In this episode, we dive into our FAVORITE ways to start class to help students transition smoothly into ELA the first 5-10 mins.

Games, routines, and connection points - we talk about it all. Be sure to check out the links below.

Rapid Fire Recs:

Hannah’s Faves

Ana’s Faves

Remember to always choose what is best for your class. Keep the time consistent, but don’t be afraid to switch it up!

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

Ana's socials: @simply.ana.p

Hannah's socials: @teachengagingela

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

Hannah → www.teachengagingela.com

Ana → www.simplyanap.com

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode!

🎙️ Season 2 Episode 5 - Rhetoric is All Around

Today’s episode is all about how rhetoric (like love) is “all around!” Hannah and Ana bring in their favorite ways to set the foundation for introducing rhetorical appeals, and lessons that help students confidently transfer their knowledge to more complex ideas and perspectives.

Hannah’s Favs:

- Check out Hannah’s Rhetoric Bundle for her “hot takes” rhetoric introduction lessons, rhetoric in iconic movie monologues, and transferable to any textbook lesson on MLK speeches.

Ana's Faves:

- lalala

- Check out rockstar teacher extraordinaire Tabitha Ginther and her innovative approach to teaching rhetoric using a zombie apocalypse

Rapid Fire Recs: Speeches

- Barbie: Gloria to Barbies and all women

- Dead Poets Society: Keaton to students

- Pirates of the Caribbean 3: Elizabeth to all the pirates

- Rocky Balboa: Rocky and his Son

- A Few Good Men: Courtroom “you can’t handle the truth!”

- Hidden Figures: Courtroom and “work like a dog”

- Good Will Hunting: Bench Scene

- The Dark Knight Joker “Why So Serious”

- The Dark Knight Batman: “Whatever Gotham needs me to be” to Commissioner Gordon

- 10 Things I Hate About You: “I hate the way you…”

- Remember the Titans: “The Battle of Gettysburg”

- "Dear Basketball": Kobe Bryant (go see our poetry episode for more!)

- Hopper’s Letter to El in Stranger Things Season 3

Rapid Fire Recs: Tech for Writing Fun

- We Will Write

- Frankenstories

- My Short Answer

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

Ana's socials: @simply.ana.p

Hannah's socials: @teachengagingela

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

Hannah → www.teachengagingela.com

Ana → www.simplyanap.com

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode!

🎙️ Season 2 Episode 4 - For the Love of Books! 

In today’s episode, we discuss the philosophy of “windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors” when it comes to fostering a love of reading in our classrooms through designated SSR and choice reads.

Before this episode, we pulled 5 books from our bookshelf at random. We have no idea what the other chose; we simply let destiny run the conversation today, as our own libraries represent who we are, and the philosophy of “windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors.”

Hannah's Grabs:

Ana's Grab's:

Another essential site we LOVE - Doesthedogdie.com

Ana's Freebie: Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors Annotation Task

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

Ana's socials: @simply.ana.p

Hannah's socials: @teachengagingela

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

Hannah → www.teachengagingela.com

Ana → www.simplyanap.com

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode!

🎙️ Season 2 Episode 2 - How We Romeo and Juliet 

One of THE most popular, and right of passage texts for 9th grade students. How do we take this tragic “love story” and make it engaging and accessible to our students?

In this episode, we dive into our favorite ways to bring Romeo and Juliet to LIFE in our classrooms, with ESSENTIALS for setting up the text, keeping engagement high through each act, and summative assessments that MEAN MORE to our students than another literary analysis essay (and how to shift your approach if THIS is the assessment your curriculum requires). 

✨ What you’ll hear inside:

Rapid Fire Recs: (For use throughout the unit)

Rapid Fire Recs: (R + J Romance Vibes)

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

Ana's socials: @simply.ana.p

Hannah's socials: @teachengagingela

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

Hannah → www.teachengagingela.com

Ana → www.simplyanap.com

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode!

🎙️ Season 2, Episode 2 - “We’re Still Here” - The Benito Bowl

On the eve of this episode release, it has been exactly a week since Bad Bunny performed at the 60th Super Bowl, and we have a lot to say about it. 

