Back-to-school season can mean immediate overwhelm and stress when it comes to lesson planning. Everyone is thrown back into the school routine, and it can be easy to not know where to start, especially with planning read alouds and book talks. I remember constantly thinking, I can’t wait to actually get to the content that I will be teaching.

So, why wait? Picture books can be used as read-alouds in the secondary classroom, and they can help access course content and building community activities. In this list, I have curated the ten best picture books that promise to ignite young minds, kindle imagination, and infuse the classroom with the joy of reading and writing. These storytime staples are here to accompany both students and educators on a captivating literary ride, setting the perfect tone for a year filled with exploration, growth, and endless possibilities.

Get ready to turn the page and dive into a world where learning knows no bounds!

July and August mark the beginning of a new season of school. While many view this time of year with mixed emotions, the idea of back-to-school planning is often met with a particular groan. It is hard to narrow down what to teach our kids when we haven’t met them yet. We want to create activities that will help us get to know them, but we also have to balance building expectations, district expectations, curriculum needs, and any pre-assessments or standardized testing. The time blocks can fill up, and it can be easy to feel like time is running away from you.

This post contains 5 areas that you can consider when doing your back-to-school planning. Specifically, I will be talking to literacy teachers in classrooms grades 4-10, but everyone can pick up some of these ideas and apply the concepts to their own classroom. You can also feel free to steal my first two weeks of school already planned out in detail in this post.

August always feels far away, and then all of the sudden it is here. It has to be one the fastest moving months throughout the year. Back-to-school advertisements and sales are everywhere. All of the teachers I know (including myself) are struggling with how the fall will look for students, teachers, and families as we return to teaching during a pandemic. How quickly will burnout set in? Will everything be okay? The new dynamic of being a mom will also be on my plate as I enter the upcoming school year. Managing family schedules, daycare, and finding time to fit in what really matters is going to be an added challenge. I have loved bullet journaling for the past 4 years, but I have also used a Passion Planner occasionally when I need to get myself back on track in terms of organization and goals. This post outlines how I plan to use BOTH a Passion Planner and a bullet journal to keep myself on track in terms of goals and tasks, but also dreams, family time, and trying to fit in a certain amount of self-care to avoid burnout.

As a teacher, it is easy to find yourself in a state of being pretty negative at school. Not necessarily with the students, but with other teachers and staff in the building. The cycle of negative talk-particularly negative teacher self-talk- is one that can consume school buildings in various spots, in entire hallways or sections, and in entire buildings. It manifests into people not wanting to come to work. Think about it like the culture and climate of your brain. The thoughts that we are thinking when we wake up, the ideas that cross our minds throughout the day while we are making millions of decisions, and the contemplations that we feel driving home are all indicators of who we are as people and where we are at in terms of self-care and belief about our work. Simply, we are our thoughts. This post is all about the connection our thoughts have to our actions and bodies. If we can talk about negative teacher self-talk in a way that helps combat fatigue and negativity in the workplace, we have a shot at changing our point of view. First, recognize the signs of negative teacher self-talk in yourself and in others:

1. Significantly reduced patience with classroom management (Quick to snap)

2. Increased levels of stress and anxiety

3. Trouble sleeping or waking up with a 3 am a to-do list

4. Taking work home to your significant other or family in a counter-productive way or bottling up completely about the issues at work to appear like you are fine

5. Lack of creativity or energy in lesson planning or delivery

6. Not wanting to get up to go to work for repeated days in a row

I often go speak to pre-service teachers at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. It is right down the road from my school building, and I love answering questions about teaching. It makes me a bit giddy. However, I have started to realize over the years that I am answering the same questions and some questions-that are really important-never come up. I wanted to make a post to outline the questions that I think new teachers should be asking before they step foot into a classroom, and then offer some words of advice or encouragement about each question. The post shows the 10 questions that I think matter to pre-service teachers and new teachers in the field. The hope is if we start having the conversations now with new teachers, the hard parts of teaching won’t catch anybody off guard. The goal is always for teachers to keep teaching, even when we think it is impossible.

