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The Empowered ELA Teacher: Be the Teacher You Want to Be, Do Great Work, and Thrive
Are you in control of your teaching, or is teaching in control of you? Many middle school ELA teachers face similar nights and weekends consumed with lesson planning and grading; no time to create meaningful, engaging lessons; and the struggle to squeeze all the required standards into a fifty-minute class period. It's enough to make you wonder why you started teaching in the first place. At EB Academics, we hear you. We've been you. And we've got you. Our lesson planning approach is a practical method for achieving the teaching successes you envision. We've helped thousands of middle school ELA teachers discover how to transform their classrooms and get back their free time. In The Empowered ELA Teacher , you'll learn to strengthen key components of your teaching so you can be the educator you want to be and thrive while doing it. You'll discover a powerful way to create lessons that give your students more focus, growth, and satisfaction-without sacrificing your nights and weekends. It's time to enjoy teaching again.
210 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2021
15 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 15, 2022
I just cannot finish this book. I have tried to read it twice. It was absolutely atrocious. It was so much of the "me, me, me" mentality. Almost every chapter had PAGES about the authors, what they went through, their experiences, etc. It was so much more like a biography than it was a true professional development book.
This felt like a college essay with a minimum word requirement where the student fluffs it until they hit the word count. It was so repetitive and full of word salad. It sounded like a Facebook rant after a bad day at the campus or like Charlie Brown's teacher.
I got the book because I can relate and needed new ideas. I didn't need to read over and over and over again about how you were burnt out. I'm sure if I searched the word "burn out," it would appear over 30 times just in the first half of the book. It honestly just brought the mood down. I don't need to hear about negative experiences with teaching. I need to know how I can help my kids. If I searched the word "I," I'm sure it would be over 100 times in the first 40 pages.
Engaging Ideas: Games. Okay but...they provide no ideas for games. No examples. I know games are engaging. But how do I implement or create games based on the content. Maybe two examples were provided with minimal details.
I started skimming the book looking for professional development ideas to bring into my classroom, but they were all things I "already do" or from other PD books.
I cannot, in good faith, recommend this book to others. I find it hard to believe it's gotten such high reviews. It may be okay for a first year teacher, but pas that it's just review.
This felt like a college essay with a minimum word requirement where the student fluffs it until they hit the word count. It was so repetitive and full of word salad. It sounded like a Facebook rant after a bad day at the campus or like Charlie Brown's teacher.
I got the book because I can relate and needed new ideas. I didn't need to read over and over and over again about how you were burnt out. I'm sure if I searched the word "burn out," it would appear over 30 times just in the first half of the book. It honestly just brought the mood down. I don't need to hear about negative experiences with teaching. I need to know how I can help my kids. If I searched the word "I," I'm sure it would be over 100 times in the first 40 pages.
Engaging Ideas: Games. Okay but...they provide no ideas for games. No examples. I know games are engaging. But how do I implement or create games based on the content. Maybe two examples were provided with minimal details.
I started skimming the book looking for professional development ideas to bring into my classroom, but they were all things I "already do" or from other PD books.
I cannot, in good faith, recommend this book to others. I find it hard to believe it's gotten such high reviews. It may be okay for a first year teacher, but pas that it's just review.
November 13, 2025
feels very repetitive throughout the entire read, as well as included a lot of personal details that didn’t seem fitting to the text. i get trying to be personable and show voice within your writing, but i feel like i can remember more details about the authors’ lives than the actual material they claim to be sharing. however, there are great lesson plan ideas in here, which is why i’m leaving this review at ☆ ☆ ☆ !
July 2, 2021
One of the best ELA professional development books I have ever read!! I seriously want to buy a case and hand one to every ELA teacher I know. Practical, fun, pretty, interactive, and clear. What more could I want? I only wish I had finished it two days ago before the batch planning workshop because now I want to rework some things. Seriously, get a copy of this book and win back your life and sanity.
July 6, 2021
Great ideas and reminders for planning engaging lessons. The writing style was annoying to me- the I, name made me cringe. Some of the examples seemed a bit incomplete.
June 29, 2022
I was super excited to get this book, as I follow the authors’ work online. I read the blurb, loved the marketing info, and even scoured the reviews. All of it seemed aimed toward seasoned teachers who are tired of everything this career continues to ask of us.
Like other reviewers, I fell for the promises of making my life easier, which is desperately needed after over two decades in the classroom BEFORE the last 3 years that somehow felt like a third decade. The promises of weeknights and weekends free—or at least freer—after an initial cost of “batch planning” appealed to Burnt Out Me.
The batch planning concept—which wasn’t new to me nor unique to these authors—gets the 2 stars, as do the resources (newbie?) teachers can photocopy and use right away.
For a brand new teacher, this would be a solid resource—and more affordable than TPT, which seems to be where many new teachers start hunting for resources. And after reading this, new teachers comprise the target market group for this book.
Had I known that, I wouldn’t have purchased this, as few things here will be new for veterans.
And can we talk about why, after an entire industry switched overnight to 100% digital teaching, this book’s resources wouldn’t be available digitally? Where are the online versions we can edit to better fit our population? I was hoping people who invested $20 in the book would have digital access, using a thanks-for-buying-our-book code. Or at least access to something digital. Many of us have been paperless for years, so the idea of photocopying premade worksheets isn’t appealing, nor are uneditable, one-size-fits-all worksheets in general.
