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This month as I set out to learn and talk more about dyslexia, I went on a quest specifically to find out what types of books are better suited for readers with dyslexia. The answer to this question is slightly more complicated and I touch on it some in this infographic. Along the way I found a list of books for kids that feature main characters that have dyslexia. This is great, I thought. We've talked a lot about representation and I had just stumbled upon a list of books that could help kids with dyslexia feel seen and understood. The problem was, the list primarily featured younger kids. So I went looking for a list of teen (young adult) fiction that featured teens with dyslexia and to be honest, I didn't find a lot.

So I asked my librarian friends on Twitter for recommendations and to be honest, I still didn't find a lot. When you consider that it is believed that 1 in 5 people has dyslexia, it seems like there should be more than a couple of handful of books that feature characters with dyslexia. And keep in mind that some of what was recommended was just believed to be dyslexia, some of the books recommended don't actually use that word. If we want to help kids with dyslexia feel validated and help our world better understand and support kids with dyslexia, I believe that it is important that the word dyslexia be used to help de-stigmatize and normalize our kiddos with dyslexia. They are around 20% of the population and it's important. Though to be clear, any type of disability is underrepresented in youth literature and it is a huge opportunity for growth when we talk about representation.

Here's a look at what I did find or was recommended to me.

Photograph of an RA tool I created to share with Fort Worth Public Library staff

Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Publisher's Book Description: Monday Charles is missing, and only Claudia seems to notice. Claudia and Monday have always been inseparable-more sisters than friends. So when Monday doesn't turn up for the first day of school, Claudia's worried. When she doesn't show for the second day, or second week, Claudia knows that something is wrong. Monday wouldn't just leave her to endure tests and bullies alone. Not after last year's rumors and not with her grades on the line. Now Claudia needs her best-and only-friend more than ever. But Monday's mother refuses to give Claudia a straight answer, and Monday's sister April is even less help.

As Claudia digs deeper into her friend's disappearance, she discovers that no one seems to remember the last time they saw Monday. How can a teenage girl just vanish without anyone noticing that she's gone?

Karen's Thoughts: I've read this book and it's a very good book. At the time that I read it I wasn't looking for dyslexia representation, but as soon as it was recommended to me for this list I thought, yes! The main character, Claudia, has dyslexia and it shown to struggle in many ways with reading, homework and many of the same issues that I see my child with dyslexia struggling with.
Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Publisher's Book Description: Sixteen-year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of the car while her stepmom fills a prescription for antibiotics. Before Cheyenne realizes what's happening, the car is being stolen.

Griffin hadn't meant to kidnap Cheyenne and once he finds out that not only does she have pneumonia, but that she's blind, he really doesn't know what to do. When his dad finds out that Cheyenne's father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes-now there's a reason to keep her.

How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare?

Karen's Thoughts: I have not yet read this book so I can't comment on the representation of dyslexia, but it was recommended to me and I have read other April Henry books and she writes engaging books for teen readers.
Dying to Know You by Aidan Chambers

Publisher's Book Description: Karl, aged seventeen, is hopelessly in love. But the object of his affections, Firella, demands proof, and poses him a series of questions regarding his attitude to the many sides of love. But Karl is dyslexic, and convinced that if Firella finds out, she will think he is stupid, and unworthy of her, and leave him.

So Karl asks a local writer to help him construct his replies - and an unlikely, but extremely touching, friendship develops between the two men. They both come to learn a great deal about about life from a very different perspective, and when an act of violence shatters their calm, they find their respective appraisal of life shifting in profound ways.

This is Aidan Chambers' Dying to Know You.

Karen't Thoughts: This is another title that I haven't read but I looked at reviews and all of the reviews clearly state that the main character, Karl, is dyslexic as does the publisher's book description. Given that many of us fight to get our kids a proper diagnosis, I feel that it is important that the character is clearly identified as being dyslexic.
Life at the Speed of Us by Heather Sappenfield

Publisher's Book Description: Silence is safe. Fate is not.

When Sovern Briggs survives a car crash, she stops talking to seal in the memory of the final sounds from her mother's life. As conflict with her father builds and failure in school looms, Sovern seeks relief in a dangerous boyfriend and in speed's adrenaline edge. These needs collide, leading Sovern to a snowboarding accident that changes her future and perhaps that of our universe.

Life at the Speed of Us weaves dyslexia, math, cutting-edge science, genius, and love into a young woman's reluctant journey toward grace.

Karen's Thoughts: This is yet another book that I haven't read that came recommended to me. Again, I appreciate and think it's important that dyslexia is clearly named.
Close to Famous by Joan Bauer

Publisher's Book Description: When twelve-year-old Foster and her mother land in the tiny town of Culpepper, they don't know what to expect. But folks quickly warm to the woman with the great voice and the girl who can bake like nobody's business. Soon Foster - who dreams of having her own cooking show one day - lands herself a gig baking for the local coffee shop, and gets herself some much-needed help in overcoming her biggest challenge - learning to read . . . just as Foster and Mama start to feel at ease, their past catches up to them. Thanks to the folks in Culpepper, though Foster and her mama find the strength to put their troubles behind them for good.

Karen's Thoughts: I have read this book, though it has been a while. I love all books by Joan Bauer and remember loving this one. I looked at reviews and although they state the main character is struggling to learn to read, most of the reviews don't indicate one way or the other if the main character is stated to have dyslexia. This book did, however, show up on a recommended reading list about dyslexia.

You'll see Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo on the image above. It was recommended to me with the caveat that one of the characters discusses having some type of learning disorder related to reading by that they never outright call it dyslexia. So I share that here with that caveat.

If you want to see the original Twitter conversation and all of the recommendations, you can find it here:

So I am working on a book list of books with main characters that have #dyslexia. I have found a lot of middle grade, but are there any YA books? I can't think of any & I can't find any. Help please. Here's a MG list https://t.co/MErje7rF2Z
- Teen Librarian Toolbox Dyslexia Awareness Month (@TLT16) September 30, 2019

And here is a picture of the RA tool I made for the staff at Fort Worth Public Library for books featuring characters with dyslexia of a younger age:

Other Reading Lists https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/learning-at-home/encouraging-reading-writing/7-books-featuring-characters-with-dyslexia-or-adhd

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Dyslexia Awareness Month: Books Featuring Main Characters with Dyslexia, a discussion and a book list - Teen Librarian Toolbox

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This month as I set out to learn and talk more about dyslexia, I went on a quest specifically to find out what types of books are better suited for readers with dyslexia. The answer to this question is slightly more complicated and I touch on it some in this infographic.

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Note taking for visual learners

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Dear John (A Day in the Life of A Dyslexic Teenager)

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A strategy for visual learners.

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How to Mind Map for Essays // Dyslexia 101

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HS bookclubs

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These are some of the best short stories around, and what makes them even more delightful is the fact that every one is absolutely free. If you love to read this article is just right for you.

1. "The Zero Meter Diving Team," by Jim Shepard

"Mikhail lived a large portion of his life in that state of mind in which you take a risk and deny the risk at the same time, out of rage."

This story is about three brothers caught up in the horrific disaster that happened at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986. The startling consequences of the disaster make for a dramatic backdrop, as the brothers deal with the aftermath of the nuclear meltdown. "The Zero Meter Diving Team" is available for free, from magazine.

2. "A Tiny Feast," by Chris Adrian

"Titania was the only one among them ever to have ridden on a roller coaster, but she didn't offer up the experience as an analogy, because it seemed insufficient to describe a process that to her felt less like a violent unpredictable ride than like someone ripping your heart out one day and then stuffing it back in your chest the next."

"A Tiny Feast" is for those who love fairy folk. In the story, a toddler is exchanged for a hobgoblin, but the tiny child has a very serious illness. The story is available for free from The New Yorker.

3. "Lorry Raja," by Madhuri Vijay

"He taunted me about playing in the mud, as he called it, breaking chunks of iron ore with my hammer."

"Lorry Raja" is a short story about children and families in India. These families were coerced into forced labor to mine for iron to build the Olympic stadium in China. It is available to read from The Narrative Magazine. You will be required to submit an email address to access the full story.

4. "Bluebell Meadow," by Benedict Kiely

"She spread the bullets on the table and moved them about, making designs and shapes and patterns with them, playing with them as if they were draughts or dominoes or precious stones."

The "Bluebell Meadow" is set during the Troubles in Ireland. It is about two teenagers that although in love have the chasm of religious ideals between them. It is available for free from Google Books.

5. "A Beneficiary," Nadine Gordimer

"That Saturday: it landed in the apartment looted by the present and filled it with blasting amazement, the presence of the past."

A woman discovers a shocking secret about her mother in "The Beneficiary." The story is available for free from The New Yorker.

6. "The Man On The Stairs," by Miranda July

"That is my problem with life, I just rush through it, like I'm being chased."

This is a creepy and very short tale. It is available for free from Scribd.

7. "Bullet in the Brain," by Tobias Wolff

"He was never in the best of tempers anyway, Anders-a book critic known for the weary, elegant savagery with which he dispatched almost everything he reviewed."

A normal day in a bank turns to terror very quickly. You can find "Bullet In The Brain" at no cost here.

8. "Safari," Jennifer Egan

"Lou is a man who cannot tolerate defeat-can't perceive it as anything but a spur to his own inevitable victory."

"Safari" is about a dysfunctional group of people who go on an African safari. The story is quite poignant in its telling. It is available from The New Yorker.

9. "Hills Like White Elephants," Ernest Hemingway

"I know you wouldn't mind it, Jig. It's really not anything. It's just to let the air in."

This story is set in Spain and is a conversation between a man and a woman waiting for a train. Ernest Hemingway liked to couch his stories with analogies. This story is no different. It is available to read for free here.

10. "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," by ZZ Packer

"She continued to cry, but it seemed to have grown so silent in my room I wondered if I could hear the numbers change on my digital clock."

This is a coming of age story. A girl entering college questions her culture, her sexuality, and more. The story is available for free from The New Yorker.

11. "Hollow," by Breece D'J Pancake

"On a knoll in the ridge, run there by the dogs, the bobcat watched, waiting for the man to leave."

This story is available through The Atlantic for free. The story is about a group of coal miners and the way they deal with the dangers of coal mining.

12. "Eveline," by James Joyce

"She sat at the window watching the evening invade the avenue."

The story is one of several short stories from Joyce's The Dubliners and is available for free. The story is about a young woman having second thoughts about leaving her homeland of Ireland.

13. "Interpreter Of Maladies," Jhumpa Lahiri

"In its own way this correspondence would fulfill his dream, of serving as an interpreter between nations."

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Ms. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for this story in 2000. The story is about a family visiting India and their tour guide. The story is available for free here.

14. "All Summer in a Day," by Ray Bradbury

"The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun. "

A great read by one of the most brilliant science fiction authors ever, Ray Bradbury. The story is set on Venus and centers on the children of those who have settled there. It can be downloaded at no cost here.

15. "A Perfect Day for Bananafish," by J.D. Salinger

"With her little lacquer brush, while the phone was ringing, she went over the nail of her little finger, accentuating the line of the moon. She then replaced the cap on the bottle of lacquer and, standing up, passed her left-the wet-hand back and forth through the air."

