Who is the audience for an ELA department newsletter?

Other English teachers in the department, sometimes with a copy to the principal and instructional coach. It is not a parent newsletter. The tone is collegial, the references are specific, and you can use professional vocabulary without translating it. Mixing in a parent audience dilutes the whole thing.

How often should the department chair send it?

Every two weeks during the school year. Weekly turns into administrivia. Monthly is too far apart to coordinate common assessments and vertical articulation. Two weeks aligns with most unit cycles and gives the chair time to gather notes from grade-level leads.

What is the value of a shared book list?

It prevents the eighth grade from teaching a book the seventh grade just covered, and it surfaces titles one teacher loves that the rest of the department has not seen. A simple shared list of what each grade is reading this cycle, updated in every newsletter, saves more time than any other single section.

Should the newsletter include PD opportunities?

Yes, but with a position, not just a calendar. 'The Reading and Writing Project is offering a free webinar on writing conferences on the 14th, I am attending and recommend it for anyone teaching ninth grade' beats a flat list of dates. Teachers act on recommendations from a peer they trust, not on a wall of links.

What is the simplest way to send a department newsletter?

Use a clean, formatted email tool that handles your reusable sections and a small contact list. Daystage was built for this, with a saved template you fill in every two weeks and send to the full department in one click. No shared drive, no PDF, no scrolling. Each teacher gets the same clean view in their inbox.

ELA Department Newsletter

An ELA department newsletter is a different animal from a parent newsletter. The audience is your colleagues. The goal is alignment, not reassurance. A well-built department newsletter saves hours of meeting time, keeps grade levels from stepping on each other, and surfaces ideas that would otherwise stay locked in one classroom. Here is a working template, plus what to cut.

Lead with vertical articulation, not announcements

Open with one sentence per grade level naming what they are teaching this cycle. "Sixth grade: short fiction with a focus on inferring. Seventh grade: The Giver, paired with two short stories. Eighth grade: argument writing using Letter from Birmingham Jail." Five lines, whole department oriented. Now nobody plans a unit on the same anchor text without knowing.

The shared book list, updated every cycle

Below the vertical articulation, list the texts each grade is teaching this cycle. Anchor texts, short stories, paired nonfiction. Two purposes. First, it prevents repeat assignments across grades. Second, it surfaces strong choices. A teacher who sees a colleague pairing a short story with their anchor will often steal the move.

Common assessment timeline

Name the next two common assessments, the dates, and who is in charge of writing or pulling them. "Sixth grade common reading assessment: October 18th, J. Lopez is finalizing the passage selection. Eighth grade argument writing rubric calibration: October 24th, all teachers bring three student samples." Specificity prevents the "wait, that was this week?" emails.

One PD recommendation with a position

Pick one professional learning opportunity per cycle and say why. "The Reading and Writing Project is running a free webinar on writing conferences on November 14th. I am attending and recommend it especially for anyone teaching ninth grade this semester." A flat list of every available PD gets ignored. A recommendation with a name attached gets clicked.

One sample department excerpt

"Hi team. For the next two weeks: sixth grade is on short fiction with an inferring focus. Seventh is teaching The Giver paired with The Lottery and Harrison Bergeron. Eighth is in argument writing with Letter from Birmingham Jail. Eighth and seventh, please flag if you are pulling from the same secondary text list, there was some overlap last cycle.

Common assessments: sixth grade reading assessment on the 18th, J. Lopez has the passage. Eighth grade rubric calibration on the 24th, please bring three writing samples each.

PD: free Reading and Writing Project webinar on writing conferences, November 14th. I am going. Worth it for the ninth grade team.

One ask: M. Chen is piloting a new short-story unit with sixth and would love a second reader on the unit doc by Friday. Reply if you can take 20 minutes on it."

What to cut

Standards crosswalks. District compliance updates that already came through email. A long welcome paragraph. Anything available in the shared drive. Department newsletters die the moment they become a digest of the principal's bulletin. Keep it to the four sections that change every cycle.

How Daystage helps with the ELA department newsletter

Daystage holds the four-section department template so the chair only fills in the changing content every two weeks. The email goes to the whole department in one click, formatted for inbox reading, with no shared-drive scavenger hunt. The structure stays identical cycle to cycle, which is what makes teachers actually read it past October.

ELA Department Newsletter: A Template for Secondary Schools