The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA

417: Graduate Programs for English Teachers (Help to Launch your Search)

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

I loved the Bread Loaf School of English program at Middlebury College. It's a unique summer program leading to a Masters in English, catering almos...

416: Book Club It: How to Restructure (Almost) any Unit into Book Clubs

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

I'm in a book club right now, for the first time ever. (Yeah, I know, gasp. But I've always had so much to read for so many reasons that I've never so...

415: Struggling to Teach Narrative? 6 Craft Strategies for Students

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When you boil down the essentials of so much writing, what you get is the need for vivid, original detail. In a college essay, the story comes alive...

414: Highly Recommended: Play the Whole Game

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

This week would be my Dad's birthday. If he was still here, spice cake with thick caramel frosting would be in order, and a beautiful cross country s...

413: Creative Lessons from Microschools and Portable Innovation Labs with Dr. Annalies Corbin

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today on the podcast we're digging into student agency and the lessons Dr. Annalies Corbin has learned from her work pioneering microschools and por...

412: Fresh Ideas for your BritLit Curriculum

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A few weeks ago I shared my dream American Lit curriculum here on the pod, and soon after I heard from a British Literature teacher who was hoping fo...

411: 41 Authentic Audiences for your ELA Students

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The word audience conjures up a crowd, perhaps people watching an opera late at night at the Santa Fe outdoor amphitheatre, as the moon rises over the...

410: The American Lit Curriculum I Would Teach Now

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

American Lit has the potential to be an engaging, broadening, fascinating course. We're in what I consider an in-between era, where many schools are...

409: How to do a Multimodal Flash Verse Project

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Let's talk about an incredibly adaptable project in which students experiment with creative ideas across modes. It's easy to plug into a variety of u...

408: For Better Student Revision, Play the Matching Game

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The more time you spend writing, the more you know that revision is everything. Let me cite writing superhero John Green on this one, who discusses h...

407: Build a Better Choice Board Project for any ELA Unit

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

We know we want kids to have choice. As much choice as possible in creating the education that is meaningful and helpful for them. That choice can c...

406: Try this Choice Twist on Review

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I bet you know your favorite way to learn something. Maybe it's by listening to a podcast, skimming a couple of articles on the topic, reading a book...

405: 5 Creative Activities for A Christmas Carol

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dickens' A Christmas Carol stands out strongly from his other works, but not because it's so different, really, in what it hopes to accomplish. Criti...

404: The Missing Piece in Most ELA Projects

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

According to research by Stanford Professor Bob Sutton, innovative businesses need to generate about 4,000 ideas to come up with two or three really...

403: 5 Hexagonal Thinking Minis (Try One Tomorrow!)

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's easy to think of hexagonal thinking as a big event, a full-class activity that you set up and run for a whole period. But once your students kno...

402: Make Your Space a Partner with Flexible Resources

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You know how some spaces just make you feel excited to DO something? Whether it's a Cricut getting your wheels spinning with what-ifs, beautiful shel...

401: Easy Wins on the Sensory Dashboard (yes, in ELA!)

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The other day I found myself walking through a parking garage stairwell in Iowa City, and I realized they were using the same scent design as the loc...

400: #evolvingEDdesign: Giving Students Real Agency

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine you and I were about to make a dinner together. Now, I bring a love of baking to our project, and a decently strong roast chicken game. But I...

399: #evolvingEDdesign: Crafting a Flexible Classroom

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

My first classroom was a little blue trailer on the edge of the soccer field. Every morning, I got my shoes clogged with mud hiking across the field,...

398: A Simple Trick to Elevate Poetry Analysis: Poetry Blackout

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The first time I had much use for poetry came in college, freshmen year. My professor assigned each of us to memorize a poem and recite it in class. ...

397: The Humble Webquest Levels Up (How-To + Templates)

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I've got more and more respect, these days, for the humble webquest. Slash hyperdoc. Slash game board. Slash immersive digital multimedia experience....

396: Try these Inviting Alternatives to the Research Paper

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Recently I had to learn APA citation. Oof. It was a heavy lift, after a few decades with MLA. It gave me a refreshed sense of how overwhelming studen...

395: The American Dream: A Multimedia Introduction Lesson for ELA

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you teach American literature, chances are you're touching on the theme of the American Dream somehow, through book clubs, a poetry unit, a look a...

394: Quick Win: Build your Reading Culture with this Fun Fall ELA Display

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I worked at the cutest little bookstore coffee shop last week. In that small space, the collection had to be heavily curated, with just one or two bo...

393: Research-Based Practices to Ignite Creativity, with Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We know employers want creative thinkers. We know creative thinking is necessary to solve the problems we see everywhere in our world. We know we wan...

392: A Mentor-Based Grammar Lesson Blueprint

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to teaching grammar, the research is clear. Drill and kill is not what we're looking for. You don't want to march through a series of g...

391: A Done-For-You Literary Food Truck Lesson 🎁​

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Think of your favorite book.  Now think of your favorite food.  Now match those two together - your favorite book and your favorite food - into...

390: A Lesson for Book Clubs with a Genius Hour Twist

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Have you been hooked by the idea of book clubs lately? Wondering how you can integrate book clubs with essential questions, supplementary short stori...

389: A First Week Project Lesson: Building Research Skills + Community

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today's request for "Plan My Lesson" is from a teacher searching for a first week project that helps students get to know each other AND introduces a...

388: A Low-Stress (Dare I say Fun?) Lesson Plan for Day One

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If there's one thing I want for your first day of school, it's for the pressure to be off you. You've got enough to worry about without needing to pu...

387: A Summer Reading Lesson with Clear Creative Purpose

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A summer reading lesson is a nice chance to start off the year with a creative tone, while creating some of the norms you want to establish. For toda...

386: An Essay-less Argument Lesson Tapping Humor & Visuals

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Students need to be able to make a great argument to find success at school, and in many professions. They need to come up with an idea, find evidenc...

385: Re-engaging Rusty Readers: A Stamina Building Lesson

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot of conversation happening lately around student reading stamina. Rose Horowitch's Atlantic article, "The Elite College Students who Can...

384: A Lesson for "The Paper Menagerie"(and the Cultural Revolution)

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ken Liu's short story, "The Paper Menagerie," is an easy and powerful add to your curriculum. Not only does it explore family relationships, The Amer...

383: Bleeds, Ghosts, & Flash Verse: A Lesson for Long Way Down

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a rare curriculum book that inspires NO negative comments. Ever. To hear, month after month, year after year, that a certain book turns kids int...

382: An Action-Packed Born a Crime Lesson Especially for Gen Alpha (Bet That)

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Trevor Noah's Born a Crime is trending, and for good reason. I'm seeing the evidence everywhere. This spring, as I ran our curriculum book choice t...

381: What if We're thinking Too Small When it Comes to Short Stories? (And Sometimes, Not Small Enough)

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I never met a short story I liked back in high school. If I was going to read, I wanted to READ. I wanted to get caught up in the plot, get to kn...

380: The Easiest Last Day in ELA (Community Favorite)

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last year, at this time, I was preparing to move from Bratislava to California when I released the episode we're revisiting today, all about the easie...

379: 6 ELA Review Activities for a Strong Finish

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A few engaging review activities for ELA come in handy around this time of year, as the calendar takes over and students pop off to random awards cer...

378: Improve Student Evidence Analysis: Meet Mr. Skeptical

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to evidence in their argument papers, students have a tendency to mic drop way too soon. "Here's my evidence, BOOOOOOOM!" you can almos...

377: Teaching Students to Write an Argument Introduction with Easy Puzzle Pieces

07 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sure, there's no one right way to write an argument paper. It can be three paragraphs, nine, or even seventeen. It can be loaded with research. It ca...

376: Gamifying Argument Basics

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I have to admit my kids have got me fully invested in "Is it Cake?" At some point in England last year, someone begged for us to watch the show while...

375: Try this Engaging Swift-Inspired Prompt with any Text

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I miss the Eras tour. Even though it hasn't been that long. My daughter is requesting Wicked songs and Katy Perry in the car all of a sudden, instead ...

374: 5 Top Poetry Activities Worth Trying

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's poetry month, and that means it's time for me to share as many poetry activities, poetry projects, and poetry workshops as I can muster over here...

373: The Most Popular Books to Teach 9th and 10th Graders (Tournament Results)

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This winter, inspired by cool bookish tournament projects by Melissa Alter Smith of Teach Living Poets and Jared Amato of Project Lit, I decided to ...

372: Teaching Long Way Down? Flash Verse, Colorful Character Analysis, and Outside-the-Box Discussions

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you're teaching Long Way Down (and ready for some Long Way Down lesson plan ideas!), let me just start by saying "YAY!" It's a reader-maker, an ...

371: Top Middle School Book Recommendations (A Teacher's Perspective)

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today's guest, middle school teacher Susan Taylor, has repeatedly gone the extra mile to build a reading program that makes an impact. Not only does ...

370: An Easy Win for Differentiating Writing Instruction: Video Lessons

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever felt stymied over the fact that some of your students aren't sure how to write a thesis while others are ready to tackle counterargumen...

369: Highlight Real-World Connections for Any Book with this Easy Activity

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It all started with 1984, as so many things do. I wanted students to see how the ideas in the book were splashed across the world around them - yes, ...

