Smiling teacher waving at students with both hands

Fishtank Fans

Teachers finding the power of Fishtank in their classrooms

My lesson planning has become so much easier and more focused thanks to Fishtank. As a younger educator who tries to maintain work life balance, I would recommend Fishtank in a heartbeat.

Fishtank takes the most important information from other resources that I've used in the past and compiles it in a very teacher-friendly format, enabling teachers to plan a very structured and rigorous lesson.

Out of all the curricular materials I have examined, Fishtank's order of units made the most sense to build students' understanding of the individual topics and their interconnectedness.

Close up photo of a student writing in a composition book

Teacher Spotlight

Matt Ennis

I feel like Fishtank honors teachers in a way that other curricula don't, because it’s not scripted, and so I'm able to use my own experiences, as well as my students' and families' experiences to adapt it.

The fact that it's free, not pretentious, and highly relevant sold me right away. I would like to see my peers use a curriculum that engages with social issues in a more comprehensive way, and Fishtank has provided a lot of infrastructure to facilitate that.

I have already recommended Fishtank to other ELA teachers at my school, as well as friends at other schools! More and more teachers are having to spend huge amounts of time finding materials that are rigorous and meet state standards, so I was thrilled to come across this fantastic website.

I have recommended it to many educators. I feel the program matches current research on building understanding. It is easily adaptable. It encourages students to think about all possible answers and honor the thinking of others. The program is about the thinking, not the one answer.