High School English Teacher Summer Summit

Session 1

Ignite Your Choice Reading Program 

We all want to help our students fall in love with reading! Enter, a solid choice reading program. In this session, Betsy Potash walks you through:

• Why designing an effective choice reading program is so essential in the HS English classroom
• How to be a book PR agent
• Simple ways to keep your students accountable for reading (without reading check quizzes or standard book reports)

You’ll finish this session with a clear and doable roadmap for implementing a choice reading program for your students this fall. 

Click here for Betsy's session.

Session 2

Practical Ways To Bring AI Into Any Class

If you have struggled to know what AI Literacy means and where it fits into your classroom, this session is for you. Matt Miller breaks down:

• What exactly AI Literacy means and why it's so important
• Bite-sized ways to bring AI Literacy into your classroom without any elaborate lesson planning
• Specific ways preserve critical thinking in your classroom 

You’ll finish this session with a renewed hope that your classroom can absolutely foster critical thinking and written expression even in an AI-age. 

Click here to view Matt's session.

Session 3

Using a Reader Identity Quiz To Support All Students

Danielle Hicks explains how to use a multiple-choice Reader Identity Quiz to give your students their reading profile early in the school year. 

• Easy-to-use strategy
• Gives you and your students meaningful insight early in the year
• Free download of the quiz

After watching this session, you'll have a tool for giving your students a reader profile that will help them understand their reading habits and tendencies. You'll also be armed with data to help support them all year long.

Click here to view Danielle's session.

Session 4

How To Run a Hybrid Book Club That Deepens Students' Skills

Jeanmarie McLaughlin explains how to combine traditional, structured book clubs with the flexibility of digital tools to build a highly engaging "hybrid" reading community.

• Maximizes student choice
• Blends independent, small-group, and digital discussion models
• Includes strategies for setting up your own club rotations

After watching this session, you’ll have a clear, step-by-step framework for launching book clubs that don't fall apart or require endless teacher tracking. You'll also be armed with the exact layout needed to keep high schoolers talking about books and enjoying it!

Jeanmarie's session will be added soon. 

Session 5

How To Be Happy: Strategies for Implementing Joy Into the English Classroom

Veteran teacher of 20 years, Corinne Skott walks you step-by-step through the "Happiness" unit she's designed for AP Lang (but easily adaptable for other grades and levels).  In this unit Corinne breaks down:

• How to reframe suffering as resiliency 
• Simple strategies to infuse joy into any unit
• EQs, summative suggestions, multimedia texts, and so much more so you are equipped to bring a happiness unit into your own classroom

After watching this session, you'll have strategies and detailed lesson ideas you can use right away. 

Click here to view Corinne's session.

Session 6

Poetry Without The Pressure: Go-To Strategies For Teaching Poetry Without Overteaching It  

Teaching poetry can be intimidating, and many of us fear "overteaching" it.  In this session, Lesa Smith breaks down:

• Ways to engage every level of learner in experiencing poetry before they analyze it 
• How to avoid overteaching poetry so that students can experience the beauty of it
• Simple methods for weaving poetry into your school year to avoid the once-a-year, isolated poetry unit

After watching this session, you'll be excited to weave poetry into your current units in fresh ways!

Lesa's session will be added soon.

Session 7

Creative Disruptions For the High School English Classroom

Are you tired of fighting student apathy? It's time for a creative disruption. Join Nate Seaburg as he shares what has worked to get his students to buy-in. He shares:

• Unconventional, high-engagement strategies that bring novels to life
• What it looks like to stage a character wedding or funeral and how this models a love of reading
• How to leverage real-world partnerships with local theater groups for your Shakespeare unit 

You’ll finish this session with specific, easy-to-implement ideas that will shake up your classroom (in the best way possible).  

Nate's session will be added soon.

Session 8

A Step-by-Step Guide For Using Podcasts In Your Classroom

Interested in using podcasts with your students, but not quite sure where to start? In this session, Missy walks you through 

• How actively listening to podcasts actually leads students to become stronger readers 
• The step-by-step plan for a podcast lesson or unit
• Her top 10 list of podcasts to use in the high school English classroom

You’ll walk away with a clear idea of how you can use podcasts in any unit as a supplemental text or even do a full unit with a podcast as the anchor text!

Missy's session will be added soon. 