This is a story about an atypical day at the beach. The entire book can be downloaded forhere.

16. "Tiny Smiling Daddy," by Mary Gaitskill

"Unless it was Kitty's coldness, her always turning away, her sarcastic voice. But she was a teenager, and that's what teenagers did."

The story revolves around the tumultuous teen years, although the child in the story is in her late twenties. The father reminisces about his daughter's adolescent years. The story can be read for free here.

17. "They're Made Out Of Meat," Terry Bisson

"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone ..."

Aliens make a hilarious discovery. The story was nominated for the Nebula award in 1991. The story can be read for free here.

18. "The Yellow Wallpaper," by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression-a slight hysterical tendency-what is one to do?"

A story of a young woman's descent into madness after the birth of her child. The user can choose which format to download. Available for free here.

19. "All at One Point," by Italo Calvino

"We say hello-at times somebody recognizes me, at other times I recognize somebody-and we promptly start asking about this one and that one (even if each remembers only a few of those remembered by the others), and so we start in again on the old disputes, the slanders, the denigrations."

This is a very short story that revolves around the very beginning of the universe. The story is available for free.

20. "Italy,"by Antonio Elefano

"I could only focus on you: your syncopated step, your forward lean, the way your legs seemed to disappear amidst the tables as you glided across the room."

"Italy" is a bittersweet tale about a couple during many years of marriage. The story can be read for free here.

21. "The School," by Donald Barthelme

"Well, we had all these children out planting trees, see, because we figured that ... that was part of their education, to see how, you know, the root systems ... and also the sense of responsibility, taking care of things, being individually responsible."

A story about an unusual school dealing with a rather mundane subject. The story can be read for free.

22. "In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka

"The Condemned Man, incidentally, had an expression of such dog-like resignation that it looked as if one could set him free to roam around the slopes and would only have to whistle at the start of the execution for him to return."

A man is condemned to die in a most unusual manner. Read the story for free.

23. "Symbols and Signs," by Vladimir Nabokov

"After eliminating a number of articles that might offend him or frighten him (anything in the gadget line, for instance, was taboo), his parents chose a dainty and innocent trifle-a basket with ten different fruit jellies in ten little jars."

A couple goes to visit their son in a mental institution only to be turned away. The story is available from The New Yorker.

24. "Gooseberries," by Anton Chekhov

"But surely a corpse wants that, not a man. And I hear that our intellectuals have a longing for the land and want to acquire farms. But it all comes down to the six feet of land."

A story about two brothers reestablishing themselves after their father's death. The story is available here.

25. "Sea Oak," by George Saunders

"But she's not bitter. Sometimes she's so nonbitter it gets on my nerves."

A story about an aunt who refuses to stay dead. The story is available for free.

26. "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," by Ursula K. Le Guin

"But we do not say the words of cheer much any more. All smiles have become archaic."

A story about the price of utopia. The story is available for free here.

27. "The Veldt," by Ray Bradbury

" A shadow flickered over Mr. McClean's hot face."

The story is about a murderous room. You can read it for free here.

28. "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," by Alice Munro

"Her hair that was as light as milkweed fluff had gone from pale blond to white somehow without Grant's noticing exactly when, and she still wore it down to her shoulders, as her mother had done"

The story is about a professor's wife losing her memory. It was later adapted into a film, Away From Her. The story can be found in The New Yorker.

29. "The Nose," by Nikolai Gogol

"Ivan Yakovlevitch donned a jacket over his shirt for politeness' sake, and, seating himself at the table, poured out salt, got a couple of onions ready, took a knife into his hand, assumed an air of importance, and cut the roll open. Then he glanced into the roll's middle. To his intense surprise he saw something glimmering there. He probed it cautiously with the knife - then poked at it with a finger."

Two men awake to a very distressing morning. The story can be found here.

30. "Drown," by Junot Diaz

"Days we spent in the mall or out in the parking lot playing stickball, but nights were what we waited for."

A young man returns home from college only to find many things have changed. Read for free.

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30 of the Best Short Stories You Can Read for Free - LifeHack

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These are some of the best short stories around, and what makes them even more delightful is the fact that every one is absolutely free. If you love to

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Aligned with Notice and Note Signposts

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Use to support teaching, critical thinking and discussion. Flipped learning-listen at home and discuss the following day.

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Podcasts are a terrific way to learn something new, whether you're at home, in the car, or in the classroom. They cover a wide variety of topics, so there's something to interest pretty much everyone. These podcasts for kids and teens are sure to engage young listeners and start interesting conversations. Plus, we've suggested enrichment activities to go along with each one!

Disclaimer: We've divided the list by grade level because some might be more intense or cover more mature topics than is appropriate for younger students. You are the best judge for your own kids or students, though, so we recommend vetting all material before sharing.

Best Podcasts for Kids in Elementary School

Teachers can get free access to this podcast to share with their class. The episodes focus on subjects in STEAM and language arts, all geared toward kids in grades K-5.

Activity to try: Use these educational podcasts as a launching pad for STEM challenges. Visit the Tinkercast website for lots of "podject" ideas!

On each episode, kids collaborate with famous, diverse authors to grow their story ideas. Then the author takes those seeds and writes an original story that you get to hear on the show!

Activity to try: Have students brainstorm a list of their own potential story ideas together. Then, ask each student to use one or more of those ideas to write a short story on their own.

Like Story Seeds, Story Pirates encourages kids to submit their own ideas. But instead of turning them into stories, the show transforms those ideas into songs and sketch comedy. So fun!

Activity to try: Take your students' story ideas and challenge them to write their own funny sketches and songs. This will really encourage their creativity.

In this debate podcast, participants take two different items and argue it out to determine which is best. Topics include "Hot Sauce vs. Butter" and "Palm Trees vs. Pine Trees."

Activity to try: This is such a fun way to introduce debating skills to kids. Hold your own "this or that" debates with students, or try this list of funny debate topics for all ages.

This podcast adapts folktales from around the world into music-rich radio plays for kids. Each episode explores universal themes like friendship, persistence, creativity, and generosity, and ends with an activity that inspires a deeper conversation between children and grown-ups. This is one of those podcasts for kids that appeals to adults too!

Activity to try: Print the free coloring page that goes along with each episode and let kids use their crayons or markers while they listen.

Life on Earth can be awfully strange, don't you think? The folks at Radiolab, creators of popular podcasts for adults and teens, produce this special series just for kids. Each episode has accompanying "shovels," which are activities to help kids dig deeper. This one is perfect for the classroom.

Activity to try: The drawing prompts for each episode are really unique. Have kids complete them, then display them on a bulletin board or slideshow for others to see.

These original audio stories are filled with whimsy and wonder for young listeners and their families. This is one of the best podcasts for kindergartners.

Activity to try: Let kids write, illustrate, and make a recording of their own original story.

Kids have all kinds of curious questions-it's one of the things we love most about them! This educational podcast for kids from Vermont Public Radio tackles such topics as Why Do People Have Nightmares?, Do Animals Get Married?, and Why Do Lions Roar?

Activity to try: Have kids start a log, using a special notepad, of all the crazy questions they can think of. They should take the notebook with them everywhere they go.

In an era of fake news, kids need to be able to determine what's true and what's false. And what better way to do that than a game show that puts kids in the driver's seat, adults on the hot seat, and a sound-effects robot strapped to the roof? Each week, a kid interviews two experts on a particular topic, one of whom is a genuine, credentialed expert, the other a liar. Hilarious and fast-paced, the show teaches kids to ask insightful questions, weigh the evidence before them, and trust their gut.

Activity to try: Play an in-class or at-home version of Two Truths and a Lie to polish truth-telling skills.

There's a whole lot going on in the world these days, and not all of the news is kid-friendly. KidNuz informs in a way that explains but doesn't overwhelm kids. Their mission statement says it all: "To engage the next generation with news that will inform without fear and educate without opinion."

Activity to try: Pick an issue and do a "deep dive." Specifically, look for the upside of a situation-people helping people, people bonding together, etc.

A fun-filled podcast for kids all about ethical questions that get kids and adults thinking. "Do you have to love your sibling?" "Are some lies actually OK?" "Is it ever OK to fight back against a bully?"

Activity to try: Have your students write down questions to which they don't know the answers and discuss them (after vetting them, of course).

If you're looking for science podcasts for kids, this one tells stories about science discoveries with help from actual scientists. They explore things like why cats always seem to land on their feet and what a journey to the center of the Earth would look like.

Activity to try: Discuss the topic of any given episode as a class, opening it up to questions and encouraging further research.

Follow the ongoing battle between Dr. Floyd and the evil mastermind Dr. Steve (along with his sock-shaped assistant, Fidgert). During all their fighting, Dr. Floyd learns about history. With more than 400 episodes, there are plenty to choose from.

Activity to try: Have students write their own episodes, including a historical event that they love or that you have covered in class.

The host of Brains On! and her kid co-host talk with food scientists and snake handlers, put on plays, write songs, and so much more. It's a science lesson for your ears!

Activity to try: Listen to the episode " Books: How they're made and how your brain reads them." Afterward, have a discussion with your class about the many ways that reading is great for them.

This is an online treasure trove of free audio stories. You can listen to a mixture of original stories, fairy tales, and specially adapted myths and histories. Storynory has published an episode every week since 2005, so there is plenty to love and something for everyone.

Activity to try: Have students write an original short story and then present it to the class.

In search of podcasts for curious kids? Every two weeks, the creative host of this podcast takes questions from kids and spins them into an entertaining tale. Check out What If Clouds Were Made of Cotton Candy? or What If Magic Didn't Exist?

Activity to try: Make a top-10 list of your own what-ifs. Write a story, create a comic strip, or make a drawing to go with your favorites.

In a distant future that's either really bad or really good (depending on whose side you're on), two strange and unlikely champions embark on a series of adventures to stop a wicked A.I., and in the process must struggle to understand "old-fashioned" ideas like "kindness" and "just hanging out not doing much."

Activity to try: Start a discussion on how devices such as smartphones impact students' interactions with the people around them. Discuss the pros and cons of technology and the things we can do to be more connected with one another.

James Hawkins helps his mom run a motel in modern-day Montauk, Long Island. When a mysterious man washes up on the beach with a treasure map tattooed on his chest, James discovers that Billy Bones is, in fact, a time-traveling pirate from the 18th century. James and his new friends, Morgan and Max, follow the map right into a magical portal that leads them back nearly 300 years and into a swashbuckling adventure.

Activity to try: Have students write the story of what they would do if they discovered someone was a time-traveler. Would they want to enter the portal and go back in time?

In the spirit of Mayan folklore, an 11-year-old Belizean girl accidentally invokes an evil spirit that threatens to consume the rainforest. She goes on a thrilling journey to save her home and her people.

Activity to try: Ask students to write their own story of what they would do to protect their home. Do they see any similarities to the environmental problems we face today?

