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

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 Whether you view it as a treasured classic, or an outdated relic, I have some tips.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 🙂 Once you’ve perused my older post, look

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

Teaching The Odyssey with an Interactive Escape Room

Take a look inside my completely updated and redesigned Odyssey interactive escape room. New art, new hints, and a brand new digital platform for teaching the Odyssey. Have you played my Odyssey Escape Room? In this interactive adventure, students play as Telemachus, trying to solve Eumaeus’ puzzle and get access to Odysseus’ famed bow. It’s an introduction to the Greek gods and goddesses, the characters in The Odyssey, and life and customs on Ithaca. Since I first shared this resource in 2017, it has been in constant evolution, improving for the better based on amazing feedback from students and teachers. One teacher told me that her class needed hints, so she set herself up as the Oracle at Delphi. I worked this into an update in late 2018, adding four hints in verse for the

Danielle Hall January 9, 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

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

Inclusive Nonfiction Titles for the Classroom Library

Do you struggle to get students interested in nonfiction? Keep pushing! Fostering a love of reading nonfiction books can help students become lifelong learners. If you’re looking for engaging, inclusive nonfiction for your secondary ELA classroom, look no further! This list has a little bit of everything from memoirs to history. I have compiled tons of recommendation lists that focus on novels, but I know that sometimes the biggest struggle can be finding nonfiction titles for secondary ELA. I hear you, and I’m here to help! 🙂 The list is broken down by genre to help you peruse, and I hope you enjoy it! Engaging Nonfiction for Secondary ELA: Memoirs: Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson Twenty years after her groundbreaking novel, Speak, Anderson has given us Shout, her memoir.

Danielle Hall October 24, 2019

A photo of golden maple leaves in the sunlight. There is text overlaid that says "Engaging - Rigorous - Creative - Halloween Activities for Secondary ELA

15 Halloween School Activities for Secondary ELA

Looking for engaging and rigorous Halloween school activities for your Secondary ELA classroom? Look no further! These mini-lessons will build close reading skills, practice inferencing, and get students thinking creatively. Whether you are a Halloween lover or a Halloween tolerate-er, it will be on the forefront of your students’ brains this time of the year. They are likely dreaming up their costumes, gossiping about the hip parties, and totally ignoring your lessons! Here are 15 Halloween school activities for secondary ELA that will allow you to use that excitement in your classroom: 1. Analyze Symbolism & Allegory with Candy It seems like, as soon as the calendar flips to October, students have candy on the brain! You can “lean in” to this energy. If you’re reading a story with heavy symbolism (such as “Masque of

Danielle Hall October 3, 2019

LGBTQ Middle Grade Novels

Since we started the YA Cafe Podcast, we’ve gotten a lot of questions about LGBTQ middle-grade novels. This means anywhere from 4th-8th grade. Since our show doesn’t always cover this age range, we thought we’d spend some time here talking about it. Need recommendations for high schoolers instead? I have a big list of books for the high school classroom library that feature LGBTQ protagonists 🙂 Why should I include LGBTQ titles in my classroom library? My students are too young. Including LGBTQ middle grade novels in your library is not about sex. Seriously. (I mean, we can talk about the statistics of middle schoolers who do have sex, but that’s not what you’re talking about; I know) Anytime we’re talking about including more representation in a classroom library, we’re talking about issues of identity.

Danielle Hall September 19, 2019

15 More Songs for Teaching ELA

Song lyrics can be so versatile in the classroom: Creative writing inspiration, making non-fiction more engaging, etc. Here are 15 more songs for teaching ELA, and suggestions on how to use them. Ask and you shall receive! My other post, 15 Songs to Use in ELA has gotten so much positive feedback that I decided to make a sequel 🙂 Like before I am linking to these songs on YouTube, but it’s not necessary for students to watch the videos. And as always, not all songs for teaching ELA will be appropriate for all classrooms; you know your students best 🙂 More Songs for Teaching ELA 1. “Poor, Unfortunate Souls” (The Little Mermaid) “Poor, unfortunate soulsIn pain, in needThis one longing to be thinnerThat one wants to get the girlAnd do I help them?Yes, indeed!”

Danielle Hall September 5, 2019

Engaging Reluctant Readers with a Digital Adventure Game

We know that our reluctant readers have a skills deficit that grows over time. Whereas a student may be just one grade level behind in elementary school, that gap can grow if we don’t address the problem. By high school, a student who can’t read at grade level faces significant difficulties across content areas. Moreover, it becomes challenging to find age-appropriate texts to support that student’s progress. But, fear not! We’re going to work together to improve student reading! Let’s give the issue a human face. Malcolm is a smart and charismatic 8th grader. He’s the class diplomat; whenever the class wants something from you, they delegate Malcolm to come forward and persuade you. It’s Malcolm who sees through all of your gimmicks – you thought you could bribe them with candy? Hah! It’ll take

Danielle Hall August 1, 2019

Teaching Executive Functioning with Escape Rooms

Have you been told you should be teaching executive functioning? Is this a totally overwhelming proposition? Where do you even start? Let’s break it down. Teaching Executive Functioning Executive Functioning is the complex way the brain ‘works’. We use these skills to make decisions, choices, and plans. When we use strong executive functioning, we work smarter. We can delay gratification when working towards a goal, plan for the future, and avoid feeling stuck when our plan hits a snag. A lack of executive function skills leads to impulsive/reckless behavior, poor planning/time management, and an inability to stick with a task from start to finish. Sound familiar? Of course, it’s normal human behavior to be occasionally careless with our time, or to make a rash decision. But if students are struggling