I could talk about sketchnotes all day. I could also really talk about how I think sketchnotes merge seamlessly with thinking maps. Both of these tools create a visual method of note-taking for students that defies the traditional norms of the column notes or teacher-guided notetaking. They also have the power to transform assessment in our classrooms. Students light up when they are able to complete a formative assessment or a summative assessment in a way that isn’t standard. It is outside-of-the-box. It is necessary.

Sketchnotes is visual note-taking.

If you need to be sold on the love of doodling watch this TED Talk, or simply check out any of Lynda Berry's work, like Syllabus. I love Verbal to Visual because they have made an entire center for teachers to become familiar with sketchnotes. This post is a gallery post of examples of sketchnotes and applications from my classroom. This post is meant to be an inspiration to infuse art into your literacy classroom.

Reading and writing are all too often cyclical. Everyone knows good reading fuels good writing and vice versa. As a middle school teacher, I really wish that I was able to teach reading and writing separately or even give them their own block of time, but I do also love the impossible harmony that is being a reading AND writing teacher. This post will explain how I start my week with students, and how I often will start each class. I always start each hour the first day of the week with a book talk about a middle grade or young adult novel or nonfiction book. It kicks off my mentor text work with kids, and it gets them excited about a book they may or may not have heard about before. This post goes into detail to explain why the simple act of talking about books in a way that makes kids want to read them is one of the most important things we can do as teachers each day.

I love looking at what other people have planned for the first two weeks of school. While some people feel inventive and creative, I sometimes feel really pressured to make sure that the first two weeks feel…perfect. And I can guarantee that nothing feels particularly perfect this year as we head back-to-school with online learning. However, I told my classes today: “No matter where we are, we are going to learn and have a great time.” I meant it. I wanted to include my favorite resources, books, and the learning platforms that I am using for heading back-to-school. I know that my teaching will be forever changed due to the adaptations and modifications I am making for my instruction in the current moment. This post starts with my first day plans, and then it provides a simple-structured outline for the rest of the two weeks. I did not include any language regarding essential questions and standards. I wanted to focus on the main activities and the tools I used to plan those activities along the way.

I always end the first six weeks of school with narrative poetry. 1.) It is a mindset thing. I want to show the kids who don’t think they can write poetry that they indeed can write poetry. 2.) It is an excellent way to get to know students better. We may think we know each other after six weeks, but in reality, we have spent a lot of that time on testing and expectations. it is powerful to know our students and let our students know who we are as people. Cue Where I’m From Poems and I Am Poems. I use this form of poetry from George Ella Lyon each year to help build community and access important identity work. This post includes all of the assignment materials and my step-by-step process including mentor texts and a read-aloud.

In the midst of everything lately, I have become laser-focused on the concept of my own comfort zone. This is not just a boundary of physical space, but also a mental periphery of my privilege that extends beyond the tone and color of my skin, my socioeconomic status, my personal education, access to resources and networks, and my formative years of experience. As a teacher, I have been thinking about the status of things that I have grown comfortable with for a long while. Because in my classroom, I am all things comfortable. I own that space because I have made it mine. I have filled it with two cups of love, one cup of understanding, a heaping mound of constantly learning new strategies and resources, and a dash of a look across the room that can say “Please, don’t try that same stuff with me today.” My classroom is where I often feel the most like me.

However, I wonder if that comfort zone is just a thing in my mind I have created to develop a sense of mastery. I am reminded in this process that there is no mastery when it comes to being an ally to my students who are Black, indigenous and people of color. There is only fighting against the comfort zone. While there are many things I disagree with about the system of education and my role as an educator, I have spent 10 years teaching and not much has changed.

Distance or online learning creates the opportunity for teachers to learn new ways to approach students. I have always loved educational technology, and I have to admit, getting excited about learning how to screencast, edit videos, and use technology to meet with students has been good for my student-soul. I created a video tutorial for how to create a journal vision board, put music to the background, and transitions, and you would have thought I was the next coder to grab a hold of a mouse and keyboard. It is a powerful thing to keep learning. And while we must remain open and shift our mindsets to remaining positive during school closures, the most powerful and important tool I have right now in my teacher bag is the student journaling assignment.