Finn Caspian is an 8-year-old boy aboard the Famous Marlowe 280 Interplanetary Exploratory Space Station. He and his friends Abigail, Elias, and Vale are Explorers Troop 301, taking off from the Marlowe to explore uncharted planets, help the occasional alien, and solve a mystery that threatens to destroy their space station.

Activity to try: Have students create their own illustrations of Finn's adventures. Would they want to be among his explorer friends?

Best Podcasts for Kids in Middle School

In each episode, three real middle school students team up to talk about their favorite book. Episodes also include an interview with the author, celebrity readings, and more.

Activity to try: Put your students into groups of three, and have them record their own podcast discussion about a book they all love.

This clever teen has been uncovering the mysteries of the universe in this podcast since he was 11. Several years in, he's tackling topics like how to fix recycling, why math is so hard to love, and other subjects tweens can relate to in his educational podcasts.

Activity to try: Before listening to a podcast, pose the title question to students and ask them to think, write, or discuss their initial responses. After listening, see how their opinions stack up to Tai's findings.

Though this podcast focuses mainly on Australian girls and women, their stories are meaningful around the world. Learn about athletes, scientists, adventurers, and more.

Activities to try: Challenge students to try to find girls or women in their own lives who have had similar experiences to the ones featured in this podcast.

Listen as world-famous radio reporter Eleanor foils devious plots, outwits crafty villains, and goes after the Big Story. Eleanor's pursuit of truth takes her into orbit, out to sea, and even to the halls of Congress! Her adventures are entertaining and informative.

Activity to try: Have a discussion about Eleanor and her values, especially the importance of access to information, being inclusive to different points of view, and telling the truth. Then have your students write about what their values are.

If you're looking for podcasts for kids who are into hip-hop, this one for tweens might be just their speed. Episodes follow the main character, Antoine, a boy who is bullied and finds a magical book that transports him to another world.

Activity to try: Have students create an illustrated version of the story as they follow along with the podcast.

Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about all things space: stars, planets, humans in space, and so much more. He also interviews a lot of amazing people, from astronaut Buzz Aldrin to actress Olivia Munn to former president Jimmy Carter.

Activity to try: Have students research the science topic covered in a given episode, learning more about the topic and sharing their findings.

Explore all of the oddities of the English language! Filled with good humor and levity, this podcast will help students explore the roots of words and phrases that we use every day.

Activity to try: Have students write their own grammatical or linguistic jokes, using these as starter examples.

Looking for educational podcasts about history for kids? This title speaks for itself. Learn about people and events that are often overlooked in a typical history class.

Activity to try: Choose a popular unit of historical study, like the Civil War or Great Depression, then have students research the little-told stories related to it. They could even write a readers theater based on their findings.

This is an award-winning listening-skills platform, searchable by topic area or school subject. It advances classroom learning by providing additional content and building listening skills. There is also a focus on current events that helps keep the learning tied to the real world.

Activity to try: Each episode comes equipped with teaching resources, so pick the topic that is best for your class and get listening.

Humans are a curious lot as this educational podcast attests to in its mission statement: "True stories of inspiration, humor, and the incredible achievements of all types of people, many of which are sadly under-shared."

Activity to try: Have your students reach out to relatives, friends, or neighbors and ask them to share stories from their past.

This thought-provoking podcast tells the origin story of middle schoolers Marcus Aronson and Mondo Ramirez, also known as Cupid and the Grim Reaper. Can these two mismatched heroes overcome their differences and learn to harness the powers of life, death, and love?

Activity to try: Start a conversation about what it would be like to be a teen with superpowers. Discuss the perspectives of the main characters. How would students feel if they were 13 years old and found out they are Cupid or the Grim Reaper?

Best Podcasts for Kids in High School

This inspiring podcast celebrates all the teens and tweens who are innovating, inventing, and making the world a better place. Listening to these episodes will remind students that they can accomplish great things at any age.

Activity to try: Do some research to find more inspiring teens and tweens, locally or around the world. Ask students to create their own podcast episode about their amazing finds.

Music-loving teens will be fascinated by this podcast in which musicians talk about the songs they've written, telling the stories of their creation. With guests that range from Billie Eilish to Yo-Yo Ma, everyone will find music they love here.

Activity to try: Have students choose a song they love, and see if they can find out more about the story of its creation and recording. They can record their own podcast or write an article about their discoveries.

We all have moments in our lives that we'd rather forget, but there's something reassuring about knowing other people feel the same way. This podcast invites adults (including celebrities) to share embarrassing things they wrote as kids. Teens will feel a real connection and also get an important reminder that we really do live down even the most embarrassing things.

Activity to try: Invite students to write a journal entry or letter to themselves about an embarrassing time in their lives. Encourage them to return to it in a few years to see if they still feel the same way.

Ever wanted to know more about your subconscious, the part of your brain that influences and manipulates you without your even knowing it? This podcast dives deep into exactly that topic.

Activity to try: Encourage students to take some time to reflect on their own subconscious, perhaps in a journal entry. Can they identify times when it had a real influence on their actions?

This long-running NPR favorite is one of the best educational podcasts for kids in high school. They'll get a chance to challenge their own knowledge of news and current events while laughing at the show's guests as they try to do the same.

Activity to try: Host your own segment of the show each week, with one student responsible for coming up with a series of current events questions to test their classmates.

Help students connect with this centuries-old play using this new bilingual podcast version. It's ideal for schools where Spanish is just as prevalent as (or even more common than) English.

Activity to try: Ask students to select a passage from the original play and translate it into another language. Rather than insisting on word-for-word translation, encourage them to rewrite the passage in a way that captures the rhythm and emotion of the original.

Teens will especially enjoy Adult ISH, a culture, advice, and storytelling podcast produced entirely by youths who are almost adults. They tackle a wide variety of topics from a late-teens point of view.

Activity to try: Have your students select a topic in the news today and write their own podcast that shares their take on the news.

A podcast created by the co-author of Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics, Stephen Dubner, invites listeners to explore the hidden sides of everything. And given his almost 300 episodes on topics ranging from "Millionaires vs. Billionaires" to "How To Win a Nobel Prize," he is well on his way to talking about everything.

Activity to try: Have students pick an episode and find how it affects their everyday lives. These can be written or presented to the class, allowing for discussion and questions.

Tune in to the community radio of this desert town for the news on local weather, the mysterious lights overhead, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, a dog park that prohibits dogs, and dark-hooded figures with unknowable powers.

Activity to try: Challenge students with this prompt: You have been hired by Night Vale Community Radio to write a segment. It could be a continuation of a segment that already exists, like "The Children's Fun Fact Science Corner" or "Community Calendar," or a report of a strange happening in the town, told in Cecil-fashion. These could be performed in front of the class, written, or put in podcast form.

This podcast brings you the "ins and outs of everyday things," from the "Pledge of Allegiance" to Mexican jumping beans to "Your Limb Is Torn Off" (obviously for teens and older!).

Activity to try: Ask each student to give a short presentation on something they think all their classmates should know about-whatever they find fascinating!

Sarah Koenig tells one story week by week. The first season covers the true story of Adnan Syed, convicted for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. The problem: Adnan cannot remember what he was doing the day of the murder. And as if that weren't bad enough, there's someone claiming that he helped Adnan hide the body.

Activity to try: Have students find a famous crime in history and write a dialogue between themselves and the accused, having the accused tell their side of the story. These projects can be handed in, performed in front of the class, or put into podcast format.

The incredibly popular Radiolab is a show about curiosity, where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.

Activity to try: Listen to the episode Sight Unseen about a soldier's last moments and the photographer who captured them. Divide the class in half, and have them prepare and then conduct a debate on whether or not the photographer has the right to publish the photos.

Stories of people who've done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle. Phoebe Judge explores topics from owls killing people to how to fake your death to the life of a police dog.

Activity to try: Have students pick an episode that interests them and do more in-depth research on the topic, presenting their findings to the class.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers and The Tipping Point, looks back through the overlooked and misunderstood in history, reexamining the past and asking whether we got it right the first time.

Activity to try: Listen to the three-part series on college (season one, episodes 4-6), and have a class discussion. Trust me, there will be plenty to talk about.

Each episode of This American Life centers around a theme. Most are journalistic at the core, but some are comedic. This podcast is hard to generalize, especially after hundreds of episodes. But the number of episodes and the podcast's massive popularity should speak for themselves.

Activity to try: Have students take a theme from an episode and write their own report or story surrounding that theme.

Hosted by Roman Mars, 99% Invisible is a narrative podcast about all the thought that goes into the things we don't think about-the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.

Activity to try: Ask students to pay closer attention to the buildings and infrastructure in their town or city. Have them make a list of things they had never noticed before.

Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday shares news about science, technology, and other cool stuff. Host Ira Flatow mixes it up by featuring people in the know and those who want to be. The podcast frequently features listeners that call in with their most riveting science questions. If you're looking for the best science podcasts for kids in high school, this is a winner.

Activity to try: Choose from a wide range of topics such as Racism and Mental Health, Privacy and Big Data, and Structure of Conspiracy Theories, and spark a discussion.

Will and Mango have lots of questions. Will we ever live without sleep? How do rats keep outsmarting humans? Where are the sunniest tax havens to hide your money? Join these Part-Time Geniuses as they dive into ridiculous topics and discover some pretty smart stuff along the way.

Activity to try: Ask students to come up with an interesting question. Then, once their topic is approved, have them share the answer with their classmates.

This highly acclaimed podcast is one of the best podcasts for kids because it delivers honest and unfiltered conversations with celebrities, activists, athletes, and influencers focusing on real-life issues-from mental health and political activism to pop culture and more.

Activity to try: At 18, Sammy Jaye became the youngest person to host her own podcast on iHeartRadio. Have students write a short paper on whether they'd want to have their own podcast while reflecting on the challenges they might face.

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50 Best Podcasts for Kids in Elementary, Middle, and High School

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The best podcasts for kids and teens are perfect to listen to at home, or use them in the classroom with our accompanying activity ideas!

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Short videos to use for teaching comprehension, story structure, character, theme, etc.

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TED-Ed celebrates the ideas of teachers and students around the world. Discover hundreds of animated lessons, create customized lessons, and share your big ideas.

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We are compiling a list of some useful and entertaining digital resources for our older kids and teens (and adults!) We hope they will help with school curriculum, provide educational opportunities, and alleviate boredom during this time of extended isolation. We'll be updating as time goes on, so check back for more STEM learning tools, help with databases for school assignments, craft ideas, language learning apps, free online courses and more!

Independent Learning Options

Learn to speak Free college-level classes and mini courses Spanish, take an art history class, or explore digital music production. Courses offered by universities and organizations including Stanford, IBM, Smithsonian, MoMA, Harvard, and Berkeley. Browse these catalogs for more:
www.coursera.org

www.classcentral.com

Online language lessons offered free to students until June.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has made its online course catalog freely accessible to students this spring.

Learn to code - all ages, all experience levels.

Ancestry.com Explore your family's history. In-home access available through the month of April with a library card.

Projects and crafts

Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting Tune in to this You Tube channel for painting tutorials by one of the greats.
Instructions for making marshmallow rockets, bath bombs, and much more.
Find all sorts of maker activities in this Facebook group hosted by Novato's awesome Marin Makerspace.

