Each month, we share five things we love as part of our Footnotes Newsletter. Take a look at some of our favorite English language arts resources, articles, and more we found in December!

1. Connecting Voices: An Invitation into Analysis

Sometimes when we read different books, we notice similarities in voices, even if the subject matter, genres, or authors are different. Based on this observation, Megan Kortlandt created a way to help students better analyze voices in writing using passages from contemporary texts. Learn more about her methodology in this post for Moving Writers. 

2. Announcing the fifth annual NPR Student Podcast Challenge

NPR's Student Podcast Challenge is back! Open to students in grades 5–12, this contest gives participants a chance to showcase their storytelling skills and have their podcast featured on an NPR broadcast. There’s plenty of time for your students to prepare; entries open on January 6, 2023 and close on April 28, 2023.

3. How to Rewrite a Fairy Tale with Your Creative Writing Class

Reimagining a fairy tale is a timeless writing exercise perfect for students who want to flex their creativity. At her blog It’s Lit Teaching, English teacher Heather walks through her 7-step workshop that takes students’ fairytale remixes from initial outlines to final drafts. 

4. Ashley Hope Pérez: 'Young people have a right' to stories that help them learn

Like many authors these past few years, Ashley Hope Pérez found that one of her books had been banned in several school districts across the country. In this essay for NPR, Ashley discusses how book bans not only spark attacks against authors and educators, but also deny students the freedom to choose the books they want to read.

5. FAQ: The Station Rotation Model

We talked about blended learning earlier this year at the Prestwick House Blog and briefly mentioned the station rotation model. But what is it, really? At her website, Dr. Catlin Tucker explains everything you need to know about implementing the station rotation model into your classroom to enhance student learning.