The move to online and distance learning has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions, feelings, and actions. I have simultaneously felt like I am not doing enough, and then in another moment, I am trying to tackle all of the things to make myself feel better, more productive. I am asking myself,

“Are you reading enough?”

“Are you writing enough?”

“Are you thinking enough about what matters? The work that has to be done when we go back?”

“Are you sleeping?”

All of these are check-ins with normal routines and behavior. However, we aren’t in a normal routine or behavior mode. This is something different. I have noticed that many of my first reactions to emails, news feeds, blog posts, and videos about distance learning come with “knee-jerk” reactions that make me feel well,...like a jerk. I started last week working purposefully to get myself out of negative reactions immediately, and then focus on the positive aspects of all situations.

During the course of the past month, I have watched other teachers and people in education take on distance learning with full force. What teachers are doing is powerful. The expectations and protocols to move online and the variances from district-to-district are also stifling. Some are being asked to do too much, other teachers not as much. The moral compass of all of this begs the question, what is right in all of this? My answer would be whatever is best for children and creates a positive response in both you and your online classroom. This blog post outlines how to use your journal to shift to positivity, and it uses many negative reactions as writing prompts to get you thinking about your own mindset.

Sometimes we need to make our own positivity.

I went back and forth on creating this remote learning document and sending it out to families. I feel that students deserve to have time off with their families, but I also knew that a month away during the school year was an extensive amount of time to miss. What a time we are living in right now. Coronavirus or COVID-19 has taken the country by storm and in attempts to “flatten the curve,” schools have shut down. My own district is out for a month, including one week of spring break. It seems like everywhere I look people are posting ideas for online learning and remote learning. While I know that many of my families struggle with access to technology, many of my families do have resources and materials available. Even if this is in the form of a mobile phone or device. I finally came to the decision that if even if some of my students find these resources useful, I would be glad I put the list together. I wanted to send out a hyperdoc with links to valuable resources that can help allow learning to happen (or at least attempt to) while we are away. This whole issue brings up so many reflections.

As educators, what are we supposed to be taking away from this moment?

What flaws in the system are now clear when our buildings shut down?

What limitations are not being addressed that allow our children to learn when our buildings are up and running?

I am proud that my district will offer food drops, but nothing can replace the routine, the classroom, the learning, the engagement, and the opportunities. The inspiration for this post came from Jennifer Gonzalez from the Cult of Pedagogy and her post titled “How HyperDocs Can Transform Your Teaching.” It made the most sense to offer a hyperdoc that linked to valuable resources. This post will outline my letter to families, a suggested schedule, and 20+ strategies to reach online learners through remote systems.

Any time there is a transition from being on a break from work back to the everyday routine, it is a struggle. However, this past transition from winter break to teaching in January seemed a little tougher than usual. My students seemed off, I seemed off, and I had to plan for a sub day in the middle of the week due to a school improvement conference I had to attend. The theme for the week was “off.” There are signs of burnout that creep in that sometimes have nothing to do with being on a break or not. Simply, teachers are asked to do all things at all times, and this causes mindset burnout-even if they are just coming off of a break. There are lots of symptoms, but I find that my day-to-day resiliency to handle all of my teacher tasks begins to suffer when I feel burnout settle into my mindset. it is the moment when making a to-do list even seems overwhelming.

For example, I was making the comment to my husband one night this past week:

“I feel like I could work for another 2-3 hours tonight, and I still would not be caught up. I’m never caught up.”

Some teachers that are part of the #mytimeismyown movement on social media, or are trying to prioritize their time outside of the walls of teaching, may have just cringed. But, we all have been there. I don’t want to work at home, but the demands of the job continue to demand time. I recently got 100 graphic novels awarded to my classroom through a grant. I would not have received those materials if I had not given up time outside of the usual to write the grant, present the grant, and then follow through on plans for the new materials. The real question here is how do we set limits? Because the truth is, teachers are trying as hard as they can.

