The Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog* offered a variety of informative and entertaining weekly and monthly features for IRA audiences including weekly guest blog posts and short interviews with literacy “superstars” and bestselling children’s literature authors. Teachers and literacy experts provided teaching tips, book reviews, and cross-curricular resources.
Our weekly podcast offered entertaining interviews with some of the biggest names in children’s literature and in the literacy field. We posted over 400 blog posts a year, along with revitalizing our public social media sites with discussions and posts on Engage content and educational issues of interest to literacy professionals. My team and I collaborated with authors, educators, and publishers to acquire, edit, and publish blogs for IRA.
Please click the links below to view PDF samples of the various blog features that appeared on the Engage/Teacher to Teacher Blog.
*Please Note: I linked here to summaries and PDFs of blogs and other Engage content because IRA—now International Literacy Association—did a complete rebranding and with that a redesign and upgrade of their website a couple of years ago. The Engage site (which was hosted on Higher Logic) was retired and the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog and other aspects of Engage were merged into the new, main ILA website. If you go to IRA’s current Literacy Daily blog and review blogs from 2012 and earlier, you will find many of the blogs I produced still on their site under the categories 5 Questions With…,Teaching Tips, In Other Words, Putting Books to Work, and Anita’s Picks.
In Other Words
This weekly feature offered guest blog posts by popular children’s literature authors, literacy experts, and classroom teachers.
M.T. Anderson on The Law of Three
Brandon Mull on Heroes and Fantasy
Lesley Morrow on the Common Core State Standards
This blog post was written by Lesley Morrow when the Common Core State Standards were first introduced. It was IRA’s first blog by a literacy expert on the Common Core and was one of our most popular blogs of all time. In just the first two days, it received more than 10,000 views.
Teaching Tips
These weekly features offered ready-to-use tips for classroom teachers on a variety of literacy topics. They were written by leading literacy authors, classroom teachers, and literacy consultants.
Renowned Educators Fountas and Pinnell on Engaging Deeply with Texts
Teacher Mary Cotillo on How the Hunger Games Got a Whole School Reading
Putting Books to Work
This unique monthly column put a new twist on the standard book review. Each column offered a brief book review of a children’s book, followed by cross-curricular lessons and activities for using the book in the classroom.
Putting INTERRUPTING CHICKEN to Work
Member of the Month
A monthly interview blog celebrating one of our members.
Melrose Dockery – August 2012
Quiet: Teacher in Progress
Quiet: Teacher in Progress was a humorous advice column for elementary classroom teachers by popular columnist “Mrs. Mimi.”
It’s Raining Stickers
Anita’s Picks
Esteemed children’s literature columnist, editor and author of 100 Best Books for Children and 500 Great Books for Teens, Anita Silvey wrote a quarterly column for Engage that offered book recommendations for teachers.
Top Picks for World Read Aloud Day
5 Questions with…
The 5 Questions with… weekly feature offered quick interviews with leading literacy educators and popular children’s literature authors on hot topics in literacy and children’s literature books.
5 Questions with…Judy Blume
5 Questions with…Melina Marchetta
5 Questions With… Wendy Henrichs (WHEN ANJU LOVED BEING AN ELEPHANT)
Ask the Librarians
This monthly feature offered insights from librarians that focused on children’s literature and literacy.
Leveled Audio- and E-Books Recommendations
Plugged In
This monthly column featured insights from Julie Ramsay, a classroom teacher and author of professional development content for literacy educators. The column focused on using technology in literacy instruction to meet the needs of today’s digital-age learners.
Taking a Sip
Roll Call
This quarterly feature on Engage offered insights from educators who were also authors and focused on the overlap between writing and teaching.
Spotlight on Setting
Inside Teacher to Teacher
This feature appeared every Monday morning on Engage and offered a mix of news about International Reading Association and news in the literacy field.
ALA Children’s Literature Awards
Beyond the Notebook
This feature focused on tips and ideas on new ways to get students writing.
Writing Prompts Awareness
A Fun Look at Our Serious Work
This quarterly column by popular children’s author and teacher Alan Sitomer offers a light-hearted look at various aspects of teaching literacy.
Spare Us From the Common Core Army Chow
Blog Promotion
Each blog post was promoted by a combination of digital advertising and email. Every IRA member and customer received a notification email when a new blog was posted. We also published the monthly calendar of Engage blog posts and shared it through email with our members. New viewers were acquired through banner ads on education sites and IRA properties, SEM ads, and through IRA direct mail marketing and advertisements in IRA publications such as journals and Reading Today.
Sample banner ad:
Sample monthly calendars:
May 2011
June 2011
(*Please note that I am linking to PDFs of blogs because a couple of years ago, IRA—now International Literacy Association—did a complete rebranding and with that a redesign, an upgrade of their website. The Engage site (which was run on Higher Logic) was retired and the Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog and other aspects of Engage were merged into the new, main ILA website. If you go to IRA’s current Literacy Daily blog and review blogs from 2012 and earlier, you will find many of the blogs I produced still on their site under the categories 5 Questions With…, Teaching Tips, In Other Words, Putting Books to Work, and Anita’s Picks.)
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