Links I Loved Last Week: A Round-up of Online Reading 8/30/15

If you’re only going to read one post this week, make it Kylene Beers’s One Sure Way to Create Reluctant Readers. I’m intrigued by her advice to parents: just say no!

Reflection Wall shares what happens when she did the assignment with her students: she learned so much about her teaching.

Another knock-it-out-of-the-park post from Three Teachers Talk: the essentials of teaching writing. Amy’s “non-negotiables” should be non-negotiable in every classroom.

JoEllen McCarthy has many ideas for incorporating more wonder into the classroom.

I think I’m going to revise my syllabi next semester using Piktochart so that I can create documents that are actually readable by my students AND by me.

Jess at Crawling Out of the Classroom writes beautifully about the getting-to-know-each-other phase at the beginning of the school year.

Looking for great book recommendations for 8th-grade English Language Arts? Katie Sluiter shares the Top 10 Books On Hold in her classroom library.

My picture book TBR list is always overflowing, but I still can’t resist Minh Le’s When It Rains, It Pours: 50 More Picture Books from a Stellar 2015.

The last thing I need is another must-listen podcast, but Franki has convinced me that I must subscribe to The Yarn this week.

Tara Smith wrote a beautiful letter to her very first class. I always think about my first class during the first week of the semester too. How much I learned from you, class of 2005.

Rachel Ward writes a gut-puncher of a piece about being a young widow–it’s also stylistically pretty brilliant.

If you’re looking for creative inspiration, you’re sure to find some from Flavorwire’s list of 10 Beautiful Books for Creative Thinkers.

Jamie Klingler wrote a good piece on the golden rules for book clubs. I especially like her idea for kicking off discussion.

There’s lots of YA on Booklist’s list of Top 10 LGBTQ on Audio.

Austin Kleon has a terrific list of favorite books about motherhood and art.

I might have to join Instagram just to follow this mother’s portraits of her daughter and their gorgeous Doberman.