I think all new English teachers love the idea of the novel study. I did. I still do. However, I have picked up some skills and strategies along the way that have made my novel units much more enjoyable for both me and my students. In my first year of teaching in 2010, I was instructed by my district pacing guide to teaching Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor to my sixth-grade students. I was at the district alternative middle school that involved a heavily transient population that struggled with reading. I think we studied that book for almost 3 months because we couldn’t move as a group through the novel. I had an idea in my head, I wanted to finish the idea to the end, and I was determined to manifest that moment of talking about a book happen in my first-year classroom. It didn’t happen. Now, it is a story I tell my pre-service teachers when they come into my room to observe my classroom during novel units. A novel study should never be a tool for torture.

I still teach Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; however, my novel units are designed completely different from when I started teaching. I also know when it is okay to give up on something if it is not working. No teacher I know wants to be pegged as a “book quitter,” but there are times when we, as teachers, need to quit books, practice, and strategies that we have been doing to discover a deeper level of learning on the other side. Perhaps one of the best parts about being a teacher of English is the infamous novel study unit. From choosing books to share with students to figuring out how to shape the ins and outs of each day of class, the novel unit remains a joy to teach and a complicated mess. This post will walk you through all the things I think about when it comes to teaching a novel to a group of students. I also throw in some examples at the end of the post for you to check out in both general and accelerated classes.

The phrase that I have heard so many times in meetings and throughout professional developments is: “We have to stop going a mile wide and an inch deep.” I will often keep track of how many times I hear this in meetings on a sticky note. Not kidding. The alternative to this is of course that we need to be focusing on an inch-wide worth material while going a mile deep in the quest to find mastery. As this idiom relates to teaching, secondary English Language Arts teachers have the particular problem of being tasked with teaching both reading and writing in small blocks of class time. Here are some particular questions I often get on the blog, in my classroom, and the questions I ask myself on days when I am pulling my own hair out:

How do I fit it all in?

What gets left out if I can’t do it all?

How am I building readers AND writers?

Is reading more important than writing?

Does my curriculum guide provide that balance of reading and writing for me?

These are just a few questions that cause any ELA teacher to pause and reflect and perhaps think, “how is this job even possible.” My brain often looks like a tangled Pinterest feed with ideas about strategies and resources.  I don’t have any hard answers here. I just want to provide how I attempt to “fit it all” into my blocks of class time each day, week, and year. I have many things I love and will continue to do, and I have things that I try out all the time. This goes back to my non-negotiables because I have things that I will always continue to do because I can visually see learning taking place in front of me, and I have things I try to improve on all the time. My goal with this post is NOT to try to say what the correct strategies are for “fitting it all in,” but simply offer a way one teacher is doing it in the spirit of collaboration and sanity. 

I wanted to review one of Kelly Gallagher's strategies called Article of the Week that has changed the game of teaching for me. I have tried every method of homework under the sun in the past 9 years. I have tried homework menus, homework assigned on certain days, daily five homework, grammar homework, reading homework, writing homework...and the list goes on. The main method of homework that works for my students and that remains genuine is Gallagher's Article of the Week. The Article of the Week or AOW incorporates the addition of useful non-fiction resources into the classroom, and also provides students with a method of increasing their reading performance and knowledge base. Students are taught skills and purpose with annotation.  I like to assign a new focus for each trimester while doing an AOW.

When I first started working on this post, I looked up synonyms for anxiety. Not that I needed a definition, I just was curious what would pop-up on the page. The word that stuck out to me the most was mistrust. As English Teachers and teachers in general, we mistrust ourselves based on our profession workload because it is a.) overwhelming and b.) important work. We come to grasp that we can never achieve perfection, and for many perfectionists, this means in our minds we think we are settling. Teacher anxiety does not apply to just English Teachers alone, but the volume of paper and grading that is specific to the teaching of English creates an interesting dynamic where we often feel behind, tired, and downright depressed. I am not putting on the table that other subjects do not have grading issues, but there is a special place in my soul that dies a little when I take 76 MLA research paper rough drafts home to grade.