Guitar Lessons with Fender Play Fender is offering 3 months of free online guitar lessons.

Instructibles An online community of makers sharing how-to's for a multitude of crafts, recipes, shop projects, and circuitry.

George Eastman Museum How To Series on YouTube Learn how to create a pinhole camera, a thaumatrope, and more.

Online education resources

Marin County Free Library MCFL has dozens of research tools available online. Just enter your library card barcode and go!

CA Dept of Education The Califorrnia Department of Education has shared a collection of resources for at-home learning.

California State Library The California State Library has made available several resources at no cost to California students to help with research and coursework: Encyclopaedia Britannica, ProQuest and TeachingBooks.net.

Gale In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Gale, a library research tools vendor, is providing open access to its curriculum-aligned databases. To use, just enter your home library, zip code and state.

Kahoot A tool building fun quizzes and trivia games.

The kids all know this one already! Khan Academy's resources are great for supplemental subject support and practice, as well as tutorials.

Quizlet An app that allows for creating and sharing digital flash cards.

Virtual Travels and Infotainment

Virtual College campus tours For those who have needed to cancel or postpone campus visits.

Mentalfloss: 12 World-Class Museums You Can Visit Online

John Green Crash Courses Beloved teen author John Green has accumulated a catalog of fun and interesting videos covering diverse topics like philosophy, video games, world history.

Many thanks to our wonderful MCFL staff and community members for sharing info as they find it, and to the many other organizations that are also sharing resources and making lists, including:
The Scout Report
The California State Library
Ronnie's Awesome List
School Library Journal
Mental Floss

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Teens at Home: Free Online Resources for Teens (and Adults!)

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We are compiling a list of some useful and entertaining digital resources for our older kids and teens (and adults!) We hope they will help with school curriculum, provide educational opportunities, and alleviate boredom during this time of extended isolation.

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Mensa provides lessons on storytelling

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Introduction

Storytelling is an ancient and valuable art that extends around the globe. In this unit, students develop their own storytelling talents, apply the techniques of storytelling, create storytelling guides, and perform a story for an audience. This unit can be taught to an entire classroom or given as a self-directed extension activity. Each lesson is quite short, and they can easily be combined.

Guiding Questions

Where did storytelling originate?

What are the benefits of storytelling?

What are the key features of a well-told story?

How does a storyteller develop a story to prepare it for an audience?

How can a storyteller develop and refine his/her storytelling ability?

Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:

Give the rationale for the telling of stories.

Evaluate a story for its storytelling potential.

Outline a story in preparation for storytelling.

Present a story before an audience.

Preparation

Read through each of the mini-lessons.

Find the suggested materials you want to use.

Make any copies needed and gather any materials you want to use.

Choose appropriate extension activities.

Lesson 1: History of storytelling

As long as there have been people, there have been stories. From the stories told in paintings on the ancient caves at Lascaux (Google it!) to the bedtime stories told to young children, stories make up our history and guide our future.

You are surrounded by stories every day. The news on television, radio, and in the newspaper is nothing but stories. The Bible and other religious books are full of stories. The lessons teachers give in school are often stories. Songs tell stories. Pictures tell stories. Movies tell stories. Comedians make up their routines with stories. When you tell a friend about something that happened to you, you are telling a story. Can you think of the last story you heard? Think hard: it may be something you just heard a few minutes ago!

Some stories have lasted hundreds and even thousands of years and are still being told. Stories began with the oral tradition, meaning they were passed on by being heard and retold. Later, people began to write the stories down, but we still love to hear stories told out loud.

Stories are powerful. They can teach morals - the values that the author of the story thinks people should live by. They can teach history. They can entertain us. They can make us think about things in ways we've never thought of them before. They can make us laugh. They can make us cry. Telling stories is a large part of what makes people connected to each other.

Stories are a part of every culture. Stories about our country and its history help us feel proud of our nation. Stories about our ancestors teach us about where we came from and the things we have in common with other people around us.

You probably have favorite stories of your own. Maybe they're stories about your family that you hear from your grandparents. Maybe they're books you've read over and over. What is your favorite story?

A man named Robert Moss said that the Australian Aborigines think that the important stories are always seeking the right person to tell them, looking for the storyteller like an animal hunting its prey. Do you think there could be a story looking for you?

Lesson 2: Getting ready to tell a story
(The following games come from a book titled Children Tell Stories by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss.)
Storytelling is more than just reading the words of a story out loud. It takes other skills as well. It is important to be able to use different tones in your voice when you are telling a story. If your voice stays at the same level, it is boring! You will want your voice to go higher and lower. You will want your voice to go louder and softer. You can practice this with games. These games will help you develop the skills you need to make yourself a good storyteller.

Counting from 1 to 10

First, read a paragraph of a story, any story. Keep your voice the same level. Don't go high or low or loud or soft. Just say it flat.

Now count from one to 10 (out loud!) in these different ways:

As if you were an angry parent who said, "I am going to count to 10 and if you're not in the bedroom by the time I get to 10, you're in big trouble."

As a very little child just learning to count

As if you were very sad because you thought everyone had forgotten your birthday, but then you walked into your living room and saw 10 birthday presents sitting on the floor. How would you count them?

As if you were a referee for a boxing match and you were counting someone out.

As if you were telling someone a telephone number when the phone was not working right.

As if you were counting pennies as you dropped them into a piggy bank.

Read the same paragraph again that you read before. This time, let your voice go loud and soft. Go high and low. Go fast and slow. Do you hear the difference? Which way sounds better?

Walk the Walk

Storytelling isn't just words; it's motion, too. You will have to move around while you tell your story. You will use your arms and legs. You will use your hands and face to tell the story. Practice storytelling motions with this game.

Walk across the room six times. Each time, pretend something different:

You are coming home from school and you know you have a lot of chores to do when you get there.

You are walking through a foot of snow.

You are walking barefoot in a very sticky, squishy swamp.

You are walking across a blistering hot desert.

You are in a graveyard at night walking through the tombstones.

Your right leg is in a cast.

You are walking through honey.

Good job! Now you are ready to find a story to tell!

Lesson 3: Finding and mapping a story

Stories are everywhere, but it can be hard to find a good story for telling. You will want to start with short stories that you can remember. Fairy tales such as Cinderella make good stories to tell. Folktales such as Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan make good stories to tell.

You can find Grimm's fairytales online. You can find folktales at americanfolklore.net. You can also find fairytales and folktales in books at the library.

Pick a story you like to read. If you don't like the story, it will be hard to spend a lot of time with it. Pick a story that has some things it says over and over. That makes it easier to remember. This would be a story such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears when each bear says, "Someone's been eating my porridge."

Once you have a story you want to tell, you have to learn it really well. Try reading the story three times. Now use the story mountain at right to lay out the main points of the story. Make notes about the points on the lines provided. Using your story mountain with notes, tell the story out loud. Try it three times. Now try it without the story mountain.

Lesson 4: Getting your story ready

Now you have a story and a story mountain, and you know your story very well. It is time to get your story ready for telling. First, you need a written-down copy of your story. If you can print it on the computer, leave space to the side for notes, like the story on the next two pages. If your story is in your own book, use a pencil or sticky notes to write things down.

You may want to use props when you tell your story. Props can be small or large. You can wear a full costume or a hat or a cape. You may want to wear a specific hat every time you tell a story. You may like to use puppets or a musical instrument such as a harmonica. You can use cut-out figures or stuffed animals. You may want to use a blanket or a towel.

Remember that you want to keep it interesting!

Don't forget that your body and your voice are important tools to help tell your story:

Move your body in the storytelling "V." The storytelling "V" is when you shift where you're facing when different characters speak. This helps the audience know who is talking. Aim your body one direction when you are one character, and then aim it another direction when you are a different character. Remember which way you faced for each character!

Use hand movements and face movements (called "expressions") to help tell the story.

Use different voices for different characters.

Speak faster and slower and higher and lower.

Make sure you speak loudly enough so that everyone can hear you.

Say the words clearly so that everyone can understand you.

When the story is over, make sure you end it; don't keep going or just trail off. Make it clear with your voice or movements or expression that you are done. Make the ending kind of fast. That leaves the audience feeling that the story was exciting.

We will use the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff to show you how to plan your storytelling.

Once you have your plan ready, practice it at least three times!
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Once upon a time, back when animals could talk, there were three boy goats, called billy goats, who would walk from their house up the hill to eat the thick, green grass and get fat. Their last name was "Gruff." To get to the hill, the three billy goats had to cross a bridge that went over a bubbling stream.

Under that wooden bridge lived a big, hairy, ugly troll. He had big eyes and long teeth and a pointed nose. And he ate billy goats like they were microwave popcorn.

One spring day, the youngest Billy Goat Gruff came to the bridge. As he walked across the bridge, his hooves made a clippity-clop sound.

"Trip, trap, trip, trap," said the bridge.

"Who's that stomping on my bridge?" yelled the troll.

"Oh, it is just me, the littlest Billy Goat Gruff. I am just going over to eat the green grass on the hill to make myself fat," said the youngest Billy Goat Gruff in his wee little voice.

"And I'm coming to gobble you up," said the troll.

"Oh, no! Please don't eat me! I'm so little, I'm just a snack," said the billy goat. "Wait a bit till the second Billy Goat Gruff comes. He's much bigger than I am."

"Well, okay, keep going," said the troll.

* * *

A little while later, the second Billy Goat Gruff came across the bridge. Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap, went the bridge.

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll.

"Oh, it's just me, the second Billy Goat Gruff. I am just going over to eat the green grass on the hill to make myself fat," said the billy goat.

"I'm going to eat you up," said the troll.

"Oh, no! Don't eat me. Wait until the big Billy Goat Gruff comes. He's a lot bigger meal than me."

"Well, okay. But hurry off my bridge," said the troll.

* * *

Just then, here comes the big Billy Goat Gruff. Trip, trap, trip, trap, trip, trap, went the bridge because the third billy goat was so heavy that the bridge groaned under him.

"Who's that tramping over my bridge?" roared the troll.

"It is the big Billy Goat Gruff," said the billy goat, whose voice was even louder and meaner than the troll's voice.

"I'm coming to eat you up," yelled the troll.

"You just try it," said the big Billy Goat Gruff. "I'll poke out your eyeballs and I'll pull of your ears, and I'll crush you to bits like smushed-up cereal at the bottom of the box!" said the big billy goat.

That was what he said!

* * *

And then he ran at the troll, and he poked at the troll's eyes with his horns and pulled his ears and stepped on his feet. The troll decided that maybe it was okay if the billy goats ate the grass on the hill after all.

* * *

So the Billy Goats Gruff came every day to eat the grass on the hill, and they got so fat that they could hardly fit across the bridge. And if you go to this hillside, you will still see them there, fat and happy. And if you look closely, you might see the troll under the bridge.

But don't worry - he won't bother you.

