Building Book Love 2022 Year End Review

I love taking a moment to reflect on the past year before planning out the new one. Last year I pulled back the curtain a bit to show you how I plan out my monthly action tasks for Building Book Love. I stuck to that same method for the most part with a few small tweaks. For starters, I set out to do 10 actions each month instead of 7. However, I did a “roll over” method, meaning some months I did 11-12 actions when I had more time and did 8-9 during months with vacations.

I will say that 10 actions a month was a bit much. I did meet my goal, but I worked way too much to be honest. While I liked the concept of the roll over method, it reminded me of how I would need to work twice as hard making sub plans to get a day off as a classroom teacher. I didn’t work during vacations, but I worked so much leading up to them or catching up after them that it kind of defeated the purpose. So, here I am yet again still searching for the elusive “work-life balance.” Maybe next year! Ha!

But despite the overworking aspect, I’m pretty proud of what I got done this year. Below is everything I accomplished for Building Book Love in 2022. And by “I” I mean with the help of my executive assistant extraordinaire (my husband) and several English teacher virtual assistants who helped me with everything from making answer keys to doing sensitivity readings. Ok, let’s get into it!

2022 ELA Blog posts (action verb: write)

I stuck to my long-running goal of blogging once a month and was able to write what I hope was a lot of new helpful content. Just for funzies, let’s look at my most popular 2022 posts ranked from most views to least views:

3 Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom

Are we still playing Wordle? My husband and I usually play together before bed and it’s a sweet routine at this point. While I try to write evergreen posts that will be useful years from now, I think it’s fun to throw in some trending content from time to time. This post was a hit and won the top 2022 position!

Meaningful & Fun Activities for Teaching The Great Gatsby

I’m so excited and thankful that yall are finding this post helpful! I put a lot of work into Gatsby this year, and it’s validating to know that it’s been worth it.

Best Movies for High School and Middle School ELA

This was a really fun post to put together! I’m glad it’s getting so much attention, and it makes me smile knowing English teachers are getting a little much-needed break!

How to host a Socratic Seminar in Secondary ELA

One of my all-time most popular posts is about “how to liven up socratic seminars,” but I realized that I needed a post to discuss the basics before new teachers start “spicing it up.” This post does just that and ranks pretty high on Google 🙂

A Dolly Parton Retro Classroom Theme

This post was such a joy to photograph and write! I absolutely love how the room came together, and I’m happy to share the free posters I made. 🙂

Literary Charts: Interdisciplinary ELA Activities

I wasn’t sure what teachers might search to find this post, so I went with interdisciplinary ELA activities. I’m not sure that was the right choice, but I think this post is one of those things you need to see to get the idea of how it would be helpful to use in your classroom.

Why I Regret Getting My Master’s Degree as a Teacher

Ahh. This post goes down in history as my most commented post. It’s controversial for sure, and for this reason, I only shared it once. The page views are kind of wild considering my apprehension about sharing it!

Make the most of your essay grading comment bank

I didn’t get this post written until after teachers had already graded their first essays, but I think it will continue to gain traction as English teachers search for ways to lessen their workload.

5 creative ways to use ambient media in ELA

This is a recent post and one of my most popular Instagram posts of the year! I never know what will hit on there, so it’s always the most surprising and simple things. Ha!

English teacher mindset shifts for prioritizing revision over grading essays

This post is out of the norm for me, but I still think it’s a really important step in the process.

Updated Serial Lesson Plans : Teaching Serial After Adnan’s Release

This post is brand new but will gain lots of new views in the upcoming months (the guest post about Serial has been a popular one)

Using Picture Books in High School to Start an ELA Unit

This post is also brand new and one of my favorites of the year! It was fun to celebrate our new picture book with a helpful blog post!

2022 Guest Blog Posts (action verb: coordinate)

This was the first year that I invited guest bloggers to my website. I knew that my ELA community had so many different perspectives and ideas to share, and I loved featuring different grade levels and voices here at Building Book Love. I won’t be posting these in order from most to least views, but I would love to get your feedback on which ones resonated with you the most! I can tell you from experience that there’s no better feeling than to hear that your work helped someone else. Leave a comment on this post or DM me, and I will pass the comments along to the authors!

5 Strategies for Diversifying and Adapting Scripted ELA Curriculum

Creative Ideas for Teaching Limetown Podcast in ELA

Screenwriting: Creative Writing Activities for High School Students

Creative Activities for Teaching the Harlem Renaissance

Interactive Middle School ELA Games for Grammar and Literacy

5 Considerations When Teaching AAPI Voices in ELA

Teaching Serial Podcast in High School ELA

Supporting LGBTQ+ Students in the Age of “Don’t Say Gay” Legislation

5 More Middle School ELA Game Ideas

Literature Circle Novels in Verse Activities for Middle School ELA

Independent Reading in High School with Whole Class Novels

Do you want to guest blog post for me in the new year? Apply here: 2023 Guest Blogger Application

TpT ELA Resource Updates (action verb: update)

This will likely be your favorite section of this recap because I was able to do some major updates in 2022, and as always, if you already own this resource from years ago, you get the updates for FREE!

TpT ELA Resource Additions (action verb: finish)

I was also able to add several new resources to my resource library this year. Here they are:

Thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing my blog. I truly appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to support and inspire English teachers in 2023!

2022 ELA Blog posts (action verb: write)

2022 Guest Blog Posts (action verb: coordinate)

TpT ELA Resource Updates (action verb: update)

TpT ELA Resource Additions (action verb: finish)

Do you want exclusive ELA teaching ideas and free resources? Let me send you a Building Book Love Letter!

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