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ELA Resources for Teachers
Explore our wide range of curricular resources and professional learning for secondary English Language Arts classrooms.
Our ELA resources integrate literacy skills development with social-emotional learning and civic education practices.
![An educator looks down at a book to read.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_320/public/2022-06/NewEngland_ProfessionalLearningEvent_2017_FH153490.jpg?itok=V6YPH8JP)
![An educator looks down at a book to read.](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_320/public/2022-06/NewEngland_ProfessionalLearningEvent_2017_FH153490.jpg?itok=V6YPH8JP)
Professional Learning for ELA Educators
Explore a wide variety of professional learning experiences that support making the most of our English Language Arts curriculum.
Professional Learning for ELA Educators
Explore a wide variety of professional learning experiences that support making the most of our English Language Arts curriculum.
About Our ELA Resources
Designed for grades 6-12, our English Language Arts resources include a wide array of materials that will spark discussion and student engagement.
Our thematic collections feature text sets for multiple grade levels, unit planning guidance, classroom-ready handouts, and more.
We also offer teaching guides for a selection of longer works, poetry lessons, and teaching strategies that prioritize student writing and discussion.
Curriculum Planning & Thematic Collections
Coming of Age in a Complex World is our first in a series of thematic collections. It includes three text sets — one each for grades 7-8 and 9-10 — and a unit guide for a specific work of literature. In addition, the Unit Planning Toolkit provides the resources to help you design a coming-of-age literature unit for a book of your choosing. The Book Club Guide, Whole-School Read Guide, and Back to School Toolkit are adaptable and can supplement any thematic collection.
Borders & Belonging
This modular ELA collection for grades 7–12 invites students to explore the complicated world of belonging and the tangible and intangible borders that shape it.
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Coming of Age in a Complex World
Developed for grades 6–12, this modular collection invites students to explore the complexity of identity and develop a sense of agency as they reflect on what it means to grow up in the world today.
![A high school student shares their thoughts during a school workshop.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/193_Bully_Summit%2C_2012%2C_LA%2C_186.jpg?h=1b44adb6&itok=mI9Nwfrt)
ELA Unit Planning Guide
This guide provides the framework and classroom resources to help you design an English Language Arts unit for middle or high school students centered around a book of your choosing.
![Three educators smile while sitting together working.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2024-03/Facing-History_SJLA_015_edit.jpg?h=c7420dc8&itok=PlL1FQ9c)
Guide
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Centering Student Voice and Choice: A Book Club Guide
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Implement book clubs that build community and help students make meaningful connections to books they are excited to read.
![A close up of shelves in a school library filled with books of different sizes and colors.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/2017_library_FH256446.png?h=2992ba0a&itok=kS59ZPo5)
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Whole-School Read Guide: Foster a Literacy Community
This planning guide will help you design and implement a Whole-School Read that centers students’ voices and experiences.
![Blue and purple toned books, view from above](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-08/2022_WholeSchoolRead_FH2182314.jpg?h=a319f810&itok=mUSwGTPf)
Toolkit
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Back to School: Building Community for Connection and Learning
These back-to-school activities and teacher resources will help you lay a foundation for a reflective and caring community at the start of the school year.
![Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/LA_ClassroomImage_2018_FH287148.jpg?h=a141e9ea&itok=lbbZPe6H)
Title-Specific Teaching Guides
Teaching texts that offer students many different perspectives is essential in middle and high school classrooms; taken together, they can affirm students' identities and help them develop a greater appreciation of the world around them. Explore our selection of literature guides designed to help you bring a range of compelling voices into your classroom.
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Teaching Night
This guide interweaves a literary analysis of Elie Wiesel’s powerful and poignant memoir with an exploration of the relevant historical context surrounding his experience during the Holocaust.
![Cover of Teaching Night.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-03/TeachingNight_cvr.png?h=40c9f4d4&itok=k-jZCOpV)
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Teaching Mockingbird
Learn how to incorporate civic education, ethical reflection and historical context into a literary exploration of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird.
![Mockingbird Graphic.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/WebRedesign_Wrapper-card_Mockingbird.jpeg?h=24afd704&itok=qskeXCqD)
Guide
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Teaching Brown Girl Dreaming
Teach a unit on Jacqueline Woodson's coming-of-age memoir in verse that invites students to reflect on their own experiences and identities.
![A girl leans against a wall while reading a book.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/iStock-1209693972.jpg?h=7bbcb45e&itok=b5N9XQ_7)
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Teaching Red Scarf Girl
Use this guide to Ji-li Jiang’s engaging memoir set during the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution in China to help students explore themes of conformity, obedience, and prejudice.
![Book Cover of Red Scarf Girl.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-05/RedScarfGirl_cvr.png?h=f44212c3&itok=7tu3YQLb)
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Teaching Farewell to Manzanar
Use this guide to Jeanne Wakatsuki's memoir about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II to develop students' literacy skills and increase understanding of this history.
![Teaching Farewell To Manzanar graphic.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Manzanar_Large2.jpeg?h=01ac081b&itok=UHFGvzoO)
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Teaching Warriors Don't Cry
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Use this guide to Melba Pattillo Beals' memoir about the desegregation of Little Rock High School to develop literacy skills and teach about the civil rights movement.
