Building Book Love

The Outsiders Lesson Plans: Activities, Themes, & Ideas

How many times in your career will you get the chance to teach a book to teens written by a teen? The raw and rare voice of 16-year-old S.E. Hinton is pure coming-of-age magic that makes The Outsiders so iconic. Unfortunately for me, I botched my chance many years ago. As a brand new ELA teacher with no team nor TpT (it didn’t exist yet), I found myself absolutely SCRAMBLING to piece together some sort of Outsiders lesson plans on the fly with zero resources or help. So, I created the Outsiders unit plan I wish I had back then. A unit that is intentional, meaningful, and FUN. A unit that would give me some breathing room in my lesson planning and make me quit questioning ... Read More about The Outsiders Lesson Plans: Activities, Themes, & Ideas

Teaching Critical Lenses: Fun Ways to Apply Lenses in Literature

I feel that it is essential for every English literature student–whether that be AP, honors, regular, or support level– to have the ability to read a single text through different critical lenses. This skill teaches students how to have an open mindset and view the world through multiple perspectives. And isn't that one of the fundamental purposes of reading? Plus, literature lenses are the perfect thing to have on hand in your English class. Want deeper literary analysis? Critical Lenses. Need a quick grouping strategy? Critical Lenses. Wish you had a lesson to use on the fly with any book? Critical Lenses. Though literary criticism lenses have intimidating names, ... Read More about Teaching Critical Lenses: Fun Ways to Apply Lenses in Literature

Building Book Love 2025 Recap

I recently woke up to discover that either a ghost or gravity knocked down all the Christmas decorations on my fireplace mantel. The frame around my TV was broken, my favorite thrifted brass deer lay on the floor, and a still-glowing battery candle was flung across the room. After taking in the chaos, I thought, well, this is the perfect metaphor for 2025. It’s been messy, chaotic, and jarring, yet here I am doing the best I can to keep my light shining. So with that, here are some highlights from my annual Building Book Love recap (we won't talk about the lowlights, ha!). If you'd like to also read past years and more about my process, you can check those out here: ... Read More about Building Book Love 2025 Recap

Animal Farm Lesson Plans: Teaching Orwell Like It’s Your Civic Duty

Sometimes fighting back feels like opening the pages of a book. Bridging the political divide sounds like civil classroom discussions. And practicing your civic duty looks like teaching Animal Farm by George Orwell. These Animal Farm lesson plans are designed to help you get to the heart of Animal Farm while making your efforts mean something. With your guidance, students will dig deep into Animal Farm history, themes, and allegory in order to better apply Orwell’s message to their own lives right here, right now. Animal Farm Short Summary But before we get into the Animal Farm lesson plans, here’s a quick refresher: On the surface, Animal Farm is a simple story ... Read More about Animal Farm Lesson Plans: Teaching Orwell Like It’s Your Civic Duty