Hi, I’m Julia—an ELA curriculum designer and former classroom teacher who knows firsthand how hard it is to balance rigor, engagement, and sanity in a secondary English classroom.
I create curriculum for middle and high school ELA teachers who want their students thinking deeply, making meaningful connections, and actually enjoying literature—but who don’t have hours to spend planning elaborate units from scratch.
Most ELA resources focus heavily on the mechanics of a text—structure, characterization, setting, and literary devices in isolation. While those skills absolutely matter, I take a different approach. I start with the big ideas: the universal fears, questions, and truths that make literature timeless. From there, we pull in the mechanics as tools to help students uncover meaning, not just check off standards.
My units are built around big-picture essential and inquiry questions that invite students to wrestle with ideas that still matter today. I love pairing classic texts with modern or mythic parallels, helping students see that stories like Beowulf, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, or Gothic literature aren’t relics of the past—they’re reflections of human fears, values, and conflicts that still shape our world.
At the heart of my work is a focus on theme, symbolism, and universal ideas, supported by scaffolded analysis that works across classroom contexts. Whether you’re teaching honors, on-level, SPED, or ESOL students, the goal is always the same: low-prep for teachers, high-level thinking for students.
You’ll find lessons that prioritize:
- discussion-first instruction
- creative responses to literature
- structured choice that gives students ownership
- inquiry-driven analysis that builds confidence over time
I believe rigor doesn’t have to mean boring and engagement doesn’t have to mean chaos! Thoughtful structure, clear scaffolding, and meaningful questions allow students to rise to the challenge without overwhelming teachers in the process.
If you’re an ELA teacher who wants creative applications and rigorous thinking, but doesn’t have time to plan massive, interconnected units that tie literature to the real world in meaningful ways—you’re in the right place.
About
I create inquiry-driven ELA curriculum for secondary teachers who want students thinking deeply about literature—not just identifying literary devices. Instead of starting with mechanics, I begin with big questions, universal themes, and the fears and ideas that make stories timeless. By pairing classic texts with modern and mythic parallels, my lessons help students see why literature still matters while building strong analytical skills along the way. Every unit is intentionally scaffolded to work for honors, on-level, SPED, and ESOL students, offering low-prep structure for teachers and high-level thinking for students—because rigor doesn’t have to be boring, and meaningful instruction shouldn’t require hours of planning.
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