Tools to Help You Teach Middle School ELA
Need to engage your students? Whether you are teaching a creative writing class or a traditional one, here are fun, quick writing activities you can use to any time to get your reluctant writers — writing! They are great when: It’s great to have quick, fun creative writing exercises and lesson plans to turn to […] Read more…
Often, we’re so busy teaching grammar, writing, and reading skills that we miss the opportunity to use poems. Teaching poetry offers opportunities to teach writing skills, grammar concepts, and reading comprehension skills. How? Use poems as mentor texts to help teach students more complex genres and reading skills. Poems as Mentor Texts Think about a […] Read more…
Use RAFT prompts engage students in creative writing responses to engage students in writing that is exciting and imaginative. All writing should be creative — no matter what the subject. But, too often the prompts we provide our students are dull. No wonder we’re nodding off as we grade! By using RAFT as a formula […] Read more…
Teaching creative writing? Not sure where to start? I’ve got you! Let’s get planning! How to Teach Creative Writing All writing is (or at least should be) creative. However, if you are teaching a specific creative writing class, here are some tips to keep it moving: Let’s look at each of these in more […] Read more…
Have your students discovered Artificial Intelligence writing tools yet? Would you even know? AI programs have become — well — a lot like Sci Fi becoming reality. Artificial Intelligence is already here If you’ve used Siri, Google, or Alexa — you’ve used AI. We love it, right? Get directions, order from the store, settle the […] 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…
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…
Video and narrative writing go hand in hand. As you prepare your students to begin writing narratives, you’ll want to teach them the elements of the genre. But before they even put pen to paper, you can use videos to teach narrative writing. Why? We are surrounded by stories. Commercials, TV shows, movies, video games, […] Read more…