Like most of us, Christina Schneider didn't find teaching writing one bit easy at first. Despite her background as a journalist, putting all the puzzle pieces together in the classroom to help her students understand how to build a thesis, introduce and analyze evidence, and express their ideas felt like a pretty tough task.

But over time she had one breakthrough after another with her high school students in California. She figured out how to meet them where they are and guide them through the process of building their academic writing skills day by day throughout the school year.

Now she steps up to the plate each August with her new students feeling confident that she can take them where they need to go. She's recently written a new book, Building Strong Writers, where she shares everything she's learned in step-by-step walkthroughs to make it easy for you to try too.

Today on the pod, we'll be exploring three of her top writing scaffolds, and how you can get started with them tomorrow to make argument writing instruction simpler and more successful in your classroom.

Connect with Christina, from The Daring English Teacher

Hi! I’m Christina. I’m a full-time high school English and journalism teacher, wife, and mom. I’ve taught every high school grade level, and I love sharing my ideas, lesson plans, and ELA resources with other teachers. One of my passions is providing engaging, robust, and differentiated learning experiences to my students while helping other teachers do the same.

Explore more of Christina's work on her website: https://thedaringenglishteacher.com/

Grab your copy of her new book, Building Strong Writers: https://www.amazon.com/Building-Strong-Writers-Strategies-Scaffolds/dp/1956306854

Follow along with her tips and ideas on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedaringenglishteacher/

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It's February, the perfect time to feature work by contemporary Black authors in your book talks, poetry clip showings, First Chapter Fridays, book displays, and bulletin boards. It's also a good time to look ahead to next year and consider whether you want to order some of these books for book clubs and whole class texts in the 2025-2026 school year.boo

Of course, I know you know every month is the perfect time to feature these books in all kinds of ways. But today let's talk about five authors you might want to highlight especially right now, and why. As always, you know your classroom best, so be sure to preview books before teaching them to be sure they're the right fit for your students' ages and your community.

Go Further:

Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast.

Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit.

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How many times have you sat in a PD meeting that didn't apply to you? One where you were learning an 11 letter acronym for a strategy you'd never use, a 3 point plan for a new program that wouldn't fit with your curriculum, or a training you'd already had?

A PD meeting that was... irrelevant.

In their book, Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst use one word to describe a key component we need in our in our curriculum in order to keep students' attention: relevance (115).

Relevance hit home for me, conceptually.

For many years, I've argued here for authentic audience, more contemporary texts featuring diverse voices, real-world projects like genius hour and podcasting, exploring modern mediums for communication, and student-led discussion.

Relevance - in the words of the latest visual trend on Insta - fits the #vibesibringtothefunction here at Spark Creativity.

I want it for you, of course, in your professional learning, and that's why I'm here. And I want it for your students, in their learning in your classroom.

When Beers and Probst polled high school students on what issues they'd be interested in exploring, the issues that feel relevant to them, they named things like solving hate/bullying, fighting racism, ending discrimination around mental illness, and protecting the environment (117).

It's not easy to dive into issues like these if you're tied to an aggressive standardized curriculum. As Beers and Probst put it, it's easier to create a learning environment that matters to students "if the question begins, 'What do kids want to know?' rather than 'What does the curriculum say we must cover?'" (116).

And yet, there are inroads you can make in your classroom toward relevance, while you have larger conversations with your colleagues and administration about the wider curriculum and the freedom (or lack thereof) it allows you as you design your units.

So today, I want to explore ways to build more relevance into the curriculum, even if you don't have carte blanche to teach whatever you want, however you want to.

Links Mentioned:

Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's Book: Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters

David Kelley's Incredible Ted Talk: How to Build your Creative Confidence

Jared Amato's Book: Just Read It

Go Further:

Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast.

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Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!