Our Mission:
At Alexandrite Publishing, LLC, we strive to provide high quality, effective educational resources to meet the needs of today’s teachers.
What Others Are Saying
“Artfulness creates a series of lessons so inspiring and lively that instructors may wonder why formula approaches ever became the standard for teaching the fundamentals of effective writing and reading.” (D. Donovan—Editor, Donovan’s Literary Services)
“I can . . . just see pure academic growth in terms of thoughtfulness and attention to detail.” (student testimonial)
About Our Founder
Andrea Yarbough is a National Board Certified teacher in Prince William County, Virginia and a Teacher-Consultant with the National Writing Project.
Andrea has been trusted with curriculum development by:
- Prince William County Schools
- Reading & Writing Initiatives
- Virtual Learning
- Virginia Department of Education
- US Department of State
- Virginia Declarations of Learning
Andrea has been honored to host workshops in partnership with the Northern Virginia Writing Project and the Virginia Association of Teachers of English.
See her this October at the Louisville Book Festival.
Our Story
What began as a growing awareness that traditional formula-based approaches to writing instruction were not effective for most students, our founder, Andrea Yarbough, sought ways to implement new approaches to the teaching of writing. She found the solution in Writing Wednesdays, weekly creative writing explorations that are designed specifically to target core ELA skills.
When her school district implemented four-day per week instruction during virtual learning, Andrea realized that she could, in fact, dedicate one instructional day to creative writing, reserving the other four days for more traditional lessons. After developing enough lesson plans to cover a full-year of weekly instruction, her first book, Artfulness, was born and with it, a range of educational resources designed to support teachers.
Providing Real-World Solutions for Real-World Teachers
Because our resources are created by a full-time teacher, they are designed to meet the needs of real-world classrooms. We are happy to offer:
- BalancEd one-on-one career and personal coaching, helping educators achieve a healthy work-life balance.
- Private Facebook Group, Artful Education
- A range of books and lesson plans, including our own book, Artfulness: Formula-Free Creative Writing Explorations for Secondary ELA Classes
- Professional development workshops
- Downloadable instructional resources
- Supportive membership community for teachers and writers
- An educator blog exploring instructional best-practices
