A stack of books with the top one laying open. The background is light pink with a light blue border at the top. There is black text that reads "YA & MG Novels with Trans & Enby Rep"

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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Teaching Figurative Language with 3 Intriguing Short Stories

Looking for new, free texts for teaching figurative language? This post has short stories, and other short texts your students will love! Today I have figurative language on my mind: specifically simile, hyperbole, and personification. We don’t have to wait until we’re teaching poetry to share these fabulous poetic devices! Here are some non-poetry texts to use for teaching figurative language. PSST…if you’re looking for short texts to help students strengthen their analysis skills, our 15 Pop Culture Analysis Activities resource has got you covered! You get detailed lesson plans aligned with each of the 15 different short texts (i.e. songs, short films, and more!). Short Stories for Teaching Figurative Language “The Girl with the Blue Lantern” by Tess Sharpe This short story follows a poor girl, responsible for keeping her family fed, as she

Leila Hobbs August 17, 2021

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Teaching Peer Feedback in ELA

These activities for teaching peer feedback in ELA will help students learn to give (and receive) constructive criticism. Teaching Peer Feedback in ELA Do you include opportunities for peer feedback in your classroom? If you haven’t done it before or you want to amp up your process, this is your year! Peer feedback is the perfect tool for fostering collaboration and critical thinking in Secondary ELA. I read The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop by Felicia Rose Chavez this summer, and I see so many possibilities for improving the way we have students present their work and receive feedback. I’ll be sharing these throughout the year, but I wanted to start today with talking about peer feedback. One of the biggest “ah-ha” moments for me in reading this book was that feedback should be an active process

Danielle Hall August 4, 2021

A sepia toned photo of a stack of antique leatherbound books, pink text at the top reads Rethinking the Classics Tips and Resources

Rethinking the Classics in Secondary ELA

Want to include more diverse voices in your ELA classroom, without sacrificing rigor & standards? My “Rethinking the Classics” series was made for you! Do you feel stuck teaching the “dead white guys” and feel you don’t have a way out? You CAN make your curriculum more inclusive, even if your district mandates the reading lists or your budget confines you to teaching certain texts. I’ve been working with Dr. Sheila Frye (from Teaching Literacy) on a project called “Rethinking the Classics” to help teachers find supplemental texts and curriculum updates. For each title, we identified potential Essential Questions and literary devices that you may want to explore with students. Then, for each of these, we researched supplemental texts and discussion techniques you could include to make your curriculum more diverse. For

Danielle Hall July 20, 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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Short Texts by LGBTQ+ Authors for Secondary ELA

Make your classroom more inclusive all year long by using these short texts by LGBTQ+ authors for Secondary ELA. These LGBTQ short stories and texts can be used to teach a variety of skills and concepts in your middle or high school class to enrich your young readers. Are you having a hard time increasing the representation in your Secondary ELA curriculum? You do not have to wait until October (LGBTQ+ History Month) or June (Pride month) to have a good reason to represent LGBTQ+ voices. Here are short story collections by LGBTQ+ authors that you can use year-round and connect to topics and skills you’re already teaching. Short Texts by LGBTQ+ Authors for Secondary ELA “At Seventeen” (song) Janis Ian This song gives students a great chance to analyze the author’s purpose and meaning.

Leila Hobbs June 23, 2021

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Professional Development Books for Teachers

Need a summer read? These professional development books for teachers cover topics from Shakespeare to standardized testing, and beyond! Ah, summer! A time for relaxation and recharging… …this is also a pretty great time to slow down and hear ourselves think, am I right? That’s why I like to read at least two professional development books for teachers in the summer. I like to sit with my cup of coffee and process the year through the lens of a good book. Here are some books I’ve been learning from over the last couple of years. You can find these books on my affiliate list as Bookshop.org. Using Bookshop, you’ll support the independent bookstore of your choice, and I’ll get a small kickback from every purchase that I use to update and maintain this blog. Win

Danielle Hall June 15, 2021

New Short Stories for Middle School

No dusty old classics here! There are my favoite new short stories for middle school, and some non-traditional texts to engage and inspire. Are you struggling to get your students excited about reading? Do even your most engaged students zone out when you bring out the reading list of “classics”? Sometimes all students need is a fresh story. Something that feels relevant to them and their peers. We can revitalize our content, without sacrificing our standards. And I’m here to help! Today I’m sharing with you some of my favorite new short stories of middle school and ideas for how to use them, but if you want this type of content for high schoolers, I’ve got you covered too 🙂 Modern Short Stories for Middle School: Short Story: “How to Be Chinese” by Celeste Ng

Danielle Hall June 1, 2021

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Teaching with Short Films in Middle & High School ELA

Teaching with short films in ELA is a great way to strengthen reading skills and increase students’ literary analysis. Why use short films with students? Much in the same way that short stories can help reach reluctant readers, short films are excellent for demonstrating literary elements in ways that are approachable, memorable, and engaging. They’re also a fantastic choice for ELLs since many of them have little to no dialogue, and therefore rely on more universal means of communicating their message. I’ll share some specific tips for the short films I’m shouting out, but here are some activities you can use with any short film: Practice writing summaries. Since short films are just that (short), they’re easy to summarize in a paragraph. You can make it more fun and challenging by asking students to write

