x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA

Betsy Potash: ELA

Want to love walking into your ELA classroom each day? Excited about innovative strategies like PBL, escape rooms, hexagonal thinking, sketchnotes, one-pagers, student podcasting, genius hour, and more? Want a thriving choice reading program and a shelf full of compelling diverse texts? You"re in the right place! Here you"ll find interviews with top authors from the ELA field, workshops with strategies you can use in class immediately, and quick tips to ignite your English teacher creativity

education how to

All Episodes

02:43

219: Highly Recommended: Vocaroo

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/09/07

This week let’s talk about the simplest audio recording tool out there for students, Vocaroo. Getting into activities like student podcasting, multigenre projects involving audio, or film projects with audio overlay can feel really intimidating. But not with Vocaroo. Vocaroo is actually a website you can visit on Chrome. In the middle of the page there's a big red button. Student simply click it and start recording. Then when they’re done, they click to download the audio file. It’s that

en

18:43

218: A Beginner's Guide to using Podcasts in the...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/09/05

So you've heard the buzz about podcasts, and you're intrigued. You want to play an episode in class, but you wonder what that would even look like? What would kids do while they listen? What would they do after they listen? Which show would be best? How would it fit into everything else you're up to? Yeah, I hear you. It's a whole new genre and you might be the first teacher on your hall to use it. A few easy wins to help you get started wouldn't hurt! So today on the podcast, I want to help

en

03:33

217: Highly Recommended: Research with a Twist

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/31

This week let’s talk about research, and the ways it shows up across the world these days. Because I’d like to highly recommend you build some research activities into your class this year that don’t end in papers. I vividly remember my seventh grade social studies class, where we sat in groups at rounded tables trying to look cool and learned about how to take notes on a single source using a notecard. We built up our notecard stack over time, then arranged and rearranged our research into our

en

23:22

216: Let's Talk Graphic Novels with Jerry Craft

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/29

Today on the podcast, I’m so excited to bring you the first writer ever to win three very important prizes in literature - the Newberry Award, The Kirkus Prize, and the Coretta Scott King Award - for a single book. Would it surprise you to know the first person to win all of these for one amazing book is a graphic novelist? That’s right, today we’re talking to the creator of the new Kid Series, which now includes New Kid, Class Act, and School Trip. This is a special episode designed to be

en

04:55

215: Highly Recommended: Book Trailers

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/25

This week I want to share a super simple strategy for building more book recommendations into your classes in just two or three minute installments, book trailers. I first heard the idea of “Book Trailer Tuesdays” from Abby Gross, over at Write On with Miss G. I loved the idea right away, as a companion to First Chapter Friday or as its own unique program. But even if you’re not doing Book Trailer Tuesdays, book trailers are an amazing thing to build into your class. Maybe you have a bookmarked list

en

14:51

214: Build a Bridge to the Library this Year

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/24

Librarians can help classroom teachers in sooooo many ways, and classroom teachers can return the favor by reminding kids they can always go further than the classroom library to the larger collection at the school or local library, and tap into their librarian's intricate knowledge of the collection to find even more books to love. Forming a bridge between the work you do in class and the life of your school or local library will help kids be connected to book sources and experts beyond the time

en

03:57

213: Highly Recommended: The Unexplainable...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/17

This week I want to share a fast-paced and fun podcast for middle schoolers, The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel. It's a peabody-award winning mystery podcast, stuffed full of cliffhangers and featuring a full cast of professional actors - most of them middle-schoolers. The plot unfolds in bits and pieces as we follow a group of middle school kids who don’t quite fit in, and don’t know why their friends keep disappearing one by one. The show is frequently broken up by “announcements” from

en

16:06

212: The Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Digital...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/15

So you want to share your favorite books with your students to help them love reading. Excellent! But maybe you lack the budget to keep up with their growing love of reading. Maybe you're wishing you could order about 25 different graphic novels (that waiting list for Heartstopper isn't getting any shorter) or your best Jason Reynolds and Kwame Alexander Titles keep disappearing. I hear you! These problems are only a sign that you're doing great things with your choice reading program. But what

en

06:40

211: Highly Recommended: An Easier Back-to-School Night

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/10

This week I want to share two quick ways to make back-to-school night something you can enjoy this year. In today's episode we're talking about how to take the pressure off back-to-school night with stations, and how to use QR codes to quickly and easily share anything that needs to happen online, whether that's signing up for an app, sharing a class website, or giving interested parents your Amazon class wishlist. Go Further: Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast

en

11:52

210: Creative Alternatives to the Summer Reading Essay

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/08

So you've assigned a book you love (or maybe a selection of several) to your students for the summer, and soon enough they'll be back to share their takeaways. But maybe this year you want to hear from them through a form other than the traditional summer reading essay. You want to kick things off with creativity, and also push them to think beyond any internet summary and commentary they may have perused alongside the book. Today on the podcast, I'd like to share four easy alternatives to an

