Tools to Help You Teach Middle School ELA
We often use starting points during the school year to encourage our students to set goals for themselves. But how can we make goal-setting activities useful tools for middle school students? Goals that aren’t abandoned after they’re written. Ready to find out more? Read on! Goal-setting for students: a hierarchy If you have read […] Read more…
Not sure what to teach in December? Here’s a list of 10 fun activities for one of the most challenging teaching months of the year. (Number 9 is my favorite!!) Journal Prompts 1.Holiday memoir Use journal prompts to help students dive into their memories! This is a great prewriting activity if you plan to have […] Read more…
Need a holiday writing prompt to keep your students’ interested in content material during the holidays? How do you keep students interested in writing? Use an engaging — impossible to resist topic! Even though winter holidays are distracting, your students can practice persuasion, description, and creative writing skills. Taking a break from your regular […] Read more…
If you want your students to read – or read more, check out these suggestions for making independent reading more successful. First: get to know your students as readers Ask students to complete a short survey. My favorite questions are: You might want to share your own answers to these questions with your class before […] Read more…
Ready to teach your students how to write a memoir essay? Here are steps to help you teach effectively and your students to produce a meaningful piece of writing. Let’s dive in! What is a memoir essay? A memoir is a personal essay that explores an event that a person has experienced. It’s different from […] Read more…
You don’t need an advanced degree to know that we can benefit from practicing gratitude. As a teacher, you are in a unique and powerful position to help your students consider, think about, and practice gratitude. What are some good ways to do that? Let’s dive in! The benefits of developing gratitude (for all of […] Read more…
Student engagement is critical in moving the needle on learning, but sometimes you need to shake things up. Here are some easy strategies to try. What is student engagement? You don’t need me to tell you when your students are engaged –you can usually tell, but it can be helpful to look deeper. According to […] Read more…
It’s easy to lose track of time when students are working on a writing task. Suddenly, a project that you thought would take a week or two has stretched out to three, four, or…will it ever be finished? The danger of long writing assignments It’s not the number of pages, but the number of days […] Read more…
We are always trying to simplify grading. And we need to! As ELA teachers, we grade a lot and need to communicate with our students as they journey through the learning process. How can we do that? Read on for more on this! Ready to Simplify Grading? Are you ready to put away your red […] Read more…
Teach characterization using short films that will keep your students engaged in learning! Short films like Pixar shorts are perfect for this lesson — and students love them! Students get hooked into the lesson right away! How do you teach it? Let’s dive in: But first… What is characterization? Characterization refers to the way a […] Read more…