Here are some links to professional development resources that I found for English Language Arts teachers:

Facing History – Although this company has the word ‘history’ in its name, its goal extends beyond the history classroom. Facing History aims to nurture civic learning and democracy in all educational disciplines. While the resources primarily pertain to history, I noticed that the web site also has a literature collection and connects the texts to big ideas and essential questions. Facing History also offers professional development programs in the form of seminars, workshops, and online learning, which the school or district must pay for.

National Council of Teachers of English -This website has both resources and professional development programs for English teachers. The resources include, but are not limited to, books, grants, career opportunities, and lesson plans. The professional development programs include consultants, web seminars, and an annual convention. Teachers can access the resources without paying for membership, but cannot take part in the professional development programs unless they pay.

I may have been looking in the wrong places, but my search for professional development programs primarily led me to resources that the educator, school, or district must pay for. While the companies are doing important work to support teachers and schools, I can’t help but feel that, because they are ultimately trying to sell their products, they have their own agendas too. Well, check out the websites anyways. Some of the articles and lesson plans looked pretty cool.

I just read the book Reading, Writing, and Rising Up for the Multidisciplinary Methods seminar and I wanted to share the resource with the class. The author of the book is Linda Christensen, who has 24 years experience as a literacy teacher. I would recommend this book because Christensen is writing from a place of both experience and passion. The text contains unit descriptions, lessons, and sample worksheets and handouts. She also supplements the information with classroom anecdotes and examples of student work.

Throughout the text, it is evident that Christensen has developed and shared her curriculum because she genuinely loves teaching literacy and her students.  She is upfront about both her struggles and triumphs in the classroom and has created a resource for teachers because she empathizes with their challenges and wishes to help. She wants every educator to have the tools to create a classroom in which students work “together in a community to make meaning and to make change” (Christensen 182). Although the text does not explicitly address technology, the lessons could definitely be adapted to include digital literacy skills. I hope you all check it out!