Worth a Read...

Graphic Novelist Gene Luen Yang: Read Beyond Your Comfort Zone, Part IGraphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, the national ambassador for young people's literature, is pushing K-12 students to read books that help them consider other perspectives on the human condition.

Stop Using the Label 'Struggling Reader,' Author Jacqueline Woodson AdvisesThe bestselling author of the memoir-in-verse Brown Girl Dreaming was recently named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Here's how she plans to use her new platform.

Isn't labeling our students as "struggling readers" counter to the whole concept of Mindset? They just have become skilled readers...YET.

Listening, Speaking, and the Written Word

Want to Enrich Students' Reading Lives? Don’t Dismiss AudiobooksKyle Redford writes that when weighing whether to use audiobooks, especially with struggling readers, teachers should ask themselves: What is reading?

Tch Talks 25: Sarah Kay and Project VOICEOn this episode of Tch Talks, Sarah discusses the origin story of Project VOICE, her own introduction to spoken word poetry, and her work as a poet, an educator, and a bestselling author. Whether speaking from her heart or from her head, Sarah believes that spoken word poetry can be an important educational tool that will have a lasting positive impact on your students' motivation, creativity, self-esteem, agency, and their desire to share their own stories and listen to the stories of others. Listen in to find out more.

Mrs. Brown's classes recently wrote Spoken Word Poetry. The above Podcast addresses the value of Spoken Word Poetry in the classroom with Sarah Kay, one of the most well-known performance poets in the world and, at one time, one of the youngest.