Dear Stellar Teacher: How can I make a familiar book or resource feel fresh and engaging for my students?

Sara:

You’re listening to episode number 229 of The Stellar Teacher Podcast.

Hey there, Stellar Teachers. Welcome back to the podcast. And since it is the first of the month, this is our Dear Stellar Teacher episode. I am joined today by my teammate Emily. This is our monthly segment where we get to answer listener questions, share teacher stories, and just have a more casual conversation about what’s happening in your classrooms. So, Emily, welcome back. I’m always so excited when we get to record these episodes.

Emily:

Hey, Sara. I’m so excited too. I just can’t believe how fast these months are going by. Next thing you know, it’s time to record Dear Stellar Teacher again!

Sara:

I know! And I’m also having a hard time believing it’s December, which means we’re in the final home stretch of 2024. I don’t know how you approach the end of the year, but I’m like, “Okay, what are all the things I said I wanted to do but haven’t done yet?” And now I have to try to get them done in the next month.

Emily:

Yes, for me, it’s definitely my reading goal. I’m going to be reading all the Freida McFadden books to try to up my Goodreads number before the end of the year.

Sara:

I’ve read quite a bit this year, but Freida McFadden is one author I have not read. I don’t think I’ve read any of her books before.

Emily:

She’s really good and really popular. People love her books because of the mystery of it all, and they’re such quick reads. So I’m saving my Freida books for the end of the year to boost my goal.

Sara:

Maybe I’ll have to add a few of her books to my list for the end of the year. I love when Goodreads comes out with the year-end review showing the number of pages and books you’ve read. It’s one of my favorite things that I look forward to at the end of the year.

Emily:

I’m excited too.

Sara:

Okay, let’s jump into our question for this episode. What are our listeners wanting to know about?

Emily:

We got a great question in our inbox, and it’s one we’ve heard before, so I’m excited to talk about it on the podcast today.
Here it goes: “I’m a fourth-grade teacher, and I’ve run into a bit of a problem. I recently discovered that a picture book I had planned to use in my classroom for a lesson has already been used by their third-grade teacher last year. Now my students are already familiar with it, and I’m not sure how to make it fresh and engaging for them. Any tips on how to approach this without having to completely scrap the book from my plans?”

Sara:

I love this question! I know we’ve seen this come up in different contexts before, like in our membership earlier this year. Teachers were saying, “I’m a third-grade teacher, and I’m using your sentence writing routine, but there’s a fifth-grade teacher on my campus who’s using the same sentence writing routine. What do I do? How do I approach it?”

I remember having similar feelings to this teacher when I was in the classroom. I think we can unintentionally become possessive about activities that we do or books that we read.

For example, when I was a fourth-grade teacher, I had brought the beginning of the year Saving Fred activity to our campus. It was a popular back-to-school activity. I was the first one to do it, and then the next year, every teacher on campus was doing it, and I remember feeling like, “Wait, that’s my activity! No one else can do this.”

The same thing with books. I remember reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane to my students. Then the next year, the teacher below me started reading that, and I was like, Wait, this was supposed to be my book.

But since leaving the classroom and gaining a different perspective on education and especially learning a lot about the science of reading and understanding everything that goes into becoming skilled readers, and understanding the important role of background knowledge. I definitely have a different take on this question, and would probably give a different response than when I was in the classroom.

But before I share my thoughts, I would love to know what is your opinion on this question. What’s your initial response to it?

Emily:

Honestly, this happened all the time. Popular children’s books are popular for a reason, and our colleagues tend to choose them too. How many times have we read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg? Every year, right? When I would present the picture book, and my students would say, “We’ve read this before,” I’d respond, “Have you ever watched the same movie twice? Have you ever read the same book before?” That usually got their attention. It’s true though! We watch movies (especially Christmas movies at this time of year) and reread books because we enjoy them.

Sara:

Exactly. I just finished rereading the entire Harry Potter series this week. I started in August, finished all of them, and I’ve probably read them three or four times. It’s something I do every couple of years. Even though I know the stories and how they end, I still notice new things. I think one of the things that can be really helpful, especially in the upper grades, is that when students are familiar with a story and know how it unfolds, it gives them an opportunity to identify and look for foreshadowing earlier on.

For example, even though I know what happens in Harry Potter, I won’t give any spoilers in case someone in our audience hasn’t read them. But when I went back to the first or second book, I thought, “Oh, this is a clue for something that happens in book five or six.” These were things I hadn’t noticed before. Something else funny I noticed this time around was how often J.K. Rowling used the word “skulking”—not “sulking,” but “skulking.” That word stood out to me because we have it in one of our passages. I remember when our writer submitted that passage, I thought, “Skulking? She must have meant sulking—it must be a typo,” because I didn’t realize at the time that skulking was actually a word. Later, we even had teachers email us saying, “I think there’s a typo in this passage.” But no, skulking is indeed a word, and it means to hide or move around as if trying not to be seen.

