Just a few days left of the first semester and you’ve wrapped up everything you needed to get done. But what to do with the extra time? Here’s part 2 of our list of engaging and educational activities you can do with your students.

I can count on one hand the number of times when I felt like I had exactly the right amount of time left before we took our winter break.

So what do you do with students when you’re done with Unit A and you don’t want to start Unit B until you’re back from your school’s break? Here are some ideas.

My first instinct this week was to round up writings that light a spark…but they didn’t feel right for December. And so, instead of pulling away from the winter solstice, I decided to bundle up and lean in.

Sometimes we get lucky—the day we’re out falls on a day when students have a work day for a paper or project, but more often than not, we have to figure out how to fill 45-90 minutes for our students with a substitute who may or may not be equipped to help them with their learning. It’s the worst kind of planning, and so we’ve put together these emergency sub plans for you and your students.

We’re sharing six poems that we love that work well this time of year: two poems about November, one poem about food, one poem about a turkey who is about to become dinner, and one poem about family and connection.

November is National Native American Heritage month, and there’s good news for teachers: the internet is packed with ready-to-go resources for you to bring to the classroom.

We almost titled this blog: Stories with endings that make you say: “Wait, what?”

This is a great essay for practicing summarization skills, identifying fact and opinion, delineating arguments, or just getting students to think about the way they interact in the world.

Clearly, when teachers reach for a play to teach, American and British authors sit atop the list of options. Shakespeare’s works are required in most English classes, and when we look to electives we see Miller, Beckett, Williams, O’Neill, Shaw—the list goes on and on.

But what if you want to hit two birds with one stone—a drama, but also a work in translation? Here are some plays from around the world that we think you should consider.

Teaching students about the art and analysis of book cover design should be part of your repertoire, and we’ve collected the resources you need to get started.

Poetry is everywhere, and it can still be hard to convince students to engage with it. To help you convince your students to dive in with you, we’ve rounded up ten high-interest poems that should hook even the most reluctant student’s attention.

This website was created based on two things: the realization that tracking information down was often the most time-consuming part of lesson planning and the irritation of finding a link to just the right resources only to learn it’s blocked by a paywall.

No matter what the situation, you’re going to have questions and you’re going to need answers sooner rather than later. We’ve rounded up the best websites, blogs, and resources for IB Literature and IB Language & Literature teachers here.