Lesson 5: Presenting the story

Now you're ready to tell your story in front of people! Wow! You can practice on your family first to get ready for telling the story in front of strangers. Here's how to do it: Make sure you have everything you need (props, your special storytelling hat or cape, etc.). Take a deep breath in and try to relax. Next, thank everyone for coming. Try not to sound nervous, even if you are! Make sure everyone is quiet and ready to listen before you begin. Tell them where you got your story. Did you get it from a book? Is it an old fairy tale or an old Indian legend? Tell them!

Look people in the eye while you're telling the story. You can use the audience to help you tell the story. If there is something that repeats (like the trip, trap across the bridge of the billy goats), let your audience make the sounds with you. Invite them by saying something like, "Slap your hands on your legs with me!" You could also have the audience repeat lines with you, such as, "Not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin!"

If the audience gets loud, pause. Wait for a second until they stop talking. Do not be mean to the audience or they won't like your story. Don't answer questions during the story. If someone is trying to ask a question, signal them to wait by holding up your pointer finger.

Begin and end your story in a good way. You can find suggestions for how to begin and end your stories.

Make sure you practice and practice! You will make mistakes, and that's okay! Just pause and then go on. Don't say you're sorry for the mistake because that just draws more attention to it. Making mistakes is a part of making anything, so don't let it bother you.

Most importantly: try to have fun!

Extension

Use your skills to serve others: tell stories in a classroom, a library, at a campfire, or while you are caring for younger children.

Interview someone to find out a story from his or her own life. Record the story.

Research the storytelling traditions of your ancestors.

Research the development of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Listen to storytellers at Story Bee.

Learn about World Storytelling Day and create your own event.

Find terrific activities and lesson plans on storytelling.

Join the Kids' Storytelling Club.

Read these books about storytelling:

Hamilton, Martha and Mitch Weiss. Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom (Multimedia DVD included with the book)

Greene, Ellin. Storytelling: Art and Technique.

MacDonald, Margaret. Storyteller's Start-Up Book.

Do a storytelling thinkquest.

Subscribe to Junior Storyteller. Storycraft Publishing, P.O. Box 205, Masonville, CO 80541. Print Version, $15.95 Online Version, $9.95. (More resources and an online link at storycraft.com.)

Build a story collection. Get a notebook to keep stories in and organize them by length or by subject or by type (happy, sad, rescue).

Assesment

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Storytelling is an ancient and valuable art that extends around the globe. In this unit, students develop their own storytelling talents, apply the techniques of storytelling, create storytelling guides, and perform a story for an audience. This unit can be taught to an entire classroom or given as a self-directed extension activity.

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Khan Academy

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Introduction to storytelling (video) | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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Poems and articles about poetry for young adults, ages 13-18.

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Recommended Reading from Seven Academy Chancellors
We asked our Chancellors what books they'd recommend reading. Seven Chancellors- Toi Derricotte, Marilyn Hacker, Juan Felipe Herrera, Edward Hirsch, Marilyn Nelson, Naomi Shihab Nye, Arthur Sze -each chose two books of poems, a volume often revisited for continuous inspiration and another beloved book more readers should know about.

"The book I return to is Li-Young Lee's The City in Which I Love You. The unfamiliar leaps, the dream-soaked realities of a "wanderer's heart," the revisions of memory, the illuminations on the demolished crossings of nation and self to the upper trigrams of sensual becoming and the knife-sharp divinities of being; all this, all the whispered line-work-takes me back to Lee's pages." -Juan Felipe Herrera
Recommended Reading from Other Renowned Poets Past and Present
We asked a number of poets, including previous Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets, to list a few poetry books that they would recommend to others. The selections that came in include influential volumes, books returned to over and over, must-reads, and books frequently recommended to students or new poetry readers.

Galway Kinnell
Body Rags (2002, Mariner Books Reissue)

Galway Kinnell
The Book of Nightmares (1973, Mariner Books)

The Lice (1993, Copper Canyon Press Reissue)

Cesare Pavese
Hard Labor (1979, Johns Hopkins University Press)

James Wright
Shall We Gather at the River (1968, University Press of
New England)

Sylvia Plath
Ariel (2004, HarperCollins Restored Edition)

Allen Ginsberg
Howl (1956, City Lights Books)

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Poetry for Teens - If you're a teen looking to learn more about the art of reading or writing poetry, we've gathered

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Use to practice fluency, comprehension and the study of history.

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Lists and suggestions...

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Podcast/Blog on the benefits of student-written graphic "novels"

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Sponsored by Learners Edge

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

There is no shortage of ways we all can benefit from teaching graphic novels. They engage reluctant or struggling readers, they are gateway texts for more complex literature, they build necessary background knowledge, and they develop visual literacy skills.

But another important reason to teach students to read, analyze, and create a graphic novel is that the form invites them to express hard truths about themselves and their experiences in a way that is different from what they can do with pure prose.

And perhaps a more surprising reason is for the impact it can have on a teacher's relationship with students. Teaching the graphic novel to my high school English students wasa way for me to see that there was pain in my classroom and the role I might be playing in students' difficult experiences.

How the Graphic Novel Form Inspires Deeply Personal Storytelling

I taught my first unit on the graphic novel in my high school World Literature classes. We read Marjane Satrapi's graphic memoir Persepolis, in which a young Marji describes her experience growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. For their culminating project, students created their own graphic memoirs about a significant experience in their lives, using Persepolis as their mentor text.

As I turned page after page of each student's story, I discovered that this unit had accomplished a goal I never intended. I didn't expect so many students to delve into deeply personal, often traumatic, experiences from their past. I had read engaging personal narratives from students before, but this was different. Some used the project to announce an aspect of their identity they had kept secret. Others revealed the reasons behind certain challenging behaviors they exhibited in class. They created stories that would be healing for them and, in some cases, for their relationships with me.

What is it about the graphic novel form that made this possible?

Cartoons Invite Empathy

Anyone who has opened a comic or graphic novel before would immediately recognize that cartoon drawings are a defining feature of the medium. While a photograph or portrait tends towards realistic depiction, a cartoon leans more toward an abstract, iconic representation of a person, object, place, or idea. (Think of how a circle with two dots and a curve for a smile represents a happy person.)

In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud explains that when drawings of characters in graphic novels are less realistic and more iconic, readers can more easily put themselves in the situations of the characters. The cartoon image "is a vacuum into which our [the reader's] identity and awareness are pulled" (36). A detailed drawing of a face with specific features would be harder for readers to identify with than a simplistic cartoon face. According to McCloud, if we are less focused on the specific details of the character's drawing, then we are freer to enter the world of the character and participate in their experiences.

Graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier even explains that the creative team at Graphix "had the good intuition to use something more iconic" (20) for the cover image of her memoir Smile. Instead of using a full-body drawing of the main character, they opted for something even more simplistically drawn: an emoji with braces. One can imagine that a more specific cover image of the book's protagonist might not have instantly connected with as many book browsers as the abstracted emoji did.

So, if iconic images help readers empathize with characters' experiences, then a graphic novelist who has traumatic events or complicated emotions to narrate can do so knowing that an empathetic readership awaits.

Cartoons Allow for Distance

And while the iconic images unique to comics and graphic novels allow readers to connect with characters (and, by proxy, the writers), the abstraction also allows the writer some distance from their emotional story. With very realistic drawings, or with prose narrative alone, sharing the experience might feel too revealing. The writer is less vulnerable, however, if their experience is portrayed with some abstraction. This didn't happen to me specifically. This happens to lots of people. This is a universal experience.

It makes sense to me, then, that a student of mine would use the most abstracted icons-stick figures-to share something especially private with our class in his own graphic novel, Spoken of One.

This student-I'll call him Louis-was selectively mute all through high school. Sitting in the back row, completing all assigned written work but never raising his hand or contributing to partner interactions, Louis frustrated me. I had 36 students in my class, and I didn't have the expertise to find ways to draw him out. It was easier to assign his partner to someone else, to simply not expect that Louis would participate since apparently he never had before.

For the graphic novel project, Louis chose to communicate that he was making an effort to speak, but encountered debilitating obstacles like stigmatizing labels from peers and teachers.

With the anonymity offered by iconic representation, Louis perhaps felt safer in telling his story than he might have if he were asked to write a personal narrative. There is a comforting distance between his own identity and that of the universally drawn protagonist in his story. Maybe knowing that the reader could see the story more universally made it possible for him to share something so private.

Readers are Reflected in the Story

Louis knew that I would be reading these panels, but he also knew his classmates would read them during peer feedback. Perhaps the ease with which readers can identify with universal abstract icons might mean that his classmates and teacher would reflect on their own complicit actions in labeling him with declarations like "He doesn't talk." The simplicity of the nameless, faceless, abstract peers and teachers in this student's panels invite my students and me to see ourselves.

When we move away from realistic representations and towards abstraction, McCloud explains, "we're not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details " (30). Louis draws teachers with such abstraction that the only distinguishing features are a simple square (representing a briefcase?), their position within a given panel (at a distance from students), and an absence of any facial markings (dots or lines for eyes, nose, mouth). Without being explicitly told what to see, readers can imagine their own rich details.

As a teacher, I could vividly see my own impatience with certain behaviors and the emotional weight that impatience had on my students. I thought my sighs were inaudible, my nonverbals (standing at a distance, unsympathetic facial expressions) unnoticeable. Maybe Louis wasn't addressing me specifically in his panels, but that's irrelevant. The iconic representation of people and events works like the "vacuum" McCloud describes, inviting me to reflect on my own complicity in Louis' experience.

In another panel, the hallways of the school are stripped to the bare essentials: a white vacant floor on which to sulk. The specificity is so absent that a reader could "fill up" this iconic form with almost any other setting. The actual place, person, object, or idea being represented matters little.

Readers Must Help Tell the Story

Compelling texts are often ripe with ambiguity. Graphic novels, by their very design, contain "gaps" that readers must fill as they connect one panel to the next. By making connections and drawing conclusions in the gutters-the empty spaces between panels-the reader can help tell a story the writer can't tell alone.

McCloud describes this reader participation as "committing closure," and some transitions ask more of the reader than others. Many comics rely heavily on simple moment-to-moment and action-to-action transitions that require less participation (picture a person lifting a cup in one panel and drinking from it in the next). Others make powerful use of aspect-to-aspect and subject-to-subject transitions. These require readers to connect different experiences, time periods, and perspectives from one panel to the next. (Imagine a person lifting a cup in one panel and the next panel shows a different scene five years later).

In their own graphic novels, students generally struggle to create transitions that leave space for the reader to participate, but I think Louis found the gutter a helpful tool to tell his story without having to say too much.

What happens after the teacher prompts Louis to speak? How long does he pause before the next panel shows him defeated on the ground? How did his peers react? When I look at these two panels, I fill out the story: I hear his peers snickering, I see them rolling their eyes, my hands get sweaty thinking of how long the silence must have felt for this student compared to how brief it probably was to everyone else in the room.