I first noticed it showing up in book four, and then it was in every single book multiple times. I had never recognized the frequency of that word before. This experience shows how much benefit there is to rereading books, especially in the upper grades. One of the benefits teachers might overlook is that when students are familiar with a story, it gives them a lot of confidence. If you’re introducing a picture book or a novel, and a student can say, “I’ve read that before,” it’s really motivating for them. They already know how the story goes, which means they can feel more confident participating in discussions, answering questions, or writing about it. For a student who might otherwise be reluctant to participate, rereading a book they heard the previous year gives them an invitation to actively engage in the conversation.

Emily:

Yeah, it really makes me think about why we preview a text before we read it. It’s so our students know what to expect and can get more out of the text. But when they’ve already read a book, they already have that background knowledge, which makes it so much easier for them to access the text. They can focus on looking for other things. Like you said, you were looking for foreshadowing—maybe our students are looking for those types of elements too. It just enhances the experience and takes it to another level.

Sara:

I think, to your point, the more background knowledge you have about a text and its topic, the easier it is to understand. Sometimes, especially with a nonfiction book, historical fiction, or something less familiar, a second reading can lead to a much deeper understanding than the first time. Rereading books offers that opportunity.

And we also have to think about timing, right? If a student read the story in third grade and then rereads it in fourth grade, an entire year has passed. It’s not like they just read it last week. They’re likely to have some recollection and familiarity with the characters, but the time gap allows for a fresh perspective. I think rereading books and redoing activities can really benefit students by reinforcing and building their background knowledge.

Emily:

Yeah, I completely agree. Going back to what you mentioned about our sentence writing routine—if a third-grade teacher is completing the sentence writing routine with their students, it’s going to look so different from how it would in fourth or fifth grade. The beautiful thing about repeating routines across grade levels is that you get consistency, and you’re building on the routine each year. Think about how wonderful it would be if your students were already familiar with the routine. You wouldn’t have to spend time reteaching it, and you could jump straight into the work, focusing on how to improve their writing, for example.

Sara:

I think that’s such a good point, especially if it’s a writing activity. You might think, “Okay, my students did the same writing activity in fourth grade and third grade, so there’s no way I can do it in fifth grade.” But the beautiful thing about writing is that the student output naturally differentiates it. You could have your students complete the exact same writing activity every single year, and it would still look different because your students are different writers. They’re more advanced, they have greater knowledge of sentence structure, they know how to elaborate, add detail, and include more voice.

In many cases, something like this could be really powerful for students if they repeat writing activities year after year. It allows you to show them their growth. For example, you could say, “Look at what you wrote in third grade with the sentence writing routine. Look at the type of sentences you wrote back then, and now, as a fifth grader with much more robust writing knowledge, look at the sentences you’re writing now.” Even if the prompt and activity are the same, the students’ writing will naturally look different because they’re the ones differentiating their output.

Emily:

Yeah, I really like that you brought that up too, because what if third-grade teachers saved samples of the same activities and handed them off to fourth- and fifth-grade teachers? For example, they could share writing activity samples. I just love how, in the beginning, we started talking about how there’s sometimes a little bit of competition between colleagues—maybe feeling possessive of an activity or upset that someone, quote, “stole it”—but now we’re turning it into something collaborative across grade levels, and that feels so wonderful to me.

One of the things I really wanted to mention today is that if you’re a teacher who feels possessive, I encourage you to let that go. There are so many things that can upset us in the world of education. Let’s not let competition between colleagues be one of them. I always say that teaching is a team sport. I was so lucky when I was in the classroom to have a grade-level team that worked well together, and I felt so supported by them. There’s not enough space in education to feel unsupported or in competition with your colleagues. Teaching is hard enough as it is, and we really, really need to support one another. I hope that encouragement helps you let go of any possessiveness you may feel.

Sara:

I think, too, it’s a mindset shift. I go back to when I was in the classroom. I was the teacher who brought Saving Fred to our campus, and then so many other teachers started doing it. At first, I was like, “Wait a minute, this is my activity!” But then I thought about it in a different way. Rather than saying, “They took this from me,” I realized I was able to give that experience to so many other students outside of my classroom who I never would have taught anyway. Those students got to have a fun, collaborative, problem-solving, and challenging activity to do on the first day of school. That’s such a different way to look at it.

