bronx Masquerade that helped me *and* my students. Why do I love Teaching Bronx Masquerade? As I’ve mentioned before on Instagram and the blog, I had a rough first year of teaching. I was working 70 hours a week and wasn’t sure it was a good fit for me. My school was highly segregated because of a

Danielle Hall February 1, 2022

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Best Books of 2021 – YA & MG

No matter what you read, there’s something you’ll love on my list of the best books of 2021! YA, middle-grade, and more! If we’re being honest, I really struggled with the motivation for reading during 2020 and into 2021. But these titles – my personal “best books of 2021” – really helped break me out of my reading slump. (Btw, if you’re struggling to find the time or focus to read, that’s okay! Give yourself some grace. I know as teachers we often put pressure on ourselves to feel a certain way about reading, but I release you that! We can still help our students love books and learning, even if we’re taking a break from books <3) So without further delay, I present my nominations for Best Books of 2021! Amari and the Night

Danielle Hall December 7, 2021

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Inclusive Short Horror Stories for Teens

Here are five short horror stories to share with your students! If you’re looking for some seriously psychological stuff, this is it. These short horror stories for teenagers are fantastic stories in general, and also great model texts for writing horror fiction. Inclusive Short Horror Stories “The Flowers” by Alice Walker (MS/HS) This is a coming-of-age story about a young Black girl named Myop. While picking flowers and blissfully exploring the woods around her home, she uncovers chilling evidence of a lynching. Since this story broaches a heavy topic, I wouldn’t use this short story without being prepared to engage in a larger discussion of racially motivated violence and the history of lynching in America. Summer as a symbol for youthful innocence is a well trod literary path, but this is an especially effective example.

Danielle Hall October 12, 2021

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10 YA & MG Books with Trans Characters You’ll Want in Your Classroom Library

Looking for more books with trans characters to add to your classroom library? I have recommendations for middle & high school in this post. YA & MG Books with Trans Characters Including books by Trans authors (and featuring Trans characters) in your classroom library is a great way to make your classroom a safe space for LGBTQ+ students. I have previously shared my tips on making your classroom a safe space for LGBTQ+ students. One EASY action item for both middle and high school is to include novels by Trans authors and books with Trans characters in your classroom library. And YES, you can do this at a middle school level, too. Here are my top ten books by Trans authors (or strongly centering a Trans character) for middle and high school. If you decided

Leila Hobbs August 24, 2021

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12 YA + MG Books for Reluctant Readers

Looking for YA & MG books that will grab (and keep) a students attention? In this post I share 12 of my favorite books for reluctant readers. Raise your hand if you have a student that “hates reading” or says “books are boring.” Although it’s hard to comprehend for a bookworm like me, it’s a common sentiment. The good news is that for many kids, they just haven’t found a book that captivates them, has characters that make them feel seen, or is on a subject they’re interested in. I think it’s vital that we meet these students where they are. Don’t make negative comments about their disinterest or make them feel like they need “fixing.” Some kids, no matter how many books you put in front of them, will never love reading, and that’s

Leila Hobbs July 13, 2021

A brick wall with the text overlayed "The Outsiders. Engaging ideas for in-person, hybrid, or digital."

Teaching The Outsiders

Are you teaching The Outsiders? Read this post for tips and projects to help students analyze literary themes. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is a staple of many ELA curriculums. It has plenty of literary merit, but very little diversity. You can change that! Today I’ll share resources to help with teaching The Outsiders that work for distance, hybrid, or classroom learning. In this post you’ll find resources to help students understand and analyze themes in The Outsiders. Plus ways to bring in some more, diverse voices. You can find many more ideas in our full Rethinking The Outsiders resource. Resources for teaching The Outsiders with increased flexibility and inclusivity Explore the theme of Self-Expression In this TED Talk, Kaustav Dey, marketing lead for Tommy Hilfiger in India, delivers several interesting examples of people

Danielle Hall June 29, 2021

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Inclusive Middle Grade Books for Harry Potter Fans

Caution: magic inside this post! Find books for Harry Potter fans that capture the fun of the Potterverse and provide a more inclusive cast. I don’t recommend Harry Potter anymore. If you follow my Instagram, you’ve likely seen me talk about this issue before. Frankly, this isn’t an easy post for me to write. It hurts my heart that something I hold so dear has been tarnished by the actions of its creator. I spent hours of my youth writing Harry Potter fanfiction. My beloved pets – a ginger cat and a big black dog – are named Crookshanks and Padfoot. My wife Amanda and I even spent part of our honeymoon at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. But you know what’s more important to me than Harry Potter?