In this episode, Hannah and Ana break down all things Benito Bowl including how to guide authentic conversations that are already happening in the classroom, some of the intentional, impactful choices of the show, and the contagious joy and love from watching, even if you or your students don’t speak Spanish.

Ana also shares her story of identity and what Latinidad means to her. 

*Trigger warning: This episode does touch on some sensitive subject matter, including SA. 

Check out Ana’s resource for The Vastness of Latinidad here. 

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

Ana's socials: @simply.ana.p
Hannah's socials: @teachengagingela

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

Hannah → www.teachengagingela.com
Ana → www.simplyanap.com

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode!

🎙️ Season 2, Episode 1 - New Year, New Season, New Ways to Empower Students

Welcome to SEASON 2 of The Fresh Queens of ELA IRL! 👑📚

We’re back, giving you revolutionary ways to bring ELA to life in your classroom. 

In this episode, we dive into NEW THINGS exciting us inside the classroom and in our lives, as well as our FAVORITE ways for empowering student thinking and showcasing understanding through choice in formative and summative assessments. 

✨ What you’ll hear inside: 

🚨Bonus: ⁠Click here⁠ for a FREEBIE - activities from this episode we are OBSESSED WITH! Characterization places

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe for show updates, share this with your teacher bestie, and leave us a review 🫶

🎙️ Episode 7 - Mix & Match Your Dystopia

✨ What you’ll hear inside:

In today's episode (our final episode of Season 1!), we walk you through navigating engagement strategies for teaching a dystopian text in this world that students recognize as dystopian in many ways. We also discuss our thoughts and fave practices for Socratic seminars and having complex conversations with our students.

Seminar Student Goal Options:

Rapid Fire Recs -

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

Ana's socials: @simply.ana.p
Hannah's socials: @teachengagingela

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

Hannah → www.teachengagingela.com
Ana → www.simplyanap.com

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe for show updates, share this with your teacher bestie, and leave us a review 🫶

🎙️ Episode 6 - NCTE 2025 Recap: Music, AI, and the Power of Storytelling

✨ What you’ll hear inside:

We're coming to you live and together in the same room in this episode from Denver, Colorado, where we attended and presented at the Conference for the National Council for Teachers of English, and we had an absolute blast!

We recap our favorite moments and sparked ideas from the conference, including our thoughts on Jason Reynolds' latest release, an audio book experience titled Soundtrack, where ELA teachers stand in this world of AI, and the importance of reflection for both teachers and students.

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe for show updates, share this with your teacher bestie, and leave us a review 🫶

🎙️ Episode 5 - A Hero's Journey Remixed: The Odyssey x Stranger Things

✨ What you’ll hear inside:

We are all living the hero's journey in some way, but what IS the hero’s journey? Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, is credited with popularizing the concept of the hero's journey, or monomyth, in his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. There are SEVERAL different adaptations of what the hero’s journey means, the one that I have used for my classes involves 12 stages in which the hero crosses from the ordinary world to the extraordinary world, but they all have the same goal which is to demonstrate the complexities of the hero as they navigate their life/destiny.

In today’s episode, we’re talking “The Hero’s Journey” as it relates to The Odyssey, connecting back to Stranger Things on Netflix. You ready for this adventure?!

 Essential Questions: Journal Prompts/Small Group Discussions

Rapid Fire Recs -

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe for show updates, share this with your teacher bestie, and leave us a review 🫶

🎙️ Episode 4 - Identity, Expectations, and Family Dynamics: Romeo and Juliet x Freakier Friday

✨ What you’ll hear inside:

 Essential Questions: Journal Prompts/Small Group Discussions/Compare and Contrast

Rapid Fire Recs -

Movies/Shows:

Books/Other:

If you loved this episode and hanging out with us, make sure to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. This helps more teachers find us and join the conversation and the revolution.

👉 Stay connected with us:

You can also visit our websites for extra resources + PDs:

💌 Got an idea, question, or a text you want us to tackle? Slide into our DMs or send us a message because we might just feature it in an upcoming episode. Be sure to subscribe for show updates, share this with your teacher bestie, and leave us a review 🫶