So I really think it’s about shifting our perspective from competitiveness to collaboration. It’s also important to recognize that collaboration is a two-way street, so it requires everyone on campus to participate. You might be a teacher listening to this and thinking, “Yeah, I have no problem with other teachers doing the same activities. They’re the ones with the problem, not me.” If that’s the case, there are still things you can do to foster a more collaborative environment on your campus.

If a teacher comes to you and says, “Hey, we’re reading this chapter book in third grade, so we don’t want you to read it,” or “We’re doing this activity for the holidays, so we don’t want any other grade level to do it,” you can help them recognize the benefits of using the same book or activity across multiple grade levels. For example, you could ask, “What angle are you approaching it from? What are you addressing when you use this book or activity?” Then you can say, “I’ll make sure to add to it or extend the experience rather than repeating the exact same thing.”

Take books, for example. You could read the same book but approach it in different ways. One teacher might focus on making connections to the characters, while another could analyze the author’s purpose. Someone else might use it for a written response, focusing less on comprehension and more on writing skills. Even the way the book is delivered can vary—you could do it as a read-aloud, partner reading, or even a reader’s theater performance. If a teacher is using the same book or doing a similar activity, find out how they plan to use it, and then let them know your approach will be from a different angle and will build on or deepen the experience for students.

I think there’s a lot of power in what you mentioned earlier. For example, every teacher in the history of time seems to read First Day Jitters on the first day of school. But imagine if a campus made it an intentional practice where every single teacher and classroom read the same book on the first day of school, or a specific book for the holidays. Teachers across grade levels could then think about what’s developmentally appropriate for their students. What’s appropriate for kindergarteners to do with this book? What’s appropriate for fifth graders?

Recognize that using the same core text across grade levels can foster a strong vertical planning experience. It can help create a tradition and culture for a campus, that we can be intentional about using the same materials across grade levels. And there’s a lot of benefit for students that come from that.

Emily:

I love that idea! Imagine if each grade level read the same book and then completed a unique activity related to it. Did you ever work at a school where they displayed all the students’ work? Picture this: each grade level reads the same book, completes an activity, and then their work is displayed throughout the school. As students walk to lunch or specials, they can see how each grade approached the book differently. That would be so exciting and engaging for them!

I absolutely love the idea of a campus-wide book. I know it could be a challenge to find a book that works well for all grade levels, but the sense of community it creates would make it so worthwhile—especially around the holidays, it’s such a community experience.

Sara:

Yeah, absolutely! To your point, students might think, “Oh, yeah, I remember when we did this in kindergarten, and now we’re doing it again.” Rather than seeing this as a negative, I think there’s a huge opportunity for teachers to view using the same books and materials across grade levels as a really positive thing for the campus.

Great question! Thank you so much for bringing it to our discussion today. We’re currently planning out our Dear Stellar Teacher episodes for the first quarter of 2025, which honestly feels a bit bizarre to be thinking about 2025. Of course, we’d love to feature you on the podcast. So, if you’re listening and have a question, a great teacher win, or something amazing that’s happened—maybe a strategy that worked really well, a student who showed incredible growth, a challenge you’ve overcome, or even a challenge you’re still working on—let us know! We’d love to incorporate it into our upcoming episodes.

These episodes are so much fun for us to record, and we know you’ve been enjoying listening to them. Like we’ve said, they’re a more casual conversation, tackling the real challenges, issues, and successes teachers are dealing with on a day-to-day basis.

If there’s something you’d like us to discuss on the Dear Stellar Teacher podcast, submit it! We have a form where you can share your question or story—find it at stellarteacher.com/share. Hopefully, you’ll hear your question or story featured in one of our episodes during the first quarter of 2025!

Emily:

Yes, please share! We love hearing from our listeners, because that is really, truly what fuels us in everything we do.

Sara 

Awesome. Well, I’ll be excited to have you back again, I guess the next time I’ll have you on the podcast, Emily, it’ll be January of 2025.

Emily 

Oh my goodness.

Sara 

So until then, Happy Holidays everybody. Enjoy reading the books that you know other teachers on your campus are also reading during the holiday season, because we know what happens, and definitely shift your mindset around it. It is okay to share materials with your campus.

All right, have a great week. I will see you back here next Monday.

Thanks so much for joining me today! If you enjoyed today’s episode and are finding value in this podcast, it would mean the world to me if you subscribe and leave a five-star, positive review. This helps me spread the word to more and more teachers, just like you. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @thestellarteachercompany. You can also find links and resources from this episode in the show notes at stellarteacher.com. See you back here next week!