en

04:47

209: Highly Recommended: Alone

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/03

This week I want to share one of my favorite recent reads - Alone, by Megan E Freeman. I picked up this book after hearing what a smash hit it was with Caitlin Lore’s seniors back when I interviewed her for our episode about verse novel book clubs. If a ton of seniors loved it AND it was middle school appropriate with a younger protagonist, I figured it was a must-read! I knew coming in that it was a survival story, set in a dystopian future, and that it was a novel-in-verse. I read it in two days,

en

23:56

208: A New Approach to Differentiation with Kareem Farah

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/08/02

Today on the podcast, I’m glad to welcome Kareem Farah, founder of the Modern Classrooms Project. As a teacher in Washington D.C., Kareem faced problems that many teachers can relate to - students missing class all the time, and classes made up of students at hugely varied levels. He wanted to try something new, because he felt the practices he had been taught were not working. Together with his friend Rob Barnett, he created a new instructional model that took into account the fact that students

en

09:39

207: Highly Recommended: Book Clubs

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/27

This week I want to share a quick push for trying book clubs this year. If you haven’t jumped on this trend yet, I want to give you a few quick reasons why I hope you will! Book clubs allow you to give students... more choice in their curriculum more diversity in the voices you share a deeper exploration of a theme or genre (since they end up hearing about so many different books from their peers) Book clubs allow YOU... to consolidate required texts to make room for other options to bring in a

en

15:41

206: Help Students Consider the Ethics of AI with...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/25

AI is here. And everyone is paying attention. Many people are wondering if AI will take over their jobs, others how it can help them do their jobs. Some folks are asking if AI can help us solve global warming, while plenty of people fear that SuperIntelligence might eventually evolve beyond humanity and stop caring about us, dystopian sci-fi style. And what about our students? Maybe they're wondering how it can help them with their work, while still making room for their originality, creativity,

en

04:13

205: Highly Recommended: Attendance Questions

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/20

As the back-to-school season rolls around, attendance questions are a super easy strategy to help you build community and get to know your students. In today's episode, I'll share what they are, how to get rolling with them, and how to use them flexibly throughout the year. Here’s how they work…. At attendance time, instead of calling roll and having students say “here,” have them share their answer to a question. The question should usually lead to a SHORT answer – one or two words – but if your

en

34:59

204: Students need Diverse Texts and Choice - Here's...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/18

Today on the podcast, we’re talking about why offering our students diverse texts and giving them choice over their reading is so vitally important. My guests, Dr. Claudia Rodriguez-Mojica and Dr. Allison Briceño, have recently written a carefully-researched and well-crafted book called Conscious Classrooms, all about why students need to be surrounded by diverse texts and how teachers can choose and integrate these texts. While Claudia and Alison share examples in their book from their work

en

05:45

203: Highly Recommended: Name Tent One-Pagers on Day One

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/13

This week on "Highly Recommended" I’m sharing my absolute favorite way to start school - the name tent one-pager. Long-time listeners to the show will know that my first ever first day of school was an utter disaster. It was probably the day I came closest to leaving the profession. But at least I learned a valuable lesson - NEVER read the syllabus out loud on day one! A few years after my first first day, I discovered name tents. I was struggling so much with remembering my students’ names, and I

en

10:15

202: Silent Discussions Made Easy

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/11

Silent discussions are a handy go-to option for helping every student participate in a discussion. They can help break up discussion ruts, show your classroom community how much quieter students really have to contribute, and let everyone think carefully about a topic before diving into a big oral discussion or related writing prompt. Sounds pretty good, right? I've found them to be gold. So in today's episode, let's talk about three easy ways to try your first silent discussion. Sign up for the

en

03:25

201: Highly Recommended: Penny Kittle's "Beautiful...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/06

This week I’m sharing an idea from Penny Kittle that is so lovely and adaptable, I’m sure you can find a wonderful way to use it - the "Beautiful Words" project. Penny Kittle often shares strategies that involve looking to writing for inspiration and beauty. I’ve learned a lot from her about how to make mentor texts valuable, and how they are EVERYWHERE. One of her prompts to students is that they search out beautiful words as they read the books they're reading in book club, and write them down in

en

13:29

200: Do THIS in July to make August Better in your...

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA ·

2023/07/04

I know how it is. One minute you're paddleboarding along the lake, the next your mind is back-to-school as you consider whether to add book clubs in September, buy new plants for your windowsills, or try to fight a Jason Reynolds book into your 9th grade team curriculum (Yes! Do it!). Don't try to tell me that's not you, because here you are, reading this teaching blog in July. It's nothing to feel bad about! Mixing a little fun creative work into summer relaxation is allowed. So is taking the

en

399 results

Similar Podcasts

Science Talk

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

五分钟心理学

柠檬心理

Daily Facts

Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

Les dents et dodo

BFMTV

Veterinary Clinical Podcasts

The Royal Veterinary College