Tools to Help You Teach Middle School ELA
Books talks are a great way to invigorate reading in your classroom. Students enjoy talking about the books they’re reading, and this can create a reading “buzz” in your class. Here are the steps to creating successful book talks with your students: What are book talks? Before you launch into them, what are they? Book […] Read more…
What is blackout poetry? How can you use it? To start with, it’s poetry that your students will love creating. This guide will show you exactly how to teach blackout poetry — and why you should at it to your poetry writing unit — or as an activity for any time of year. You know […] Read more…
Late assignments, missing work, partially completed tasks. We all struggle with how to deal with these issues. And, especially at the end of a grading period. Work that you may have assessed weeks ago now appears on your desk. Or, you are chasing after a student to get that last item turned in. And it […] Read more…
Do your students need examples of a hook for an essay? If you’ve ever read a student paper that starts “In this essay, I will…” you know your students need help with hooks. If your students struggle with writing an intro, here are simple strategies and hooks that will make this easier for them. What’s […] Read more…
Here are 12 poems that seem to be written specifically for middle school students, along with suggestions for teaching. You’ll find a variety of poetic forms from contemporary to classic poems. 1. “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” by Emily Dickinson Reasons to love this: Lesson focus: 2. “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost Reasons […] Read more…
You may already have a scope and sequence provided for you by your department or district. But if you don’t, or if you want to custom create your own — here’s how. What is a scope and sequence? First, it’s important to understand what it is. What is a basic scope and sequence definition? The […] Read more…
What is one of the best ways for students to learn close reading skills? Annotation. But, how do we avoid the dreaded entire-page-is-highlighted syndrome? Have no fear, because these easy steps will have your students writing amazing annotations in no time. What is annotation? The quick answer is that annotation means taking notes on what […] Read more…
Descriptive writing seems like it should be easy to teach, yet it is one of the most popular posts on my site, and I receive the most questions about teaching it. We know what we want our students to do, but they still struggle. There are plenty of reasons for this, but let’s start by […] Read more…
Ready to use mini lessons in your writing workshop, but not sure how? This post will take you the entire process from choosing your lessons to teaching. Let’s get started! What’s a mini lesson? A mini lesson is a short, 10 – 15 minute lesson that you teach by modeling a skill for your students. […] Read more…
Your principal tells you that you need a yearlong plan or a year-at-a-glance (YAG)…great. Now what is that and how do you create it? Here’s the easiest way to do that. Just read on. What is a yearlong plan? A yearlong plan is an overview of what you’ll be teaching all year. It will save […] Read more…