![Cover of Teaching Warriors Don't Cry.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/TeachingWarriorsDontCry_cvr.png?h=322b9e5d&itok=8Q-SsctW)
Guide
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Teaching Enrique's Journey
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This guide provides activities and discussion questions for leading your students through a six-week reading of Enrique's Journey that explores themes of identity, belonging, and choices.
![Cropped Enriques Journey Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Enriques_Journey_card.jpeg?h=24afd704&itok=mdxEup0d)
Guide
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All-Community Read Guide: Being Heumann and Rolling Warrior
This planning guide will support your school community as you read the memoir of Judy Heumann, one of the most influential disability rights activists in US history.
![Student reading a book](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/6-6-14FacH00795.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=dwADfaYD)
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Wonder: A Whole-School Read Planning Guide
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Get tips for planning your whole-school read of the young adult novel Wonder. This guide provides direction on how to structure classroom discussions and includes pre- and post-reading activities. It also features a "write your own precept" template for use in a final school-wide activity.
![Graphic for A Whole-School Read Planning Guide.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/LSH_FH_WONDER_CTA_1.png?h=060e5325&itok=m7ZkvN-D)
Learn about ordering our digital class sets to use in your classroom.
Explore
Featured Lessons & Teaching Strategies
Enrich your classroom with some of our most popular poetry lessons and teaching strategies that support reading, writing, student-centered discussion, and synthesis in ELA courses.
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How to Bring Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom
For National Poetry Month, introduce students to spoken word poetry and explore its power to give voice to issues that impact our communities.
![Smiling student gesturing during classroom discussion](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/_DSF7139-10.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=Q2T3mPi7)
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Reflecting on Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb"
Use these activities to help students reflect on the themes in Amanda Gorman’s Inauguration Day poem and consider how their unique experiences and voices can help America “forge a union with purpose.”
![Photo of Amanda Gorman at Biden's Inauguration.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/AP_21020703530611_fullres_Medium_res.jpg?h=3a61c815&itok=h5ZfP4Bq)
Mini-Lesson
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Hardship and Hope: Teaching Amanda Gorman’s “New Day’s Lyric”
This mini-lesson invites students to analyze Amanda Gorman’s poem “New Day’s Lyric” and create a class poem about hope and collective action during challenging times.
![Amanda Gorman at the 2021 InStyle Awards At The Getty Center](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-08/GettyImages-1353568867_Medium_res.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=kEYjOlqQ)
Teaching Strategy
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Sketch to Stretch
Ask students to visualize a passage of text and interpret it through drawing with this reading comprehension strategy.
![Two female students write at their desks.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Chicago_Classroom_2019_FH2101676_0.jpg?h=c11c9c1d&itok=9JMqwQ5G)
Teaching Strategy
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Say Something
Encourage students to stop and engage with a text as they read with this comprehension strategy.
![Two students sitting at a table.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/SL_190523_0632.jpg?h=c11c9c1d&itok=qOwAMWt3)
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Levels of Questions
Educators will help students strengthen their literacy skills by increasing the complexity of the questions they need to answer about a text.
![A student writes on a piece of paper](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/London_Classroom_2015_FH137480.jpg?h=1116cd87&itok=_UtgseyR)
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Rapid Writing
Help students unpack their responses to a text or video using this structured protocol that requires alternating between thinking and writing.
![A student writing on a piece of paper.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/LosAngeles_Classroom_2012_FH116208.jpg?h=265e640d&itok=HQXpFTSl)
Teaching Strategy
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Journals in the Classroom
Create a practice of student journaling to help your students critically examine their surroundings and make informed judgments.
![Two students writing in a classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Chicago_Classroom_2019_FH2101676.jpg?h=c11c9c1d&itok=TlOy-GAQ)
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Big Paper: Building a Silent Conversation
Students have a written conversation with peers and use silence as a tool to explore a topic in depth.
![Group of students writing on large piece of chart paper.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-09/LosAngeles_BigPaperActivityTeachingStrategy_NametagsRemoved_FH287345.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=xUHLWrBJ)
Teaching Strategy
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Socratic Seminar
A Socratic Seminar invites students to facilitate a discussion in order to work together toward a shared understanding of a text.
![Two students sitting in a classroom with one student talking and gesturing](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Chicago_Classroom_2018_%20FH151349.jpg?h=c3635fa2&itok=DKqBQANg)
Teaching Strategy
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Concentric Circles
This kinesthetic discussion activity invites students to be active listeners and speakers and to interact with a wide range of classmates.
![Two students talking in a classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Canada_Classroom_2013_%20FH156999.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=QakDgVIE)
Teaching Strategy
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Four Corners
Get all students involved by asking them to show their stance on a statement through their positioning around the room.
![A students talks with other students in a classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-07/LosAngeles_Classroom_2018_FH287164.jpg?h=a7f0580e&itok=J8auOvoo)
Teaching Strategy
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Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World
Use text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world comparisons to help students connect ideas in a text to their own lives, current events, and history.
