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No fluff, no 1,800-word windups. Every post is real talk plus a done-for-you resource for grades 6–12 ELA — newest first.

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Free Resources · Back to School

Your Free First-Week Kit: What’s Inside

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Most grabbedFree Resources

Your Free First-Week Kit: What’s Inside

Your entire first week, done for you — free through August 10. Exactly what’s inside the kit, piece by piece.

4 min · Jun 29Read →
Classroom Survival

Why Teachers Buying Their Own Supplies Has to Stop

Spending quietly looks like love. But every dollar you cover is one no one else has to. Be generous and still make the need visible.

5 min · Jun 28Read →
Back to School

The First-Day Script, Minute by Minute

The first 10 minutes of day one quietly set the tone for the whole year. Here’s the script — exactly what to say and do.

6 min · Jun 27Read →
Reader faveBack to School

5 First-Week Procedures That Run a Class Itself

“Classroom management” is mostly procedures, taught 40 times. Here are the 5 worth teaching first — and how to make them stick.

5 min · Jun 24Read →
Back to School

What to Teach Your First Week Instead of Curriculum

Week one isn’t for curriculum — it’s for building the conditions that make curriculum possible. Here’s what to teach instead.

5 min · Jun 23Read →
Free · The Club

Get your whole first week built in about 60 seconds.

Syllabus, parent letter, day-one plan and more — free through Aug 10. One email, zero spam.

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Most sharedAI Literacy

We’re Teaching Kids to Make Funny Pictures with AI. We Could Be Teaching Them to Think.

Most “AI literacy” stops at the surface. A free 5-day set — infographics, handouts, and a slide deck — built to make grades 6–8 actually think.

7 min · Jun 7Read →
Classroom Survival

Emergency Sub Plans for When You Wake Up Sick

Waking up sick shouldn’t mean building a sub plan from the couch with a fever. Here’s what a no-prep ELA sub day needs — plus a free one.

5 min · Jun 7Read →
Editor’s pickAI Literacy

How to Tell if a Student Used AI to Write an Essay

The honest answer — why AI detectors are unreliable, who they hurt most, and what actually works instead.

6 min · Jun 7Read →
AI Literacy

How to Teach AI Literacy in the ELA Classroom (Without Banning ChatGPT)

Banning ChatGPT doesn’t work. Here’s what AI literacy actually means in 6–12 English — and three no-prep moves to start tomorrow.

6 min · Jun 7Read →
Free Resources

The First Week of School Doesn’t Have to Wreck You

Your whole first week — syllabus, parent letter, day-one plan — built in about 60 seconds with the free First-Week Survival Kit.

4 min · Jun 7Read →
Classroom Survival

Things No One Warns You About Week One Back

Empty supply closets, rosters that change four times by Friday, 32 names you can’t say yet — and how to stop winging it.

5 min · Jun 5Read →
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