In a time when students are inundated with media and technology all around them, it can be difficult for teachers to engage students in reading a book that takes place almost 80 years ago.

Teachers are often looking for the best approaches to spark students’ interest and their understanding of the importance of storytelling about world events and the human experience. In this episode, we’re talking with our colleague Courtney Brown and Mike Epperson, an ELA teacher at AECI-2 charter school in the Bronx, about the innovative annotation strategy he's been using to help students connect to texts in his 10th grade classroom.