Leila Hobbs May 25, 2021

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Choosing Digital Escape Rooms for Secondary ELA

Looking to try digital escape rooms for Secondary ELA students? This post will help find a game that meets your needs. Choosing Digital Escape Rooms for ELA You may have played a digital escape room with your students at this point, but have you tried a series yet? Digital Escape Room series are a great way to increase your students’ endurance for reading, strengthen their reading skills, and keep them coming back for more! (In this post, I’ll be focusing on my two ELA game series, Terminus & Burnbridge Breakouts. If you’re looking for a “one-off” game that focuses on a specific text or topic, I also have digital escape rooms for The Odyssey, Romeo & Juliet, Lord of the Flies, The Harlem Renaissance, The Roaring 20s, and a Poetry Escape Room.) Terminus

Leila Hobbs May 18, 2021

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Teaching Social Justice with Short Stories in Middle School

Short stories are great ways to tackle big issues in easy-to-digest lessons! Here are my tips for teaching social justice with short stories. Short stories can be great foundational texts for conversations about social justice and current events. (More about incorporating current events in the classroom here.) Because they’re short, they can act as common reading before students work on discussion and research. Also, teaching social justice with short stories can help students connect those stories to nonfiction texts like essays and news articles. They can hone in on the relationship between literature, politics, and “the real world.” This makes literature more relevant. And it’s always easier to talk about big issues through the lens of fictional characters. Besides suggestions for contemporary short stories, I’ve added other texts that fit this bill. Giving students a

Danielle Hall May 4, 2021

A cup of coffee next to a laptop with the text "Romeo & Juliet. Engaging ideas for in-person, hybrid, or digital."

Teaching Romeo & Juliet

How do I teach Romeo & Juliet? Let me count the ways! To me, it’s a timeless classic, but I know that many students struggle to connect with with story. Some students tell me it’s “corny” and “unrealistic.” Sometimes they’re thrown off by Shakespeare’s language. (More on teaching Shakespeare’s language here!) But that doesn’t mean we should just give up on the bard! In this post I’ll give tips for teaching Romeo & Juliet that make it more inclusive, engaging, and relatable to your students. And as a bonus, all of these ideas will work for virtual, hybrid, or in-person learning. (And these are just a few of my Romeo & Juliet ideas, you can find the rest in my full Rethinking the Classics: Romeo & Juliet resource.) Teaching Romeo & Juliet: Play

Danielle Hall April 27, 2021

A stack of books with the overlayed text "Poetry. Engaging ideas for in-person, hybrid, or digital."

Tips & Resources for Teaching Poetry in Secondary ELA

These tips for teaching poetry in secondary ELA are perfect for National Poetry Month (April), and they’ll help you create engaging lessons year-round. Is there a subject that divides students (and teachers, let’s be honest) more than poetry? Some folx (like me!) find poetry to be magical, moving, and merry, others find it to be confusing, boring, and a chore. While that hurts my heart, I understand. Poetry is a unique and exciting literary experience. A wide range of formats expressing a wide range of emotions. But our students can’t appreciate that if all we focus on is memorizing literary elements. By creating an inclusive, relevant, and approachable poetry unit, we can help more kids to fall in love with poetry as an art form. Over the years I’ve blogged a lot about teaching poetry

Danielle Hall April 20, 2021

Teaching Symbolism with 3 Short Stories

Do your students struggle to identify instances of symbolism in a text? Yeah, mine too. So today I am sharing some contemporary short stories, plus additional resources, to help you plan a unit on symbolism that is both compelling and memorable. Teaching symbolism with short stories helps students practice their analytical skills. The first way I found to engage my students was to bribe, uh, I mean, reward them with candy. Candy was the perfect way to help my students finally get symbolism. But the biggest positive change I made when teaching symbolism with short stories was to revamp the texts themselves. I was getting burned out on using the same old stories. (And teachers, if you’re getting bored, you can bet your students are too.) Plus, “Masque of the Red Death” and “The Pearl” (a

Danielle Hall March 16, 2021

YA Books with Strong Female Leads

Whether you’re looking for books to celebrate Women’s History Month or just amazing titles to add to your classroom library, here are some YA books with strong female leads you can use in your secondary ELA classroom. YA books with strong female leads: Dread Nation (YA Fantasy) Dread Nation is set in the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. The twist? The Civil War ended not after a treaty, but after the dead began to rise. To combat the undead –known as “shamblers”– many Black and Indigenous children are forced into a life of conscripted service. Our heroine Jane McKeene is attending Miss Preston’s School of Combat. It’s not the life she desires, but it offers her more opportunities than many of her fellow Black Americans. Dread Nation is a classic monster-tale in that

Leila Hobbs March 9, 2021

5 Powerful Tips for Teaching Social Justice in ELA

Do you want to be teaching social justice in ELA but you don’t know where to start? Check out these tips, resources, and low-prep projects. The title of this post is a bit misleading. Social Justice is part of teaching about our society and culture, and that is our principal work as ELA teachers. Our tools of choice are stories and communication, and we can interweave those in the goals of social justice. What is Social Justice? Social Justice is the acknowledgement of disparities in wealth and opportunities in our society based on race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability and an engagement in the effort to decrease those disparities. Therefore, developing an ad campaign to raise awareness about childhood poverty? Social justice. Writing an argumentative essay about why the town library should be wheelchair accessible?