Danielle Hall July 18, 2019

Wicked Fox & more: Asian American author spotlight

Asian American YA Authors and Protags

sHow many Asian American YA novels do you have in your classroom library? We recently read Wicked Fox, a new YA urban fantasy by Kat Cho, and we wanted to collect some of our favorite Asian American YA authors and protags to share. According to a study done by Creative Commons, only 7% of children’s and YA books released in 2018 have characters from Asian backgrounds. This demographic is being hugely underrepresented in publishing, and that’s why today we want to spotlight some #ownvoices stories. Asian American YA Novels for Middle School: Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen Pilu of the Woods is a graphic novel following an episode in Willow’s life after the death of her mother. After Willow gets in a fight with her sister, she runs

Danielle Hall July 2, 2019

A girls hand writing in a journal with the overlaid text "TED Talks to inspire Young Writers"

TED Talks for Young Writers

Have you ever used videos to inspire your students to write? Here are some TED talks for young writers you’ll be able to use at different moments in your curriculum. As I‘ve mentioned before on this blog, I love the Writer‘s Workshop model! Each day includes a focusing mini-lesson, time to write and ponder, and time to share or conference. Videos can be an excellent opportunity for students to choose a concept they’ll focus on in their writing that day. TED Talks for Young Writers Nnedi Okorafor – Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa (9:21) Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor didn’t grow up reading science fiction. As a child, she says, it didn’t appeal to her. She wasn’t able to ‘see’ herself in the characters. But now, by writing Afro-futuristic science fiction, she

Danielle Hall June 6, 2019

Teaching Social Justice with Literature Circles

We read a lot of books with social issues for the YA Cafe Podcast, and I feature a lot of these books on my own Instagram. Because of this, teachers often ask me for resources for teaching social justice books. Today, I want to share some specific resources for teaching social justice literature circles. Literature circles are classroom book clubs that give students a chance to read a selected novel with a small group of their peers. You can set this up several ways, but I typically choose enough books so that there are 4-5 readers per group. I have students meet twice per week over four weeks. Students make a reading schedule during their first group meeting and they generate focus questions for their reading. I like to have group presentations at the

Danielle Hall May 21, 2019

LGBTQ+ YA Novels for Pride Month

PRIDE month is almost here! Woo-hoo! In celebration, here are 21 diverse LGBTQ+ YA novels for your high school classroom library, broken down by genre. Building your classroom library to represent more voices is a great way to build empathy, teach peace, and draw in all of your students. Creating an inclusive classroom library filled with LGBTQ+ YA novels is one small way you can make your LBGTQ+ students feel safe. I have some other tips for creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ students in this post on the Secondary ELA Coffee Shop. I also have recommendations for short texts by LGBTQ+ authors, LGBTQ+ books for middle-grade students, and YA/MG books featuring trans and non-binary protagonists. Contemporary LGBTQ+ YA Novels The Summer of Jordi Perez by Amy Spalding In The Summer of Jordi Perez, Abby scores

Danielle Hall May 14, 2019

Adding Physical Locks to Escape Rooms

Classroom Escape Rooms are collaborative games that make engaging review activities for students! Students work together to solve puzzles in order to be the first to “escape”. I’ve written a lot about using Escape Rooms in ELA before, and today I want to focus on just one aspect: adding physical locks to Escape Rooms. Many teachers love the idea of adding physical locks to Escape Rooms, but don’t know where to start. There are kits out there, but they can be expensive. Moreover, if you purchase an Escape Room on TpT that wasn’t made to use physical locks, what do you do? So, let’s break this down. Escape Rooms don’t require physical locks. I have designed all of my classroom escape rooms for use without physical locks. This is because locks

Danielle Hall April 30, 2019

Teaching the Great Gatsby: Building Background

Teaching The Great Gatsby can be transportive and engaging. Students explore a whole new era (Flappers! Jazz! Speakeasies!) while still making modern-day connections. To get the full impact of this American classic, however, students need to situate it within its historical context. Building Context: The Post-War Era Before teaching The Great Gatsby and the quirks of the 1920s, you should share context with students for the American spirit right after World War I. in 1917, we were reeling! Depending on how your school sets up your history curriculum, students may already be familiar with this. Activating prior knowledge creates a bridge between their history class and your novel unit. 4-Corners Brainstorming Separate students into four groups. Give each group one of the following questions. What are possible difficulties faced by

Danielle Hall April 23, 2019

Pilu of the Woods (and Trauma-Informed Teaching)

Author H.D. Hunter joins Danielle for a discussion of Trauma-Informed Teaching and YA books that touch on grief, like Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen. (Transcript) In today’s episode… Pilu of the Woods is a graphic novel following an episode in Willow’s life after the death of her mother. After Willow gets in a fight with her sister, she runs away to the woods to calm down. She meets Pilu, a young tree spirit who feels her mother doesn’t love her. Can the two girls help each other find peace among turmoil? These Show Notes use Amazon Affiliate Links for your convenience. If you decide to purchase this book, please consider doing so through our affiliate links. Your support makes this podcast possible. Episode highlights… Today’s entire episode is

Danielle Hall April 11, 2019

Including Superheroes in American Literature

When I took American Literature as a high schooler in 2003, we read a range of texts from colonial accounts to Puritan sermons to stories from the Great Depression. Even as a future English teacher, I hated the class. Where were our nation’s epics? I already viewed Huck Finn as passé and overrated, and The Grapes of Wrath never spoke to me. Where was our Beowulf? Our Odyssey? Fast-forward a few years to my student-teaching in 2009, and the cinematic rise of superheroes had begun. DC had already launched a successful new Batman franchise with Christian Bale in the lead role, The Dark Knight breaking all kinds of box office records in the summer of 2008. Marvel had success with its first hit of the new age: Iron Man. Now, I could talk to

Danielle Hall April 2, 2019

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