And when we’re all trying to save the planet, who on earth makes photocopies for every lesson in 2022 (or 2021, when this was published)? Even English teachers, who have been slaughtered forests by the droves, have been reducing to help the planet. Further, who would make multiple copies of something, that then needs to be individually cut before using? Not to mention, during a pandemic, few of us want five different classes to be handling the same resources.
Many of the ideas in this book would save planning time but not necessarily prepping time.
The only thing that vaguely intrigued me (and why I purchased this) is their digital planner. It looks amazing. And is available for EB Teacher Club members. For a membership fee of just $197 per year. (Slidesmania has a similar one for free.)
If you’re a new teacher and have no idea where to start, this book is for you. However, if you’ve been in the classroom for 3 or more years and feel like this career has bled you dry, keep looking. You sadly won’t find the solution here.
Like other reviewers, I fell for the promises of making my life easier, which is desperately needed after over two decades in the classroom BEFORE the last 3 years that somehow felt like a third decade. The promises of weeknights and weekends free—or at least freer—after an initial cost of “batch planning” appealed to Burnt Out Me.
The batch planning concept—which wasn’t new to me nor unique to these authors—gets the 2 stars, as do the resources (newbie?) teachers can photocopy and use right away.
For a brand new teacher, this would be a solid resource—and more affordable than TPT, which seems to be where many new teachers start hunting for resources. And after reading this, new teachers comprise the target market group for this book.
Had I known that, I wouldn’t have purchased this, as few things here will be new for veterans.
And can we talk about why, after an entire industry switched overnight to 100% digital teaching, this book’s resources wouldn’t be available digitally? Where are the online versions we can edit to better fit our population? I was hoping people who invested $20 in the book would have digital access, using a thanks-for-buying-our-book code. Or at least access to something digital. Many of us have been paperless for years, so the idea of photocopying premade worksheets isn’t appealing, nor are uneditable, one-size-fits-all worksheets in general.
And when we’re all trying to save the planet, who on earth makes photocopies for every lesson in 2022 (or 2021, when this was published)? Even English teachers, who have been slaughtered forests by the droves, have been reducing to help the planet. Further, who would make multiple copies of something, that then needs to be individually cut before using? Not to mention, during a pandemic, few of us want five different classes to be handling the same resources.
Many of the ideas in this book would save planning time but not necessarily prepping time.
The only thing that vaguely intrigued me (and why I purchased this) is their digital planner. It looks amazing. And is available for EB Teacher Club members. For a membership fee of just $197 per year. (Slidesmania has a similar one for free.)
If you’re a new teacher and have no idea where to start, this book is for you. However, if you’ve been in the classroom for 3 or more years and feel like this career has bled you dry, keep looking. You sadly won’t find the solution here.
June 27, 2021
This book lays out a great way to think about planning in a way that connects to the standards. It is also full of some great lesson ideas and examples. One drawback of the book was that I don’t think it needed to be this long. There is essentially a whole chapter that is hyping up the book…which I had already purchased. At times it could feel stuck in selling me on how much the system works as opposed to just describing the system.
They do frequently allude to repeatable writing formats for responses to literature, but never clearly defined that. I enjoyed their resources enough that I will poke around their site to try and find more information on their approach to structuring writing.
Overall, it was a good read that has me inspired to tackle planning this summer, but is held back by some redundancy and fluff.
They do frequently allude to repeatable writing formats for responses to literature, but never clearly defined that. I enjoyed their resources enough that I will poke around their site to try and find more information on their approach to structuring writing.
Overall, it was a good read that has me inspired to tackle planning this summer, but is held back by some redundancy and fluff.
June 23, 2021
Great book for any ELA middle school teacher! The authors lay out their lesson planning framework and batch planning system that they used to create engaging and rigorous lessons for their students. There are concrete examples and a ton of freebie resources included in the Appendix.
This is not exactly a HOW to teach reading or writing. But more how to use standards-based planning to create strong lessons.
This is not exactly a HOW to teach reading or writing. But more how to use standards-based planning to create strong lessons.
December 27, 2021
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with teaching, you need this book. It gives you a systematic approach to find the joy in every lesson while practical and achievable tips to encourage rigor. Jessica and Caitlyn keep it real and speak from experience. Bring the highlighters, pens, and sticky notes. You’ll be marking this text up for future reference.
October 4, 2022
I'm all for teachers sharing their ideas, and I am thankful the authors did, however, there were very few ideas for the amount of pages. I also become a bit wary when batch planning is proposed as an innovative idea, when it is most teachers go-to.
May 16, 2024
I received this book as a free download. It's sorry and to the point with a good sized appendix of activities. This would be good for the really stressed out teacher. For me it served as that I'm doing things well.
December 31, 2024
This is a helpful tool for new ELAR teachers. My favorite takeaway from this book is the power of implementing escape rooms into the ELAR classroom. This was a game changer for my classroom. My students love escape room activities. I did see improvement in my state assessment mastery scores.
February 10, 2022
Love it! We need more ELA specific teaching books.
July 2, 2022
Great ideas for my classroom.
July 22, 2022
Helpful, but could have been a blog post. Is there a word for that?
July 31, 2025
3.5, appendix very useful with easy to use ideas. Was more of a skim read for me but I’m quite familiar with the EB Academics setup.
July 25, 2025
Felt like a biography not a PD book for improving and honing my craft.
January 8, 2024
If you’ve followed Caitlin and Jessica for any length of time, this book is likely all information you’ve heard before— but that’s also the beauty of it. The approach the advocate is simple. Which is hard for us teachers who feel like the planning side of teaching is always complicated
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews