Claim OwnershipThe Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | Education
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© Betsy Potash
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This podcast is full of creative teaching strategies, classroom ideas, and inspiration for middle and high school English teachers. Betsy Potash from Spark Creativity presents new ideas for immediate classroom use, making it that much easier for teachers to stay creative in the midst of their busy lives. Show notes and further inspiration await at nowsparkcreativity.com.
175 Episodes
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Looking to bring more Antibias Antiracist work into your classroom and curriculum? Liz Kleinrock of Teach and Transform has written a wonderful book to help, and she joins me on the podcast today to share some of the highlights. In this episode, you'll learn specific strategies for helping make your classroom a place where students can share their identities, have difficult conversations, make mistakes and repair those mistakes, and learn through units that incorporate many voices and perspectives (even if you're stuck with a certain book list). Find the show notes here: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2023/03/actionable-abar-steps-in-ela-with-liz-kleinrock.html
This creative spin on classroom decor gives you dozens of options for creative, interactive writing, reading, and arts integration lessons in your ELA classroom. Get inspired with these fifteen fun ideas. Visit the show notes for all the links and lots of illustrations here. Join our Facebook community, Creative High School English, here.
Want to teach rhetorical analysis in a way that's creative, engaging, AND gets the job done? Mix and match these fun strategies to suit your needs. Find the show notes here: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/2023/02/enjoy-teaching-rhetorical-analysis-with-these-strategies.html
Worried about the new AI and its repercussions in the world of ELA? In this quick episode, let me share why I think it might actually be a good thing for our profession.
Featuring contemporary Indigenous voices in your classroom - on your walls, in your research and writing projects, and on your shelves - can make a big difference in fighting erasure. Help your students of all backgrounds learn about Indigenous leaders, artists, and activists. In today's episode, I'm sharing concrete options to help. Discover the best free posters, leaders to feature in your research projects, strong contemporary titles, an easily accessible poem by our Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, and more. You can find the show notes at nowsparkcreativity.com in the podcast section. While you're there, take a peek at all the free curriculum resources!
Try using graphic novels to create powerful reading ladders, launch literature circles, help make the classics accessible, and more! Tune in to this podcast episode for six helpful perspectives on how the graphic novel can ignite engagement in ELA. Find the show notes here.
Want to introduce your ELA students to the creative joys of graphic novels? Find out how to run a quick and productive book tasting to help introduce them to the genre. Get book recommendations, a digital bookshelf template, the book tasting takeaways sheet, and more in the show notes at nowsparkcreativity.com. Connect on Instagram! Join my free Facebook group, Creative High School English.
Gareth Hinds has created appealing graphic novel versions of many great classics of English literature, like The Odyssey, The Iliad, Beowulf, and Shakespeare's plays. Find out how to use them in class to help deepen engagement. We're talking about the visual language of graphic novels, top teaching tips for graphic novels, and how Gareth researches and creates his classic adaptations.
Want to help your independent readers enjoy audiobooks? Whether you want to use Audible, Libro FM (do you know about their free educator advance listening program?), Libby, or Sora, in this episode I'll walk you through the process of creating easy access for your students at your own classroom listening station. Check out the show notes at nowsparkcreativity.com for visuals and links!
Want to improve your classroom dynamics? Start with relationships, and watch how they can positively impact your daily life as a teacher in so many ways. In this episode, learn fun and easy strategies like post-it compliments and the googly eye connection from our guest CJ Reynolds, from Real Rap with Reynolds. Then watch - as your relationships deepen, your pedagogy will strengthen too.
Looking to engage your secondary ELA students in creative public speaking projects? Try podcasting, debate, mock trials, mini speeches, or genius hour talks! Be sure to visit the show notes at nowsparkcreativity.com for the speech boosting handouts and model podcast ideas.
Find out how veteran teacher Jane Wisdom successfully incorporated a social media twist on the traditional research project, with great results from her students. Find the show notes at http://nowsparkcreativity.com. Connect on Instagram @nowsparkcreativity. Discover community in my free Facebook group, Creative High School English.
Beat the after-lunch lethargy with these active classroom strategies. Learn how to use stations, escape rooms, speed debating, hexagonal thinking, performance, and more to help keep your students up an engaged. In this episode, we're running through my favorite ways to help shake it up with movement in the classroom.
First Chapter Fridays let you introduce students to a wide range of diverse compelling authors even if you can only spare a few minutes a week. In this episode, discover book choice inspiration, display options, author video options, sketchnotes templates for students, and more. Plus, get some ideas for how to save your voice! I've been singing the First Chapter Friday song for years, but here's a complete take on how to do it right, with tons of resources and visuals waiting for you in the podcasts section over at nowsparkcreativity.com.
Need help teaching the college essay to your students? Learn about what makes a strong college essay from four experienced college admissions officers and high school college counselors from around the United States. Play this episode for your students too! Find the show notes and grab the free companion curriculum at: https://nowsparkcreativity.com/podcast
Want to teach sentence structure in a creative way that really helps? Try these three fun twists on the traditional worksheet. Check out the visuals at nowsparkcreativity.com. Just click the "podcasts" tab at the top of the page!
1Want to try an international classroom collaboration? Learn the tips and tricks from Andrea Greer, who runs a five country collaboration from Japan. Check out the show notes and find a collab partner through the link inside at nowsparkcreativity.com.
What if faculty meetings deepened relationships and helped people feel connected and inspired? In this interview, get ideas for changing the design of back-to-school with Dr. Susie Wise of the Stanford D School.
Want to build more contemporary poetry into your ELA classroom? Find out how with #teachlivingpoets founder Mel Alter Smith. Discover poetry collections, activities, and full units ready to use in class through her work at teachlivingpoets.com.
Goodbye chapter comprehension questions, hello creative lesson ideas! In today's episode, discover 21 creative lessons, activities, and units you can use in any ELA class. These are the most popular tried-and-true options I've discovered over the last decade! Try blackout poetry, silent discussions, hexagonal thinking, literary food trucks, book tastings, digital poetry tiles, and so many more!
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Wow, I feel a bit resentful about the guest’s statement of burnout: “I didn’t have good boundaries, I didn’t practice self-care, …” and so now I am a mess because of my own bad management of my professional life. So burnout is the teachers’ fault? Sometimes or partially, of course. However, the system and structure of education today is the real cause.
I am in Bulgaria right now! I heard you mentioned teaching here and would love to hear more about that experience.
This is one of the most useful podcasts I've ever followed. Betsy has so much enthusiasm for creativity in her classroom. This podcast and its website and tpt store, have helped me during numerous late-night brainstorming sessions with how to get and keep my middle schoolers up and moving, engaged, and collaborating.