Danielle Hall February 23, 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

Contemporary Short Stories for High School

Struggling to engage your reluctant readers? Check out these contemporary short stories for high school ELA. Are you excited to teach short stories, or does the thought of revisiting “The Lottery” and “The Lady of the Tiger” fill you with intense boredom? Well, if you are tired of using the same old dead White guys, I promise your students are tired of reading them. But don’t despair! There are tons of interesting contemporary YA short stories for high schoolers that you can use instead of (or alongside) the classics. Today I’m going to share a few of my favorites. Contemporary Short Stories for High School: Puro Amor by Sandra Cisneros Students may already be familiar with Cisneros’ work from her 1984 novel, The House On Mango Street. And you can expect more lush prose from

Danielle Hall February 2, 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

Teaching Irony with Short Stories

Are you looking to revitalize your short story unit? Are your students just not getting irony? I’m here to help! Here are 5 fresh texts for teaching irony with short stories. Sure, “Gift of the Magi” and “The Lottery” are classics for teaching irony, but they offer little in the way of inclusive representation. There is nothing wrong with these stories, but we can serve our students better by including a wider selection of voices and identities. I’m not asking you to stop teaching “The Lottery” or “Gift of the Magi”, but encouraging you to add some more inclusive short stories and supporting materials to your curriculum. Many teachers are working to diversify their curriculum to include more voices. I’ve been working with Dr. Sheila Frye (from Teaching Literacy) on a project called “Rethinking the

Danielle Hall January 12, 2021

Digital Escape Rooms for ELA

Have you tried any digital escape rooms for ELA? Whether you’re doing virtual, in-person, or hybrid learning, I have a game for you. Digital Escape Rooms for ELA: Do you LOVE Escape Rooms, but feel like they’re out of reach now? Whether we’re in distance learning, a hybrid classroom, or trying to maintain social distancing in a physical classroom, we can still bring the critical thinking and excitement of an escape room to our lessons. The answer? Digital Escape Rooms for ELA. Since March, I’ve been working on creating digital versions of my most popular games. Each digital escape room has the same tasks and content as the original paper games, and now has much more flexibility for you, the teacher. Game List: Introduction to Shakespeare Digital Breakout Introduction to The Odyssey

Danielle Hall January 5, 2021

Terminus – Digital Breakouts for ELA

Are you looking for new digital breakouts for ELA? Look no further! I’d like to introduce you to my newest game series, Terminus. Terminus is a four-part digital adventure series geared towards 8th and 9th grade students who read below level. This story is a post-pandemic, found-text adventure. Playing as Rania, students work to solve the mystery of the MILSA outbreak by reading letters, memos, manuals, and emails left behind. Behind the game This game was a labor of love by myself and my wife Amanda Thrasher. Amanda wrote the storyline, and I designed the puzzles. Then, we combined it all with incredible original art by Lily Chan. Amanda began writing Terminus in the summer of 2019 (while I was at the TPT conference!) and finished it later that year. Little did we know that

Danielle Hall December 8, 2020

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

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

15 MORE TV Episodes to Use in ELA

After the popularity of my 2017 post, 15 TV Episodes to Use In ELA, I thought it was time for an update. That was 3 years ago, after all! Tons of exceptional new shows have come out, I’ve discovered shows that are “new to me,” and gotten reacquainted with some old favorites. Using TV episodes in ELA can be more than just a reward (although that’s okay too!). Television can be a great way to introduce new concepts or review old topics, in an engaging, bite-sized format. Using TV to practice critical writing can be a distance learning asset or as part of a sub-plan. I have a TV Episode Review activity up in my TPT store if you’re looking for something like that 🙂 I also have a new resource (2023) that has 15

Danielle Hall September 11, 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

Current Events in the Classroom

You can help your students see beyond the headlines! In this post, nine other teachers and I share our favorite tips for teaching current events. Current Events in the Classroom When we have to devote so much time to teaching the test, I know how tough it is to consider adding anything new, like teaching current events, into your routine. As tough as it is, it’s worth it! Our students might sometimes seem far from adults to us, but in a few years, they’ll be driving, voting, working, and hopefully fully autonomous members of society. We can help them prepare for adulthood by helping them to understand our ever-changing world. …But you don’t have to take it from me I asked some of my #teachergram friends for their take on teaching current

Danielle Hall February 27, 2020

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