Writing as Ethical Witness During Genocide Remembrance Month Each April, Genocide Remembrance Month invites us to pause and remember histories of violence that too often fade into abstraction or silence. Several major genocides have key anniversaries in April—the Armenian Genocide beginning April 24, 1915, the …
Dear Ethical ELA community, April is just around the corner, which means it’s time to begin preparing for one of our favorite traditions: #VerseLove, our month-long celebration of poetry and community writing. Each April, we gather as writers, readers, and witnesses to poems. Some of …
A Humanizing Approach Using Living, Open-Access Poems Each March, many classrooms fill with brackets. Inspired by the energy of the basketball tournament, teachers invite students to read poems head-to-head and vote for their favorites. The structure is familiar and playful. It gives shape to the …
This is a longer piece (about an 8-minute read). I offer it slowly, and in the spirit of ethical literacy. It is meant for teachers who are holding the weight of a charged media moment and wondering how to make space for students to study …
We often tell students that poetry can change the way we see the world. I’m not sure a poem saves the world. But I do believe the person who reads a poem might be changed. And I believe that change depends, in large part, on …
A new year invites us to look forward—but here, it also asks us to notice what has endured. Ethical ELA enters this year shaped by teachers and teacher educators who continue to show up, quietly and faithfully, to read, write, and respond. Over time, participation …
by Sarah M. Fleming In 2021, when I first wrote a post for this blog, I was reflecting upon the experience of teaching in the English Language Arts classroom one day after the January 6th Insurrection. I imagine you can clearly remember what school was …
by Erin Vogler Five years ago, when I began writing and sharing daily messages in my classroom, I never would have imagined that I’d still be writing and sharing them today. The #3024daily message began as a way to welcome students back from the isolation …
I’m taking a one-year sabbatical. Not because I’m burned out or finished with my work, but because I want to return to it differently. With more clarity. More presence. More capacity for joy, for partnership, and for being in the world beyond my inbox. This …
by Henry “Cody” Miller I am writing this blog post in early February 2025. The last few weeks have been filled with headlines that cause despair and frustration: radical executive orders that mandate the erasure of BIPOC narratives and attempt to ban LGBTQ people from …