Our services.

At The CIE Lab, we equip secondary English programs with professional learning and curriculum design grounded in our CIE Framework

Our work helps teachers transform how literature is taught by centering identity, expanding the canon, and strengthening student literacies.

The Literary Salon

The Literary Salon is a deep-dive book club for English teachers. Here, you’ll engage with poetry, short fiction, long fiction, or film as literature, using Culturally Intentional practices designed to enhance both teacher growth and classroom impact.

What a Salon includes:

  • Close reading of selected works + scholarly discussion

  • Practical strategies and protocols for classroom use

  • A ready-to-use lesson plan or adaptation teachers can immediately implement

Salon Options

  • Teachers study two poems and practice the art of teaching poetic analysis, creative writing, and performance.


    Deliverables: A ready-to-use lesson plan that integrates analytical and imaginative literacy, plus performance/discussion strategies.


    Time Investment: 6 hours in a single full-day session.

  • Teachers study two short stories and explore strategies for comparative analysis and creative writing.


    Deliverables: Two classroom-ready lesson plans, discussion protocols, and an assessment task for comparative analysis.


    Time Investment: 12 hours over two full-day sessions.

  • Teachers read one novel over 4–6 weeks, supported by two virtual check-ins, then gather for a one-day in-person intensive.


    Deliverables: A full, classroom-ready lesson plan, a suggested pacing guide, discussion protocols to deepen literary inquiry, and reading and writing tools teachers can adapt for their classrooms.


    Time Investment: Approximately 24–34 hours over 4–6 weeks (including independent reading, two virtual sessions, and one in-person intensive).

  • Teachers engage one film or dramatic text as literature, studying narrative, theme, and cultural context.

    Deliverables: A lesson plan and resource packet that extend literary study into film/drama, with interdisciplinary connections.

    Time Investment: 18 hours across three full-day sessions.

The Design Studio

The Design Studio is a deeper partnership where we co-create curriculum with schools. Each Studio develops a Unit of Three: poetry, short fiction, and longer fiction (with film as an extension).

What a Design Studio Includes:

  • A complete, ready-to-teach unit aligned to AP/IB or local standards.

  • Lesson plans, unit maps, classroom protocols, and assessments.

  • Integration of the 60/30/10 canon approach to ensure intentional text selection.

  • Differentiation strategies and teacher reflection tools.

  • Ongoing coaching and feedback to support implementation.

Deliverables: A fully designed Unit of Three, including digital text sets, pacing guide, lesson templates, protocols, and assessments.

Time Investment: Semester or year-long partnership, customized to your school’s goals.

Why Partner with The CIE Lab?

Working with The CIE Lab means more than professional development, it means joining a community of praxis where teachers grow as readers and thinkers.

Our services are designed to:

  • Recenter teachers as leaders of literary study who teach with intention.

  • Expand the canon through Black literary studies and the 60/30/10 text selection framework.

  • Equip teachers to teach diverse texts and all texts with rigor and Cultural Intentionality.

  • Strengthen student literacies: critical, cultural, creative, and verbal.