Educator Voices

Here are recommended resources from our literacy experts and partners on the Common Core State Standards, multicultural and diverse classrooms, and engaging your students’ hearts and minds. This is your spot for teaching inspiration and support.

Where to Find Culturally Diverse Literature to Pair with Your Required Curriculum
Discover resources on diverse literature for teachers to use alongside their mandated curriculum.

The Right Read Aloud for the Classroom Community You Want This Year
Explore the power of the right back-to-school read aloud to inspire meaningful connections and create a safe, welcoming, reading-first space.

Building Your Classroom Library: 5 Things to Consider
The first step to creating a well-rounded classroom library should not only intrigue and motivate students to want to open a book but also meet their diverse learning needs.

How to Create a School-wide Program to Celebrate Student Writing and Heritage
Want to inspire future poets, writers, and dreamers? One elementary school in San Francisco did just that with an author study of U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.

Creating a Classroom Community: What I Like Most About My Classroom Is Who I Share It With
A teacher shares her experience and discusses what is important in creating a supportive classroom community.

Teaching From Students’ Lives
In this guest post, an educator describes using books that captured her students’ bilingual and bicultural experiences. This article originally appeared in Rethinking Schools magazine, and is cross-posted here with permission.

Interpreting César Chávez’s Legacy with Students
In this guest post, a former educator presents strategies and resources to enrich the classroom with the legacy of César Chávez. This blog post was originally posted at the American Immigration Council’s Teach Immigration blog, and is cross-posted here with permission.

Choosing the World Our Students Read
In this guest post, a former educator discusses how educators can identify texts that both meet the demands of the Common Core Standards and reflect the world in which our students live. This blog post was originally posted at the Teaching Tolerance blog, and is cross-posted here with permission.

What I Learned From a Nonverbal Autistic Classroom Part 1 and Part 2
Former educator reflects upon her experience teaching in a nonverbal autistic classroom and shares a list of helpful resources for people on the autism spectrum, their family members, and educators.

Help Your Students Find the Best Summer Learning Opportunities Learn about summer slide and the role educators can play in helping families find the right academic programs to continue the learning achievements from the school year.

Why I Love to Read Sad and Dark Books to Children (and You Should Too)
Learn about the value of reading and teaching with dark and sad books with students.

5 Harmful Differentiation Myths and 5 Ways to Differentiate Assignments and Tasks
Former educator discusses 5 myths about differentiation and how it is used in the classroom to tier assignments.