Session 9

From Panic to Practice: How Teachers are Actually Navigating AI 

A Panel Discussion on Professional Use and Student Impact

AI has affected all of us. That's why we've opened up the conversation to discuss what's happening and what to do as English teachers. In this panel discussion teachers discuss:

• How we are using AI in terms of lesson planning, providing feedback, and more 
• To what extent we are (or aren't) allowing students to access AI for assignments
• What this all means for writing instruction and how we plan to preserve the writing process

After watching this session, you'll feel less alone in your complex feelings about AI and have a look at how other teachers are navigating it.

The AI panel discussion will be added soon.

Session 1

How To Use Micro Mentor Texts To Build Better Writers

If you've ever wondered how to effectively teach writing, Penny Kittle breaks down several key components of writing instruction in this session. Penny shares:

• The step-by-step method she uses in her classrooms that center on observing and imitating mentor texts
• What it looks like to confer with students regarding reading and writing and why this is so essential
• How the approach she's been using for decades can be a natural deterrent to AI usage

You’ll finish this session with simple but profound strategies that you can implement right away from one of the most valued voices in our field. 

Penny's session will be added soon.

Session 2

Get a Handle on Grading (Finally): Feedback Strategies That Help You and Your Students

If you've been teaching for a while, you likely recognize grading as one of the most challenging aspects of this job. Matthew Johnson felt that too, and even left teaching at one point because of it (he's back in the classroom now).  In this session, Matthew Johnson, author of Flash Feedback, walks us through:

• The difference between feedback and assessment
• How to use the feedback cycle to give students more agency during the writing process
• What global feedback and flash feedback look like in his classroom

After this session, you'll have specific strategies that will lighten your grading load by interspersing feedback throughout an entire unit rather than piling it on at the end. 

Matthew's session will be added soon.

Session 3

Simple (but Powerful) Ways To Support Your English Language Learners

If you have ELLs in your classes, this session is a must-see. Katie Hull (author and teacher of 30 years) walks us through:

• Specific scaffolds to use for reading support with our ELLs
• Using frameworks for writing instruction that help ELLs and all learners
• Why student agency matters so much, and ways to include it

You’ll finish this session with specific, easy-to-implement supports that will help your ELLs tremendously, but have the benefit of helping all your students. 

Click here to view Katie's session.

Session 4

Breaking Up With Logos, Pathos and Ethos: How To Approach Rhetorical Analysis For All Students

Many of us have centered our rhetorical analysis units on identifying and using logos, pathos, and ethos, but Amanda Cardenas challenges us to approach it in a different way. In her session she explains:

• What the rhetorical situation is, and how reframing our unit in view of this allows deeper understanding
• How to scaffold rhetorical analysis vertically from 9th-12th grade
• Her amazing lesson that grabs students interest on day 1 of a rhetorical analysis unit

You’ll walk away from this session with a whole new view of rhetorical analysis and a clear idea for how to start approaching it more fully in your classroom. 

Session 5

Bridging History and Literature With High Interest Videos

If you've ever feel overwhelmed with providing the context for a book or novel, join us for this fantastic session with David Olson from Retro Report (a non-profit organization). David explains what you can find in this free teacher resource, including:

• His recommended videos for the some of the most commonly-taught literature in high school
• How Retro Report's videos can support you if you teach journalism
• Where to find videos on media literacy and free lesson plans to go with it! 

You will love the free resources from Retro Repot and be blown away by their professionally produced videos. 

Session 6

Why Storytelling Matters More Now Than Ever, And How To Bring More of It Into Your Classroom

In a world where authentic voice seems to be on the decline, this session all about oral and written storytelling is a breath of fresh air! Ana Stern, former teacher and now head of education at The Moth explains:

• The power of both written and oral storytelling
• Simple ways to bring more storytelling into our classrooms throughout the entire year (not just in a focused unit)
• What the Moth framework for storytelling includes 

You’ll finish with specific strategies for incorporating more storytelling into your classroom.  

Session 7

The Nuts and Bolts of Using Portfolios in the High School English Classroom

Join veteran English teacher Sam Bradford as he breaks down how to use portfolios in your classroom to:

• Increase the volume of writing your students do (without you grading anything extra)
• Give your students more agency in what they write
• Naturally focus more fully on revision and mastery  

You’ll finish this session with a clear strategy for implementing portfolios in your classroom plus a ready-to-use assignment and rubric.  

Session 8

A Grammar Method That Encourages Risk Taking

If teaching grammar feels daunting because you might not even know all the grammar rules yourself, this session is for you. In this session, Missy walks you through

• A strategy for teaching grammar that celebrates great literature through mentor texts
• How a key to understanding grammar is through using it (i.e. in writing)
• What it looks like to take risks in writing and play with language to develop voice

You’ll finish this session more excited to teach grammar than you ever have been before!