Sarah J. Donovan, PhD (s/her)

Sarah J. Donovan, PhD, is a former junior English language arts teacher of fifteen years and an Assistant Professor of Secondary English Education at Oklahoma State University. She wrote Genocide Literature in Middle and Secondary Classrooms (2016) and the young adult novel, Alone Together (2018). Dr. Donovan was the Books in Review columnist for The ALAN Review (2019) and serves as a state representative and board member for The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN). She hosts a weekly blog, Ethical ELA, and has contributed chapters to The Best Lesson Series (Talks with Teachers, 2018), Queer Adolescent Literature as a Complement to the English Language Arts Curriculum (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), Moving Beyond Personal Loss to Societal Grieving (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), and Contending with Gun Violence in the English Language Classroom (Routledge, 2019).

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#bookaday Donovan summer reading favorites

#bookaday: My Summer’s Top 20 (Plus 100 More)

From living in a 1930s Kentucky mining town in Empty Spaces to being the last man on earth in Y:The Last Man, from being an orphan on the streets in Charles Dickens and the Street Children of London to being an orphan in a haunted house in The Night Gardener, from being the outcast robot among forest creatures in The Wild Robot to being the outsider on a roller derby team in Roller Girl, from the escapades of a trio of teen boys in Ms. Bixby’s Last Day to a trio of teen girls in Raymie Nightingale — only with books could I have spent time with such an interesting group of people (#bookaday).

about my child form

10 Steps to a Short But Meaningful Welcome Letter

When it comes to composing the welcome back letter to parents and students, we also have to think about how we can blend the practical and ethical. Communication is so important when it comes to nurturing a community that values learning in and beyond the classroom, and with technology, there are a lot of ways to do that, which can be overwhelming, become time consuming, and ultimately distract readers from the important ideas you want to emphasize.

Inclusive Curriculum

4 Steps Toward a More Inclusive Classroom

An inclusive curriculum promotes an understanding that within any group – racial, ethnic, religious, class, ability, gender, sexual orientation –there are variations, and that among groups, there are similarities. However, an inclusive curriculum is not just a checklist of texts, films, and articles about difference.

Classroom Library Systems: Apps, Cards, Sheets, & None of the Above (Survey Results, Part 2)

In Taking Care of Your Classroom Library Books, I shared results from a summer survey of teachers on how they manage their classroom libraries and advice from my local library focusing on book care. In this follow-up post, I will share more results from the …

wet books

Taking Care of Classroom Library Books (Survey Results, Part 1)

My classroom library is my curriculum, finally.  I inherited hundreds of book from my mentor Diane DuBois, and for a few years I used these books to supplement the curriculum. I’d even hide certain books in boxes until we started a unit on immigration, for …

Reading Experiences

Reader, Who Are You? Reflections on Teri Lesesne’s Making the Match

What would your English teacher have to know about you to find that “just right” book? Lesesne makes explicit the complexity of adolescence and the hard work it takes to match readers and books. There is no short cut to knowing your students as individuals or being well-read so that you can indeed “make the match.” You have to put in the time and effort, but she helps teachers with many book suggestions, lists, strategies, and stories.

The Reason I Jump

Book Review: The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

I found myself wondering how often I failed to allow the time and space for my students with autism to fully articulate their thoughts. Moreover, I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of all inclusion teachers reading this text in replace of the many Professional Development pieces that reinforce the deficit narrative of students with autism.

genocide novels

Reading Genocide Novels with Teens: A Rhetorical Approach

At the International Literacy Association’s recent conference in Boston, I had the opportunity to talk about genocide novels and how we can support our students in confronting the unimaginable human suffering of genocide but also humanity’s resilience to survive and bravery to tell and read stories about that survival. In this post, I share some book suggestions, an overview of rhetorical reading, and a sample book discussion from my 7th grade ELA class.

FOMO

FOMO: So many books, so little time

It’s one month into summer, and I think I have FOMO, fear of missing out. Yes, I am afraid of missing out on that one young adult novel or that one professional development book that is going to life changing.

Culture

Read Everything: Why What Teachers Read (and Don’t Read ) with Students Matters

Deliberate or not, reading teachers privilege certain voices and experiences over others when they choose this author or that, this poem or that, this book or that. Some teachers may not want to take on political or social justice issues, but they are doing just that.