Sane and Simple Tools to Help You Teach Middle School ELA
Ready to host a reading challenge with your class? Whether you want your students to read 4 or 40 books this year, here are some ideas that will help you be successful. The Problem with a Reading Challenge It’s no secret that middle school students aren’t spending as much time reading as they are on […] Read more…
Teaching our students to be critical thinkers is more important than ever. One (fun!) way to do this is to teach about how propaganda is used in popular culture. Examples abound! Start with propaganda they know Your students may be surprised to realize how pervasive propaganda is in their lives. Just by asking them to […] Read more…
Elementary teachers have Jack Prelutsky and Shel Silverstein; high school teachers have T.S. Elliot and William Butler Yeats, but what about middle school? Here are 12 poems that seem to be written specifically for that special group. Poems that will speak loud and clear to your students! 12 poems that speak to middle school students […] Read more…
Students LOVE dystopia literature! From The Hunger Games and beyond…the genre is popular! That’s why it is a perfect match for your book clubs. Students can’t seem to get enough of them, and there are so many great titles to choose from! That’s a good thing when we want our students to want to read! Capitalize on the popularity […] Read more…
Teaching students how to summarize a text is important… So important that it is part of the CCSS reading standards for literature and informational texts beginning in grade 4 and continuing (with greater rigor) through grade 12. As educators, we know why summarizing will help students: improve reading comprehension filter main ideas from details follow […] Read more…
Dystopian literature remains popular with middle school students… and they can’t seem to get enough of this genre. Why not use these popular titles to run your literature groups? Here are: eleven sure dystopian novels that your students will enjoy reading, discussing, debating, and analyzing!well-known and lesser-known titles for students who want to read more […] Read more…
Students often struggle with going beyond the obvious when it comes to character analysis. This skill requires students to infer information from a variety of clues, but they often get stuck on superficial detail or provide only basic analysis. A fun way to help students practice analyzing characters and developing those important skills is by […] Read more…
What’s a “classic” piece of literature? Mark Twain defined it as “something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Those words might ring true when you sit down to read War and Peace or Moby Dick, but what about middle school classics? Modern Classics in Middle School A classic includes enduring themes, relatable characters, […] Read more…
How do you use historical fiction? If you’re in a self-contained classroom, using historical fiction is a natural connection with your social studies content. It is an awesome way to build background knowledge and help students make strong connections. But what about me? I don’t teach social studies. I do know what our social studies […] Read more…
Hey! Happy to see you at this week’s Summer Reading Stash! Today we’re sharing books in a series that have memorable characters. But the real challenge is to pick just five series! A difficult task since there are so many wonderful series written for middle schoolers. Teachers know series are serious Series are important business when […] Read more…