![A close-up of an open book in someone's hands](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/NewEngland_Classroom_2014_%20FH130909.jpg?h=0d27ee61&itok=KTdUxDpl)
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Connect, Extend, Challenge
Deepen students' understanding of a topic by having them connect to their prior knowledge.
![Students write at their desks.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/Chicago_Classroom_2019_FH2101681.jpeg?h=56d0ca2e&itok=pItuRsH2)
Teaching Strategy
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Create a Headline
This strategy helps students synthesize and articulate the most important takeaways from a variety of resources containing information about a particular topic or theme.
![Student writes in a classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/SanFrancisco_Classroom_2017_FH152732.jpg?h=f2fcf546&itok=vql3K3i_)
![Woman place her arms on her lap and open book to read](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_480/public/2022-08/RemoteBookClubs_iStock-508586144_teaser.jpeg?itok=jTBJ8sHW)
Get Our ELA Newsletter
"What's the Word" is a monthly newsletter for English Language Arts educators. Get new resources, upcoming events, and professional learning delivered directly to you.
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Collection
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Professional Learning for ELA Educators
Explore a wide variety of professional learning experiences that support making the most of our English Language Arts curriculum.
![An educator looks down at a book to read.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/NewEngland_ProfessionalLearningEvent_2017_FH153490.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=7nqdPZ22)
Insight
Teaching Coming-of-Age Literature
by
Kaitlin Smith
Facing History explores examples of coming-of-age literature and its connection to our resources.
![Close up of male hand open book and reading.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/finger_points_book_reading.jpeg?h=140710cd&itok=Tq3cNmxF)
Featured Resource
Amp Up Reading in Your Classroom with Facing History’s Book Club Guide
by
Jessica Weingartner
Help your students engage with and enjoy reading with our updated Book Club Guide and professional learning webinar.
![Students read books while sitting on the floor.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-07/StudentsReadBooks_Graphic_FH2195093.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=YFYJkTNa)
Featured Resource
4 Tools for Teaching with Poetry
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Kaitlin Smith
Facing History invites educators to weave poetry into classroom instruction using four of our teaching resources to shed light on historical and contemporary experiences and to help students process their own identities and emotions.
![Wood lettered poetry graphic.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-06/Untitled%20design%20%2834%29.png?h=a6c55029&itok=ynpvxtcP)
Insight
Elevating Student Voice Through Podcasting and Storytelling
by
Facing History Staff
In this interview with educator Molly Josephs, we explore how storytelling helps students find their unique voices & create connections across differences.
![Picture of students.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-11/Facing-History_SJLA_037.jpg?h=c9f93661&itok=BVGZU-Cq)
Featured Resource
Building Belonging with New Classroom Activities for Back to School
by
Omar Ramirez
Use our updated Back-to-School Toolkit to help you build community with students and lay the foundation for building a brave, inclusive classroom.
![Rear view of high school students walking into college building together](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-08/BTS.jpg?h=4168c8c5&itok=anVPMSEO)
Insight
Creative Tips for Using Teaching Strategies
by
Briana O’Neal
Learn how Facing History teachers have adapted our teaching strategies for their classrooms.
![Male teacher in classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-08/6-1-22FacH10490.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=q1kv9RkK)
Perspective
Cultivating Critical Consciousness in the Classroom
by
Kaitlin Smith
Education scholars Drs. Graves and Seider present insights on the importance of cultivating critical consciousness in the classroom.
![A side view of an open book with a colorful globe behind it](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2023-08/iStock-92686980.jpg?h=4362216e&itok=X1Ixrs0G)
Insight
6 New Books on Human Rights
by
Kaitlin Smith
Below are 6 books published in 2021 that speak to underacknowledged dimensions of human rights in history, teaching, and contemporary global society.
![The words, "human rights" are highlighted within a text.](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/istock-178100128_human_rights_text.png?h=a6c55029&itok=rh8-tcu0)
Insight
Anti-Trans Legislation: How We Got Here and Why it Matters
by
R.R. Rubin
Facing History describes the wave of Anti-Transgender legislation happening in the US, and how this affects our trans youth.
![crowd of people outside with a sign raised to protect trans kids](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/protect_trans_kids_sign_photo.png?h=a6c55029&itok=yP1CBUpC)
Insight
#MeToo Past and Present: 3 New Books on Challenging Gender Violence
by
Kaitlin Smith
Facing History summarizes three new books that have been released in the last year that address the ongoing struggle of women against gender violence.
![Colorful quilted portrait of activist Tarana Burke](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/tarana_colorful_quilt_graphic.jpeg?h=1be3eeeb&itok=_rUL5irF)
Insight
5 New YA Books on Women's History
by
Kaitlin Smith
Facing History provides a list of five YA titles that have been released in the last year that make important themes in women’s history and contemporary life accessible to young readers.
![Patriotic Graphic with Banner that reads Good Girls Don't Make History](/sites/default/files/styles/dynamic_stack_296_1x/public/2022-04/Good_girls_dont_make_history_graphic.jpeg?h=a3f48866&itok=PmROzEKj)