368: The Glue: One Thing You Need in Every ELA Unit

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You've probably heard me talk about my first poetry slam. The project that became my go-to vehicle for teaching poetry every year that followed. Th...

367: Gamify ELA Review with a Colorful Memory Game

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I can still remember the faded, chipped blue print of my childhood game of Memory. The thick cardboard squares we flipped in search of pairs, thrille...

366: ELA Electives with a Twist: Outside-the-Box Ideas to Inspire You

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Teaching an ELA elective that you've dreamed up yourself is such a joy. Today I want to stir up some ideas together for the next time you've got the ...

365: 3 Easy Ways to Help Kids Build Better Arguments

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Like most of us, Christina Schneider didn't find teaching writing one bit easy at first. Despite her background as a journalist, putting all the pu...

364: Contemporary Authors to Feature this Black History Month (and all year long)

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's February, the perfect time to feature work by contemporary Black authors in your book talks, poetry clip showings, First Chapter Fridays, book di...

363: The Secret Sauce to Help Students Care

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How many times have you sat in a PD meeting that didn't apply to you? One where you were learning an 11 letter acronym for a strategy you'd never use...

362: Art as Influencer: The Reason my Orwell Unit Failed and Why it Matters for your Students

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I've been reading Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's Disrupting Thinking: How Why We Read Matters this week, and one of their points that has really come ...

361: Amplify Argument Engagement with a Mock Trial

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week I want to share a project idea that you can use for a ton of different texts - the mock trial. I'll tell you why the mock trial was one of m...

360: The Ultimate Guide to One-Pagers

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Open The New York Times today and you'll see photos, headlines, interactive infographics, audio, videos, and text articles. I could name almost any ne...

359: Don't Send Emails that Make your Heart Race

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week I want to share a piece of advice that really comes from my wonderful husband and it's this: Don't send emails that make your heart race. Th...

358: Try this Easy New Year's Vision Board Activity

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There's a lot of takes on the New Year and how it fits into our lives. There's the change-everything-starting-January-1 take. The New-Year-Same-Me ta...

357: Your Writer's Craft Tournament

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lately, I've been working on gamification. Not the kind where you get points and add custom outfits to your hamster avatar when you advance through a ...

356: The Best Last Day Before Break

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If the work week is starting to feel like a blurry hand sanitizer-scented haze at the moment, you're right on schedule. The crush of holiday to-dos (f...

355: When All Else Fails

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week I'm thinking about those moments when the system collapses. Your toddler wakes up at 3 am and stays awake until 7. Your careful planning for...

354: Classroom Management: Lifting the Veil (Finally)

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ever struggle to get students to stop talking? Keep their phones put away? Stay focused during the lesson? Stop whispering during an assembly? Engage ...

353: Your Poetry Video Project Roadmap

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today's short episode of "Highly Recommended", I'm here to tell you it's time to try a poetry video project! Harness students' excitement over the ...

352: Holiday Activities for ELA (with Inclusivity in Mind)

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

So you want to give the nod to the season, but you also want to make sure all your students feel included. Good for you! I've been privileged to se...

351: 🤍​ Gratitude Week: Revisiting Angela Stockman's Writing Makerspace

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to day five of gratitude week here at Spark Creativity. Today, on our final day, we're looking back at an interview with my friend Angela Sto...

350: 🤍​ Gratitude Week: Revisiting Dave Stuart Jr.'s Help for Student Apathy

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to day four of gratitude week here at Spark Creativity. Today we're looking back at an interview with Dave Stuart Jr. about how to help fight...

349: 🤍​ Gratitude Week: Revisiting Crucial Advice on Diverse Texts & Choice

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to day three of gratitude week here at Spark Creativity. Today we're looking back at an interview with Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica and Dr. A...

348: 🤍​ Gratitude Week: Revisiting Dr. Sarah Fine's Advice for Deeper Learning

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to day two of gratitude week here at Spark Creativity. Today we're revisiting a popular interview with Dr. Sarah Fine, whose insightful work ...

347: 🤍​ Gratitude Week: Revisiting Penny Kittle's Quiet Revolution

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week I'm thinking about how grateful I am for this incredible community - all the creative educators around the world who have tuned into an epi...

346: Highly Recommended: The Extensive Research to Support English Teachers Grading Less

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today's short episode of "Highly Recommended", I want to recommend an article I read at Edutopia this week, because it's chock-full of the researc...

345: How to use First Book Marketplace to Grow your Library Fast

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you're a teacher in a Title I School, you need to know about First Book Marketplace. I've heard about it in passing so many times, and this week...

344: Fighting the Sunday Scaries

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, I want to talk about Sunday nights. If you're struggling to figure out how you can be a good partner, parent, person, and teacher, and it a...