It's not that graphic novelists are off the hook from having to explain and narrate difficult moments. It's that they are able to be selective with what they do show so that more readers can participate in ways that are personally relevant. And, I think that first learning about how gutters and transitions work in Persepolis, especially at certain difficult points in Marji's story, encouraged students to include their own hard-to-describe experiences in their work. I don't have to find words for every moment. I don't have to show kids rolling their eyes. That can be for the reader to imagine in the gutter.

No Story is Too Complex

Thecombination of words and pictures helps writers communicate hard stuff-no story is too complex to tell with this medium. Comics have a long history of teaching complex subject matter. There are graphic novels that discuss scientific phenomena, race, gender, cancer, and mental health. Satrapi catches us up on thousands of years of Persian history through carefully composed panels. Some of my students were able to portray subtle racial and gender-based microaggressions they experienced without even needing to know the term "microaggression." Others described complex learning disabilities and mental health issues without using a clinical vocabulary.

And because of the ability to "control time" (as comics expert Will Eisner puts it), the stories we tell in graphic novels are open to a wider readership. Young or inexperienced readers can make meaning from panels without necessarily drawing sophisticated conclusions from the gutters. As Gene Luen Yang explains (via McCloud), "Time within a comic book progresses only as quickly as the reader moves her eyes across the page. The pace at which information is transmitted is completely determined by the reader ... this 'visual permanence' firmly places control over the pace of education in the hands (and eyes) of the student."

Since readers of all ages and backgrounds can participate in reading graphic novels, my student writers could share sensitive stories with a variety of people in their lives, not just their teacher.

How I Taught This

To initially learn about the form of graphic novels, I read McCloud's Understanding Comics, which provides a thorough explanation of the variety of elements and devices at work in a comic or graphic novel. Over the years, I also studied Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art and Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative.

To choose a mentor text for my 11th grade World Literature classes, I considered what would be grade-level appropriate and rich enough in terms of the devices I had learned about. What will connect with students' experiences but also expose them to new ideas or challenge their understanding about certain concepts? Satrapi's Persepolis jumped out as the perfect option: teenage Marji narrates her experiences navigating religious, political, and social conflicts during a tumultuous time in Iran's history. When choosing your own text, you might also consider connections to social studies or science content students have learned. Or you might choose an adaptation of a text you've already read or to connect to a theme or genre you are teaching.

The Launch

Determine Prior Knowledge
I distribute a page from a graphic novel, not necessarily from the one I will teach, and ask, What is happening? How do you know? Students' written responses show me how familiar they are with noticing the subtle devices at work to communicate meaning in a visual text. With this information, I can partner students more effectively during upcoming lessons and keep their starting point in mind as I consider the unit instruction, tasks, and outcomes. Students also see for themselves how well or ill-equipped they are to do this type of reading, which for some students makes them curious to learn how.

What do students want to know?
After attempting a close read of a graphic novel page, many students discover they either don't have a lot to say or they know more than they thought. Then, they complete a KWL chart (Know-Want to Know-Learned) about graphic novels and Persepolis. My students have wondered, "How do you choose what to put in each box," "Does the order you read matter," and "Why is it called 'Persepolis,'" The most exciting part of the chart is, of course, the "Learned" column that students complete at the end of the unit.

Personal Goals
At the beginning of the unit, students indicate "Where I started" and "Where I want to be." I provide options of end objectives that students choose from. This tool is revisited at the end of the unit and students complete the "Where I am" and "Where I want to go next" columns as part of the assessment process (scroll down to "Assessing the Results" for an image of the chart). Because students articulate their own learning goals, ones that make sense given their starting point and the relevance of the topic to their lives, they are more invested in reaching those goals. And they often exceed them.

Reading The Mentor Text

We read the novel mostly in class, with students working together to reread for deeper meaning. Before we discuss what we've read in class, students spend five minutes independently free-writing everything they notice from one page of Persepolis. I ask: What happened? How do you know? What have you learned about characters? With less time, students simply record one question they have about the assigned reading. In partners or small groups, they share their observations and questions and develop some consensus around how the page is working. Then they report their conclusions to the whole class.

In whole class discussion, I introduce the terms and devices only after students have had the opportunity to express them in their own language. When they report that they know Marji feels weak because she's drawn smaller than usual and she's in a really small box, they learn to incorporate terms like "scale" and "frame." When they notice a page has no panels, and the drawing fills up the entire page, they learn the term "splash." When they notice one panel's scene does not seem to connect to the one before and after, they learn to describe a variety of panel transitions with phrases like "action-to-action" and "subject-to-subject."

For an example of how to model close reading of a graphic novel, watch me discuss page 6 of Persepolis with another reader in the video below. Reference this handout if you'd like to use the video as a teaching tool in your classroom.

Students are routinely asked to choose a panel to closely read and analyze in writing. I collect these as formative assessments that tell me if a device or specific page from the text needs review and if students are reading beyond the surface. Sometimes I provide a specific prompt, like "What do you think the author is communicating with the different uses of black and white in chapter 10?" or "Describe the significance of varying shapes and sizes of panels in chapter 1." Other times, I solicit prompts from students or invite them to write about any discoveries they have made about the story and characters, supporting their observations with references to the techniques involved. For models of written close readings, I use previous students' work, book reviews of graphic novels, and excerpts from Eisner's Comics and Sequential Art.

Two examples of students' written responses to close reading.

When student observations show me that a particular panel or page is challenging to understand, I post a copy of the pages on chart papers. Groups circulate and add their theories, questions, predictions, and interpretations. Meaning becomes evident through multiple reads of the page and collaborative discussion.

I use frequent but brief exercises that get students thinking about how the devices work in a graphic novel. For example, "If you had to show the emotion of fear with only lines, how would you draw them?" Or I might provide students with a sequence of panels with pictures but no captions and ask them to write the captions. Another day, I give them panels with only text and ask them to add the pictures. The key is to give the same panels to multiple students so they see the variety of ways they each interpreted specific text or visuals.

One student chose this specific panel's techniques to try in his own panel. He connected Marji's experience to his experience attending a new high school. The towering building, drawn with the same repetition as Satrapi's trees, dwarfs my student, who changed schools also for access to a better education and preparation for some unknown future.

These "micro-writing" assignments help students learn the devices, but they also serve as early drafts of their final graphic novel projects and begin to convince even the most reluctant students that what we are learning is valuable.

The Culminating Project

In the past, we have agreed that their stories would provoke thinking-more specifically, they would challenge assumptions, initiate a conversation, connect deeply with readers, and nudge them to act. To accomplish such worthy goals, they would need to skillfully use at least three devices, their words (captions and speech bubbles) would work interdependently with their pictures to communicate more than what either could accomplish alone, and some panel-to-panel transitions would move beyond moment-to-moment or action-to-action.

Drafting
To decide on a topic, students reference their "micro-writing" assignments, create brainstorming lists of potential experiences, and free-write about each one. Students examine their most promising free-write and tease out a rising action, a climax, and resolution.

Then, students create a visual outline of each page, mapping out their ideas in a panel layout, describing what they plan to illustrate and why. They consider how they will distinguish their characters. They identify the emotions and moods they want to communicate for specific scenes and note devices that could help accomplish this.

I model this process at the start of class by attempting my own project, one panel at a time, in front of the class, thinking aloud and soliciting their help. A bonus is that my clear lack of artistic skills shows students that beautiful artwork is not necessary for this project. While sketching, I narrate, "I want to show this character feels bold and confident. I think I will remove the frame altogether (create a "splash"), or I could keep the frame and draw the character so large she goes beyond the border (a "bleed")." At this point I ask for students' input-which technique would be more effective and why.

Workshops
During the drafting process, students sign up to attend mini lessons, facilitated either by me or a peer, on topics like "creating captions and speech bubbles," and "showing emotions with facial features and gestures." I schedule two 20-minute mini lessons per workshop day. When students aren't in the mini-lesson, they work on their panels independently, with support resources I provide (from Eisner, McCloud, and Barbara Slate). Topics for new mini-lessons are created in response to the challenges and needs students pose.

I don't want to force students to share their personal stories with their classmates for peer review, so I ask them to choose at least one completed panel to share for feedback. Sometimes, I collect one panel from each student and anonymously re-distribute them to the class for feedback. As reviewers, students ask themselves, "What is happening? How do I know? What assumptions am I being asked to challenge? How I am I connecting with this story?" Their comments help the creator understand how readers are responding to their narrative and design choices.

Sometimes, students volunteer to share their pages with the whole class for feedback. I project the pages and we perform a close read like we have done so many times with the pages of Persepolis. Students who do not seize this opportunity to get such thorough feedback on their work still benefit from providing and listening to the feedback given for a peer's work.

Assessing the Results

In the past, when I had scored these projects with As, I felt like I was sending a message that the learning was done. That their few-page attempts could just not be any better. But the goal is not that a student becomes a master at incorporating graphic elements into their own memoir after a few weeks of practice. The goal is that they have discovered a new form to explore with rigor beyond our classroom and have some creative independence with a new set of tools to tell all kinds of stories.

Instead of a four-point rubric that shows tiers of success leading up to the end goal of an A, 100, or "meets standards," I decided to create a single-point rubric and define an "A" by listing what we agreed the project had to contain in order to demonstrate the student was ready to continue on their learning trajectory A utonomously. That means they would be prepared to independently and critically read graphic novels of different genres. They could start experimenting with devices, and maybe create their own, to communicate a range of experiences. They could research the work of other comics and comics movements, and learn the history of the form. They could connect with the larger world of graphic novelists by joining the conversation online.

The success criteria we established as a class allows students to focus primarily on their ability to use the graphic elements they studied to portray a significant event in their lives (not writing conventions or artistry). We do discuss how grammatical errors can really confuse the reader and how a hastily sketched image can ruin the effect of the device. The grammar and drawing expectations are in service of the larger goal and don't need to be assessed with their own categories on the rubric. The focused criteria also help me avoid pitfalls of the past while providing feedback on students' graphic novels, such as correcting grammar errors that didn't actually impede understanding and praising artwork that didn't actually develop the story.

Finally, students complete the "Learned" column of their KWL charts, proudly listing the discoveries they made about how to tell stories in a different way. They also reference their rubric feedback to respond to the last two columns on their Personal Goals form: "Where I am" and "Where I want to go next." If students are not yet ready to pursue this work autonomously, what additional practice is needed? What resources can help? If they are ready for continued independent learning and practice, what books, websites, and writers can they explore? Students also have the option to continue working and resubmit their project for additional feedback later in the year.

Compared to my first attempt at assessment, this revised model communicated to students that the learning didn't stop for anyone, even those with an A.

Why Teach Students How to Create a Graphic Novel?

After my first foray into teaching the graphic novel, I discovered that the benefits went beyond teaching literacy skills. Though the initial objective was for students to hone their close reading skills, it turned out that I also learned to read my students more closely, especially the ones I perceived as disengaged learners.

Without access to students' stories, educators are likely to interpret certain behaviors as challenging. As Sarah MacLaughlin describes in an article about trauma-informed teaching, behaviors that have developed in response to a difficult home environment or experience can be interpreted as defiance in a class setting: "Trauma can manifest in so many behaviors! Hypervigilance can masquerade as hyperactivity... Fear can look like aggression: flight, freeze, or fight," or in Louis' case, selective mutism.