Danielle Hall May 11, 2021

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Want a contemporary novel for your curriculum? Need classroom library suggestions? Check out Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo If you love YA books, you’re probably familiar with Elizabeth Acevedo’s work. Her debut novel The Poet X was a breathtakingly beautiful novel-in-verse, and a breakout success. We featured her follow up novel, With the Fire on High, on the YA Cafe Podcast. WtFoH was an unexpected novel-in-prose, but equally wonderful. With Clap When You Land, Acevedo returns to her poetry roots and gives us another novel-in-verse. If you’re looking to add more Latinx voices to your classroom library, any of Acevedo’s books are a great choice. I also have a blog post featuring my favorite YA books by Latinx authors. Today’s post is written by the amazing

Leila Hobbs February 17, 2021

Teaching To Kill A Mockingbird

Are you teaching To Kill a Mockingbird this year? Whether you view it as a treasured classic, or an outdated relic, I have some tips. Today’s blog post will be a little different. I would typically start by sharing ideas for teaching the novel in question. However, I think To Kill a Mockingbird is ready for a curriculum overhaul. It’s a fictional story sharing the trauma of systemic racism through the eyes of a young White girl. Her father, an immortalized literary hero, didn’t even win the case. Why are we still teaching To Kill a Mockingbird? Why are we holding on to this novel? I recommend NOT teaching To Kill a Mockingbird. Not convinced? Let’s talk about it. While I never connected with TKAM, I know many teachers have fond memories of

Danielle Hall January 26, 2021

Adaptable Resources to Teach 3 Classics During Distance Learning: The Giver, The Great Gatsby, & The Odyssey

Are you going to teach classics during distance learning like The Giver, The Great Gatsby, and/or The Odyssey? Great choice! Here’s how to make your novel unit even more inclusive and engaging. Teaching Classics During Distance Learning? No matter which text you are working with, below we have provided some resources & strategies to make your unit successful and one to remember! The Giver Considered by many to be a modern classic, The Giver is a brilliant choice for middle-schoolers who will instantly connect with the 12-year-old protagonist, Jonas. Today I’ll be sharing some resources and tips to teach The Giver during distance learning, and also how to bring some diverse voices to the conversation. The ideas and resources I am sharing today were all hand-picked with distance learning in mind, but you’ll find many more ideas for teaching The

Danielle Hall December 1, 2020

Indigenous Texts for Secondary ELA

Many of you have asked for recommendations for Indigenous texts for Secondary ELA to help enrichen your curriculum. Last year, I shared a guest post from Megan Tipler featuring Indigenous Literature for the classroom library. Today, Victoria, the English teacher/Bookstagrammer behind @floury_words shares some incredible texts to incorporate into your curriculum. If you haven’t checked out Victoria’s Instagram account, be sure to follow her. She shares beautiful photos of books and baked goods that will make your day! Before we jump in, I wanted to get personal and acknowledge two things. First of all, I wanted to acknowledge that I am on Clatsop lands. Over the past couple years, I’ve been working intentionally to increase my self-reflection and future impact on Indigenous peoples. In addition to buying from Indigenous educators, writers, and artists, I am

Danielle Hall November 10, 2020

Latinx YA Books for Your Classroom Library

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month, y’all! We celebrate this every year from September 15th to October 15th, and we can also bring it to our bookshelves. I recommend visiting the National Hispanic Heritage Month website: they have some great resources for teachers. Keep reading for amazing Latinx YA books that you can share with your students to celebrate. While it’s important to celebrate cultural and national heritage during specific festivals or annual events, how inclusive is your classroom library year-round? Books are both windows and mirrors. Can your students see genuine representations of themselves, or “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”? Don’t feel discouraged if your classroom library or curriculum isn’t inclusive, yet. Your students are lucky because they have you to advocate for them and to continue pushing for diversity in the materials that