343: Contemporary Playwrights to Spotlight in ELA

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill get plenty of spotlight on the ELA curriculum stage. And sure, it's well-deserved! But they a...

342: Easy Acting Games for Better Theater Units

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week I want to share a fabulous resource I recently discovered, a website full of short video models for acting games you can use in class. The f...

341: Characterization Activities that go Way Beyond Round vs. Flat

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

My son and I love a few certain characters from the books we've read aloud over the years. Gum-Baby, from Tristan Strong, Boots, from Gregor the Over...

340: 💬 ​Grading Discussion in a way that won't ruin your (Teaching) Life

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Grading discussion can feel like juggling cats. How can you be present in a class discussion while also trying to grade thirty people's comments? But ...

339: 💬​ When Discussion goes off the Rails

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We've all been in a discussion hurtling off the track and into the canyon, far, far below. Chances are, you've been in this type of discussion as a s...

338: 💬​ Discussion Dominators and Silent Students

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Remember in elementary school, how some kids were so excited to answer a question that they would wave their hand back and forth in the air, lifting e...

337: 💬​ Student-Led Discussion: Setting up Success + What Does an Observer Do?

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome back to our ongoing discussion series. If you missed the first two episodes, covering five types of discussion worth trying and introducing...

336: 💬​ How Harkness Won Me Over (Completely)

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today we're talking about a model that influenced every discussion I ran in my classroom from my first year to my last, across grade levels, years, an...

335: 💬 5 Discussion Types that Can Work for You, Even if You've Almost Given Up (The Discussion Series Begins)

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Discussion. Theoretically it's the bread and butter of the English classroom, but sometimes it feels like all crusts and crumbs. How can you get st...

334: The Writing Tip Every ELA Student Needs (that I Learned in Bulgaria)

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The late afternoon sun filtered through the windows of our tiny English department office as I ran in to grab the papers I'd just printed. As I waited...

333: How to Teach a Multigenre Essay Project

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Want to teach a multigenre essay project? Good! Our students see story splashed across so many platforms these days. Video, audio, visuals, and wo...

332: The Rec Letter Tweak that gave me my Octobers Back

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to the Thursday edition of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast, a podcast for English teachers in search of creative teaching strategies. Tel...

331: Does Essay Writing Feel like Torture to your English Students? Try this.

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's no fun announcing an argument paper and being met by groans. If your English students have arrived at your class afraid of essays, you're not th...

330: Routines that aren't Boring for Whole Class Novels

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you've ever felt like you were stuck in a rut doing the same thing day after day, I've got a quick mindset shift to help. I do NOT want you to give...

329: Turn Dusty Old Books into a Stunning Display

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have old books lying around taking up space in your classroom? Books no one is ever going to read again? Recently in our Facebook group, Creati...

328: The Short Unit that Never Fails

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's mini-episode, I want to tell you about a one week unit that has never failed to produce incredible results from my students. I've done ...

327: Dystopia Book Clubs: A How-To Guide

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Let's talk about dystopia book clubs, a compelling unit option for ELA. I taught my first dystopian fiction, 1984, to tenth graders in Bulgaria. T...

326: The Literary Travel Poster Project

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's mini-episode, I'd like to challenge you to get your students set up on Canva and help them get comfortable on the platform with a simpl...

325: 6 Creative Video Project Ideas for ELA

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Video is everywhere in communication these days, including on Reels, TikTok, and Youtube, where our students are. Building creative video projects in...

324: Try Tiny Audio this Fall

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's mini-episode, let's talk about how to build an audio assignment in early in the year without feeling intimidated. Maybe you joined me f...

323: This I Believe (As My Life Changes)

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We moved this month, and it wasn't one of your quick moves. We did one of those once, from one cabin to the one next door, carrying our furniture a...

322: A Super Simple Way to Learn Names

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's mini-episode, I want to talk about learning names, and my easy trick for mastery. It took me many years, but finally, after a year in w...

321: Jason Reynolds doesn't write Boring Books

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Reynolds' website headline reads "Here's What I Do: Not Write Boring books." How great is that? As with everything he does, he seems to be spe...

320: A Simple Go-To for Better Discussions

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's mini-episode, I'm sharing the coolest discussion warm-up I've ever learned, which I picked up at the Exeter Humanities Institute one we...

319: Got Phone Problems? Help for a Distracted Generation, with Angela Watson

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The first time I really understood what flow meant I was barefoot in salty sand, building a beach sculpture in Mexico alone in the sunshine. Two ...

318: Try This with your Teacher Budget

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's mini-episode, I want to give my answer to a question I see all the time in our  Facebook community, Creative High School English, and ...