While reading my first class set of student-created graphic novels, I started to reconsider everything from my assessment practices to my nonverbal signals. I didn't change into an enlightened, empathetic teacher overnight, but I started to approach interactions with students with the understanding that there were stories inside them that I wanted to hear, that I could make instructional decisions that would decrease cortisol and build relationships.

I know that without this project I would have continued to overlook Louis' mutism. How would I have had such intimate access to a mute student's perspective without his graphic novel? Louis put it so simply but elegantly on the first page, despite the grammatical error: "Why am I talking now? Well, your [sic] in my head and your just reading my mind."

Teaching students to create graphic novels gives you the power to read their minds, which can change everything about the way you teach. More importantly, it gives them the power of voice-a superpower that can change their worlds. ♦️

Read the Book!!

Since writing this post, Shveta Miller has written a full-length book on this topic: Hacking Graphic Novels: 8 Ways to Teach Higher-Level Thinking with Comics and Visual Storytelling. If you're ready to really dig into this process, the book will tell you everything you need to know!

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The Surprising Benefits of Student-Created Graphic Novels

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Sponsored by Learners Edge This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. There is no shortage of ways we all can benefit from teaching graphic novels.

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Articles on current teaching practices

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TeachThought – A Critical Thinking Classroom

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TeachThought promotes critical thinking and innovation in K-12 classrooms

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Speech to text app for writing

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Remember, more Tech Tips can be found at whps.org/tech. Try searching by keyword or category!

Also, utilize on-demand training with Synergyse anytime in any Google App from the icon in the upper right corner. Just make sure you're logged into Google Chrome to access any of the hundreds of tutorials.

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Remember, more Tech Tips can be found at whps.org/tech. Try searching by keyword or category! Also, utilize on-demand training with Synergyse anytime in any Google App from the icon in the upper right corner. Just make sure you're logged into Google Chrome to access any of the hundreds of tutorials.

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Provides a way for students to be challenged to read new genre, build stamina and read many books each month.

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March brings spring (or so it's hoped!) and it also brings plenty of new reasons to read. Warmer days might beckon kids outside, while rainy days are perfect for curling up with a book. On the calendar this month is Women's History Month, and many a great woman can and should be celebrated on the page. It's also the month we celebrate Read Across America, when students in classrooms everywhere gather around to read together on one day (March 2). It's a great and inspiring way to kick off a month of reading.

Here are 10 challenges to keep the page-turning motivation of kids of all ages at a high:

Read a book written by a female author.

Think about your favorite book character - and choose a book you think that character would like to read.

Read a book with words and illustrations by the same person.

Ask a Librarian: Visit your local library and ask a librarian to suggest a Newbery Medal- or Newbery Honor-winning book from the last two years.

Read a book with a title that's a question.

Ask a Librarian: Ask your local librarian to recommend a Caldecott Medal- or Caldecott Honor-winning book from the last two years.

Pick a book you've read and loved, and make a bookmark inspired by it. (You'll find some DIY bookmark inspiration here.)

Read aloud to your pet or favorite stuffed animal.

Read a book by Dr. Seuss to celebrate his birthday, March 2. (Need ideas? Check out this list of Dr. Seuss stories for all ages!)
Download a printable version of this reading challenge below.

Book Ideas for This Month's Reading Challenge

Not sure where to start? Here are a few book suggestions for this month's reading challenge.

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March Your Way to the Bookshelf: This Month's Reading Challenge for Kids

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March brings spring (or so it's hoped!) and it also brings plenty of new reasons to read. Warmer days might beckon kids outside, while rainy days are perfect for curling up with a book. On the calendar this month is Women's History Month, and many a great woman can and should be celebrated on the page.

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Inspirational Awesomeness!!

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How To Change The World (a work in progress) | Kid President

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Visit the Teens section!

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Find information about new books to read, fun things for kids to do in and out of the library

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New site filled with resources for all learners-focusing on special education.

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EDUCATING ALL LEARNERS IN ALL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

An alliance dedicated to equity for complex learners

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Accessibility Statement

Educating All Learners is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. We aim to adhere as closely as possible to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0, Level AA), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines explain how to make Web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly to everyone.

Click on the blue circle widget in the upper right hand corner to change accessibility features such as contrast, highlight links, bigger text, text spacing, pause animations, dyslexia friendly, cursor, tooltips, line height, and text alignment.

1 in 5 children

in the U.S. have learning and attention issues such as dyslexia and ADHD (NCLD).

7.3 million

or 14 percent of all public school students, receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (NCES).

When supported effectively

students with disabilities grew in reading and math during the school year as much or more than never-SPED students (NWEA).

EDUCATING ALL LEARNERS IS FOR YOU.

As districts, educators, students and families continue to adjust to a variety of learning environments, the needs of students with disabilities are too often put on the back burner-instead, they must be considered from the beginning. Family communication, online instruction, teleconferencing and counseling, independent study, blended learning, needs assessment, and data tracking and analytics are each stronger and more effective when they are designed to meet the needs of all learners.

The Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA) is an uncommon coalition of organizations committed to resource sharing and community-building that supports the efforts of the education community to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

We are committed to showing the path to possible for practitioners by providing curated, searchable resources, access to experts, a tech library featuring accessibility features in edtech, and examples from the field.

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An alliance dedicated to equity for complex learners Search Resource Library Educating All Learners is committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability. We aim to adhere as closely as possible to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0, Level AA), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

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Writing guru Ralph Fletcher presents 10 lessons for remote learning. Excellent resource! Check out his books, especially: A Writer's Notebook

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Develop lessons that have your readers ask/answer questions and work with text in small chunks

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Audiobooks for Dyslexia & Learning Disabilities | Learning Ally

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Learning Ally solutions help struggling readers through audiobooks & support services for educators, parents, and students dealing with dyslexia. Reading accommodations

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Resources for dyslexic students, parents and teachers

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Dyslexia Help at the University of Michigan

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Our goal is to help individuals with dyslexia, as well as parents, employers, and professionals of all kinds who have the privilege to work with dyslexics gain new understandings about dyslexia and language disability, including current research findings and how to design intervention contexts based…

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Educator, student, marketer, engineer, gamer. Whatever part you play, you'll have simple, yet powerful screen recording and editing tools.
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Many students benefit from the visuals found in graphic novels.

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Graphic Novels in the Classroom: A Teacher Roundtable | Cult of Pedagogy

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Four teachers discuss how using graphic novels has enriched their instruction, strengthened student comprehension, and engaged their most reluctant readers.

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One of the most important goals of any English class should be to help students learn how to express themselves to an audience - how to tell their own stories, how to provide much-needed information, and how to convince others to see things from a different perspective.

Below are some essays students can read, not only to help them see how such writing is done in the real world, but also to learn more about the world around them.

Need a #mentortext for student essays? Check out these exemplars for personal narrative, argumentative, and expository essay writing. Click To Tweet
Note: This is a living list. I will continue adding to it as I find important essays and articles, and as my readers make suggestions. If You Think Racism Doesn't Exist by Jordan Womack | Lesson Plan
A 17-year-old Oklahoma author details incidents of discrimination he has faced within his own community. Brief, yet impactful, the author's authenticity strikes readers at their core and naturally leads the audience to consider other perspectives.
Letter from a Vietnamese to an Iraqi Refugee by Andrew Lam
Vietnamese lecturer, journalist, and author Andrew Lam offers advice in this letter to a young Iraqi refugee he sees in a photograph on the Internet.
Allowing Teenage Boys to Love Their Friends by Jan Hoffman
Learn why early and lifelong friendships are as vital for boys as they are for girls and what happens when those friendships are fractured.
Chris Cecil: Plagiarism Gets You Fired by Leonard Pitts Jr
The Miami Herald columnist and 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winner castigates a Georgia newspaper editor for plagiarizing his work. This column would go great with this followup article from The Boston Globe: Ga. Editor is Fired for Lifting Columns.
Class Dismissed by Walter Kirn
The author of Lost in the Meritocracy postulates that getting rid of the high school senior year might be good for students.
Complaint Box | Packaging by Dylan Quinn
A high school junior complains about the impossible-to-open packaging faced by consumers of everything "from action figures to zip drives."
Drowning in Dishes, but Finding a Home by Danial Adkison
In this 2014 essay, a teenager learns important lessons from his boss at Pizza Hut.
How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua
An American scholar of Chicana cultural theory discusses how she maintained her identity by refusing to submit to linguistic terrorism.
Humble Beast: Samaje Perine by John Rohde
The five-time Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year features the University of Oklahoma's running back.
In Praise of the F Word by Mary Sherry
An adult literacy program teacher argues that allowing students to fail will actually help them.
The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie
A Native American novelist recounts his experience loving reading and finally writing in spite of a culture that expected him to fail in the "non-Indian world" in order to be accepted.
Lane's Legacy: One Final Ride by Keith Ryan Cartwright
A heartbreaking look back at the hours before and the circumstances surrounding Lane Frost's untimely death, followed by reflections on his rise to fame - before and after death.
Learning to Read by Malcolm X
The 1960s Civil Rights leader writes about how educating himself in prison opened his mind and lead him to become one of the leading spokesmen for black separatism.
Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglass
A former slave born in 1818 discusses how he learned to read in spite of laws against teaching slaves and how reading opened his eyes to his "wretched condition, without remedy."
Learning From Animal Friendships by Erica Goode
Scientists consider studying the phenomenon of cross-species animal friendships like the ones you see on YouTube.
Losing Everything, Except What Really Matters by Dan Barry
After a 2011 tornado destroys a house, but spares the family, a reporter writes about what's important.
The Marked Woman by David Grann
How an Osage Indian family in Oklahoma became the prime target of one of the most sinister crimes in American history.
Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List by Lizette Alvarez
Read about what happens if you happen to share a name of a "suspicious person" on the U.S. No-Fly List.
Newly Homeless in Japan Re-Establish Order Amid Chaos by Michael Wines
After the tsunami that resulted in nuclear disaster in 2011, a reporter writes about the "quiet bravery in the face of tragedy" of the Japanese people.
No Ordinary Joe by Rick Reilly
Why in creation did American Football Conference's 1981 best young running back Joe Delaney jump into that pit full of water that day, even though he couldn't swim?
Politics and the English Language By George Orwell
Animal Farm and 1984 author, Orwell correlates the degradation of the English language into multi-syllabic drivel and the corruption of the American political process.
Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich
The Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America author tells about her experiences attempting to survive on income of low-paying jobs.
Starvation Under the Orange Trees by John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck, who later authored the fictionalized account of Okies in California, The Grapes of Wrath, first wrote this essay documenting the starvation of migrant workers in California during the Great Depression.
To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This by Mandy Len Catron
Is falling in love really a random event, or can two people "love smarter?"
We'll Go Forward from this Moment by Leonard Pitts
The 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary winner pens a column chronicling the toughness of the American family's spirit in the face of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. He wrote the column one day after the attacks.
What's Wrong with Black English? by Rachel L. Jones
Jones, a student at Southern Illinois University in the 1980s, wrote this piece for Newsweek. In her essay, Jones adds her story and perspective to the debate over Black English.