Danielle Hall September 24, 2020

Inclusive YA Retellings for the Classroom Library

I recently finished Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron and it got me thinking about using inclusive YA retellings in Secondary ELA. Retellings (or “reimaginings,” as I like to think of them) involve taking any story and giving it a new spin. This provides the reader a novel (hah!) way to connect with the material. We know that retellings stretch as far back as Shakespeare (he based Romeo and Juliet on a poem by Arthur Brooke). So let’s dig in… why are retellings so important to our collective conscience? Cinderella is Dead is set in a Dystopian fantasy future in which the Cinderella story as we know it has been weaponized against women to bring them into submission. Our LGBTQ+ heroine will not be attending the ball, business as usual. It’s 200 years

Danielle Hall August 6, 2020

YA/Middle Grade Books by Arab & Muslim Authors

Are you looking to create a more inclusive classroom library? Are you asking yourself, “What should I read next?” We have many lists of inclusive recommendations and today, we’ll focus on books by Arab and Muslim authors. Before I dive into the book recommendations, I wanted to talk about a few terms that sometimes get used interchangeably: Arab, Muslim, Islamic, Middle-Eastern. The most important takeaway here is that no single book will reflect every experience of one of these groups, so please include as many voices as you can. Arab/Arabic: To put it simply, not all Muslims are Arab, and not all Arabs are Muslim. “Arab is an ethno-linguistic category, identifying people who speak the Arabic language as their mother tongue (or, with immigrants, whose parents or grandparents spoke Arabic as their native language)”, (from

Leila Hobbs July 10, 2020

50+ Captivating & Diverse Texts for Secondary ELA

Hey y’all! Are you looking for diverse texts for secondary ELA? Do you want to grow your classroom library or find suggestions for a lit circle? Look no further! I’ve written a lot of YA book reviews and created a lot of book “round-up” lists over the years, so I thought it would be helpful to compile my many recommendations here. Each list, unless otherwise specified, features a range of authors and protagonists, including BIPOC, queer, neuro-divergent voices. And a final word about diversity and inclusion: no “one text” is going to develop your students’ empathy and thirst for justice. Instead, be sure to include a variety of voices throughout your shelves and curriculum, all year long. Be sure to bookmark this list of diverse texts for secondary ELA as it will continually grow* 🙂

Danielle Hall June 8, 2020

2019 Book Recommendation Round-Up

With the decade drawing to a close, it’s time to reflect on the great books released in 2019! Here are my favorite YA book recommendations of 2019: 2019 YA Book Recommendations Round-Up: As I write this, it’s the end of 2019 and the holiday season has begun. Whether you’re looking for last-minute reads to hit your reading goal or shopping for the booklovers on your list, I’ve got you covered. Here are YA book recommendations for every reader! Please note that not all these recommendations are a good fit for middle school readers. 🙂 Enjoy! The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee Y’all, I love Stacey Lee. To me, her books are like curling up with a warm cup of tea, you just sink into the story. But The Downstairs Girl isn’t

Danielle Hall December 12, 2019

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz

This week we’re chatting about Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz, a heartwarming #ownvoices tale of two chronically ill teens who don’t die at the end! (Transcript) In today’s episode… Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz Isabel is sick. Not “Make-a-Wish” sick, though. Isabel has Rheumatoid Arthritis, the kind of sick that hurts her every single day and requires constant treatments, but isn’t going to kill her. Her friends and family, although they care about her, sometimes forget that she’s sick at all. After all, Isabel is dealing with it so well, and works hard to never be an imposition on their lives. Sasha’s world is different. He’s sick, too, with Gaucher disease, but he and his family are open and unapologetic about his life and struggles. When the two meet during

Danielle Hall November 21, 2019

Indigenous Literature for Secondary ELA

It’s Native American History Month! How are you celebrating and honoring Native culture in your classroom? One great way is through books. In today’s post, Megan Tipler from @tiplerteaches brings us recommendations for using Indigenous literature for Secondary ELA. This post uses Indiebound Affiliate Links. We earn a small percentage of each sale (at no additional cost to you) and use the money to sustain this blog. 🙂 According to data compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 1% of children’s books released in 2018 were written about Indigenous characters. That number deteriorated even further when we looked at how many books were written BY Indigenous authors. Even though there are hundreds of nations and tribal affiliations across Turtle Island – with a variety of diverse experiences, customs, and practices – Indigenous

Danielle Hall November 7, 2019

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