Like a bee and a daisy, ELA and SEL benefit from close interactions. Get the buzz about five ways ELA and SEL are stronger together. SEL teaches students to recognize and control their emotions, make positive choices, connect with classmates, and prepare to learn. This process requires reading, writing, speaking, and listening—the core skills developed in ELA classrooms. Without listening and reading, students cannot relate to and empathize with others.

Young people routinely pass through our classrooms, and despite our brief time together, we form lasting bonds. We want our students to have happy, enriching lives. It usually warms our hearts to hear life updates from former students: news of a college acceptance, a new job, a wedding date, a baby on the way. However, sometimes news of a former student leaves us shaken. In recent years, youth suicides have risen at an alarming rate–up 57 percent for people ages 10 to 24. Many of us–too many–know of students or former students who have attempted or died by suicide.

Last week, we introduced "40 Ways Students Can Create Digital Content." Those ideas were inspired partly by NCTE’s recent position statement calling for media education in ELA classrooms and for expanding the scope of reading and writing instruction beyond books and essays. Below you can find a practical strategy for teaching literacy using an exciting digital format—podcasts! How can I teach literacy using podcasts? You can use a "mentor text" approach to help your students listen, think, and write in response to award-winning student podcasts.

My freshmen recently turned in a lengthy inquiry project. They had been working on it for weeks, and it was thrilling to see their research and writing take its final form. I was particularly excited to review one student’s exploration of a historic neighborhood. And indeed her work was engaging, insightful, and well-researched. There was an issue, though. The project included erratic capitalization and numerous misspelled words.

To become a better writer, volume and frequency matter. According to literacy experts, students are not getting enough of either. Writing has received short shrift these past 2 years. Student writing is unlikely to improve unless students write more. Lots more. — Carol Jago (@CarolJago) June 15, 2022 The teachers we talk to agree. They want their students to write more, but they question the logistics. They wonder, “How can I carve out the time? How can I create motivation? What will I do about reluctant writers? What will I do about feedback?

Our students, ever the digital natives, are awash in images. They scroll through them—scrutinizing, liking, and commenting. They capture, share, and meme-ify them. They create their own images and even break news with them. As writing teachers, we can tap into this energy for imagery by inviting students to incorporate visuals in their writing and storytelling. But when we do so, we should also teach how to use images ethically and effectively.

As you prepare to teach grammar this year, focus on fundamental questions: What do my students know? What do I want them to know? How can I help them learn? At the start of the school year, you may have a decent understanding of the last two questions. But what your students already know about grammar—that can feel like a mystery. Rather than making assumptions, why not give a grammar pretest? Grammar pretests will clue you into students' existing skills and knowledge.

Do your reading discussions ever feel a little stale? Are the same talkative students the only ones responding? Are you doing most of the talking? Thankfully, whole-class discussion is not the only way students can converse about reading. When your class gets in a discussion rut, have students work on text rendering. What is text rendering? Text rendering is the practice of picking out, sharing, and reacting to a short section from a reading.

Teachers often ask us, “How do I motivate my students to write?” One solution is to create engaging prompts. What makes a writing prompt engaging? The best prompts are clear and relevant. If the topic or task is not relevant to students, they will be less motivated to persist through the steps of the writing process and do their best work. As an example, suppose your class is working on a persuasive writing unit. Consider the following prompts. Which is most effective?

Reading discussions stall without enough participation. Students tend to self-identify as quiet or talkative, and those identities too often dictate involvement. As a result, discussions may resemble a ping-pong-like exchange between the teacher and a few outgoing students. What about everyone else? Their ideas matter, too. How can I improve participation? Try varying the discussion format. You could break into small groups or have students work with partners. Also try varying the mode of discussion.