Explore highly relevant issues & practice reading comprehension through short essays written for authentic audiences. #litchat Click To Tweet

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Essays Every High School Student Should Read

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One of the most important goals of any English class should be to help students learn how to express themselves to an audience - how to tell their own stories, how to provide much-needed information, and how to convince others to see things from a different perspective.

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Short, engaging read alouds for fluency, comprehension or discussion

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The current shutdown of school systems to combat the spread of COVID-19 has a silver lining for one group: teenagers.

These chronically sleep-deprived high school students can and should take advantage of not having to be anywhere and stock up on sleep. According to Johns Hopkins pediatrician Michael Crocetti, teenagers need between 9-9.5 hours of sleep each night. During the school year with homework, extracurricular activities, work and hanging out with friends, though, they're sleep starved.

So parents - let them sleep!

But what to do with the other 15 hours of the day? While teenagers can take better care of themselves than their elementary school siblings, they do need some structure during this down time. Keeping some sort of schedule (including for online assignments and reading) will make the return to school - whenever it comes - a little easier, and provide sanity for parents. Work with your teen to create this schedule, allowing them time to just RELAX.

Here are other options to keep them active and engaged.

Keep the brain engaged

With the ACT postponed until June and the May SAT canceled outright, juniors and seniors can ease up on the crash test prep and ease into it. While the temptation may be to stop studying and preparing since it is much further away, this actually gives students more time to learn at a relaxed pace and prepare for the test. Spend an hour a week rather than hours a night preparing.

How often have you heard someone ask, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" (I still say astronaut). Take time now to learn how a chemist is involved in fighting coronavirus. Or what does an epidemiologist do? How can math and statistical skills predict the next pandemic?

Read a book for pleasure! Yes, this can be done. Your teenager can enjoy a book just for the pleasure that good writing brings - without the need to write an essay after! Make it fun and post a review with a dance on TikTok! Get creative with how you share your thoughts.

Do some research on a topic you enjoy. Ever wonder what it's like living in another country? What about learning about people of other religions? As longtime teacher Candace Spivey of Duluth, Georgia, said, "In this day and age it is so important to be culturally aware and what better way than choosing a culture you might already have questions about or one that will bring you closer to a friend?"

Share your knowledge and help younger siblings or neighborhood children learn to read or do math. Yes, it is "playing school," but you will not only share your knowledge, you will also help another working parent get some work done. This can be done with proper social distancing by using video conferencing through Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype or FaceTime.

Universities ranging from Harvard to Green River College in Auburn offer virtual tours of campus. This is a great - and free! - way to explore colleges and universities. Sites like youvisit.com/collegesearch can be a great way to spend the afternoon exploring the possibilities of secondary education.

Learn to budget. Yes, while parents might be slaving over spreadsheets, trying to figure out how all this will affect the family budget, setting up a budget to pay for college, a car, prom (when it returns) is a great tool that pays off (see what I did there!) down the road.

Looking for a cool virtual tour that doesn't involve (directly) learning something? Google Arts and Culture partnered with museums around the world to offer virtual tours of their amazing galleries.

Help yourself, help others

Can't go to the gym to work out? Sports teams shut down? Walk through the neighborhood (leaving plenty of socially distant space) and then offer to help - over the phone, digitally or from a distance - elderly neighbors with grass cutting or tree trimming. All of these activities will help you stay fit and help someone who really needs it.

Have a car or other transportation? Email, call or use apps like Next Door to arrange to make essential grocery/drugstore runs for housebound neighbors. Even if you have to leave the bags at their doorstep, you can help someone.

Offer to cook. For teens who don't know how to cook, this is the perfect time to learn! Thankfully, you won't need all those paper towels and rolls of toilet paper people seem to be hoarding. Just some fresh vegetables, a protein and maybe some ingenuity. Start with the basics: how to make scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, homemade tomato soup. Learn to read a recipe or follow a YouTube tutorial.

Spivey also suggested using this time to write your state senator or legislator. Tell them your concerns and how it impacts you and your peers. The most active and engaged constituents tend not to be from this age group, but there's a power in being able to vocalize your concerns to people who can actually do something. "Think about what changes you would like to see made in education based on your experiences as a student," she said. "Share those experiences as well as practical changes you would like to see made.

Just for you

Practice self care. Yes, we don't often think of teenagers needing to do this, but with the stress of school stripped away, this time is perfect for learning techniques to relax, including deep breathing or taking a few minutes to meditate or go for a quiet (socially distanced) walk. This mindfulness, if practiced now when things are on pause, will be helpful when school resumes.

Try something you've never done. With so many how-to videos on YouTube, learn a new skill like yoga, designing clothes or knitting to give you a creative release.

Color. Yes, the activity many people quit doing once they hit middle school can be relaxing as well as creative.

Clean your room! Yes, parents seem to always admonish teenagers to do just that, but it is a perfect time to go through what you have and figure out what you wear, what you use, what you don't wear or use and clean up.

Finally, remember that this is only temporary. Even though it seems it could go on for weeks, this, too, shall pass.

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Activities to keep teens engaged while schools are shut during the coronavirus pandemic

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The current shutdown of school systems to combat the spread of COVID-19 has a silver lining for one group: teenagers. These chronically sleep-deprived high school students can and should take advantage of not having to be anywhere and stock up on sleep. According to Johns Hopkins pediatrician Michael Crocetti, teenagers need between 9-9.5 hours of sleep each night.

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Download the Libby App: ebooks & audiobooks FREE from your library

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Bring the library to you! Free digital books, magazines and more! Available for iOS and Android devices.

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A Padlet I created. Think of all the ways you can use Padlet with students. Google "ways to use Padlet" for tons of ideas.

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Great tool for creating books, comics, cards-anything!

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Book Creator - Love Learning - Book Creator app

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Teachers love it. Students love it. Book Creator is the simplest, most inclusive way to create content in the classroom.

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Site for creating comics

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Create Your Own Comic Strips Online with MakeBeliefsComix

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Create Your Own Comic Strips Online with MakeBeliefsComix

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EXHIBIT YOUR COMIX AND JOURNALING ART IN OUR GALLERY!

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Non-fiction current events

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DOGO News - Kids news articles! Kids current events; plus kids news on science, sports, and more!

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DOGO News has fun articles for kids on current events, science, sports, and more! There are also lots of stories, pictures, videos, games and the DOGO news map for kids! Add your comments, read reviews of cool websites, and more!

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It's time to improve literacy skills during social studies instruction and ensure that readers of all abilities have what they need to access grade-level social studies concepts.

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a look at scaffolded materials that provide extra literacy support while building key social studies concepts and skills.

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Newsela | Content and assessment platform

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Content Aligned To National & State Standard, Flexible To Support Relevant Curriculum. Find the Perfect Piece Of Content For Lessons. Go beyond the book.

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As of Monday, October 24, content that was on TweenTribune.com will now be available here on our new educational resources page and on our learning pages. While much of the content that you enjoyed will still exist, educators will unfortunately no longer be able to assign content to students. Tween Tribune has been a valued educational brand of Smithsonian magazine, and we appreciate your continued support.

Though the Girl Scouts of the USA initially declared itself a space for all girls, the reality was different for girls of color

Erin Blakemore

Get Smithsonian Educational Resources

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As of Monday, October 24, content that was on TweenTribune.com will now be available here on our new educational resources page and on our learning pages. While much of the content that you enjoyed will still exist, educators will unfortunately no longer be able to assign content to students.

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Online books

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educational resources for persons with disabilities

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u.s. office of special education grants and awards

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individuals with disabilities education act

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Bookshare - Accessible Books for Individuals with Print Disabilities

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Hi, I'm Matt Miller. I love supporting teachers and saving them time. I'm all about deep, meaningful, FUN learning.

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We can do better than marching
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In his own classes, Matt Miller found that textbooks were more an obstacle to learning than a help. He ditched them. For years, he's learned what works better than traditional "textbook" teaching and shared those ideas widely. His workshops and keynote speeches empower, entertain and inspire teachers to move forward confidently.

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But how?

Coming up with creative classroom activities with Google tools is our jam. Learn how your students can create ...

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Check out our FREE resources, including downloadable templates!

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Learn how to move the needle for learning with tech. With these six areas, you'll see results from your tech use.

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Ditch That Textbook offers technology for teachers that allows them to revolutionize their classrooms. With these educational technology tools, teachers can embrace classroom innovation & creativity.

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The #edtech podcast that explores how technology is changing the way teachers teach and the impact that technology is having in education. Whether you…

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Blog and podcast

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1:09:55 Guest(s): Amanda Morin, Emily Kircher-Morris

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The Cult of Pedagogy Podcast | Cult of Pedagogy

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Teaching strategies, classroom management, education reform, educational technology -- if it has something to do with teaching, we’re talking about it.

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Heinemann. A division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

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A meeting place for a world of reflective writers.

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Welcome to The Caffeinated Classroom, a blog and community for educators! Here I share teaching ideas, resources, and wisdom I glean as an experienced teacher and a mom.

Come for the lesson plans, stay for the unfiltered honesty...

a few things to get you started...

EMAIL NEWSLETTER + FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY =

HAPPY TEACHER!

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Welcome to The Caffeinated Classroom, a blog and community for educators! Here I share teaching ideas, resources, and wisdom I glean as an experienced teacher and a mom. Come for the lesson plans, stay for the unfiltered honesty... a few things to get you started... EMAIL NEWSLETTER + FREE RESOURCE LIBRARY = HAPPY TEACHER!

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Literacy information for parents, teachers and students

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Information for parents, teachers and students

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Since 1963,LDA has provided support to people with learning disabilities, their parents, teachers and other professionals with cutting edge information on learning disabilities, practical solutions, and a comprehensive network of resources. These services make LDA the leading resource for information on learning disabilities.

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Learning Disabilities Association of America - Support. Educate. Advocate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Since 1963 ,LDA has provided support to people with learning disabilities, their parents, teachers and other professionals with cutting edge information on learning disabilities, practical solutions, and a comprehensive network of resources. These services make LDA the leading resource for information on learning disabilities.

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Resources for parents, teachers and students

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Instruction

The federal First Step Act legislation defines "a dyslexia screening program means a screening program for dyslexia that is (A) evidence-based with proven psychometrics for validity; (B) efficient and low-cost; and (C) readily available." And those characteristics precisely describe the Shaywitz DyslexiaScreen™.

The Shaywitz DyslexiaScreen™ is an efficient, reliable, and user-friendly universal screening measure for K-3 students who may be at risk for dyslexia. Dr. Sally Shaywitz created this unique evidence-based screening tool.

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Instruction The federal First Step Act legislation defines "a dyslexia screening program means a screening program for dyslexia that is (A) evidence-based with proven psychometrics for validity; (B) efficient and low-cost; and (C) readily available." And those characteristics precisely describe the Shaywitz DyslexiaScreen™.

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Writing teacher

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Mini Lesson #1 A Menu of Options to Write In Your Journal While We are Away from School