Sane and Simple Tools to Help You Teach Middle School ELA
Do you plan writing projects and provide students with an assignment sheet? Doing so can help you focus instruction and improve student outcomes. Here are some quick steps help you plan your own projects: First, you get a great idea… You are driving home from school, listening to the radio, and daydreaming…suddenly an amazing idea […] Read more…
One of the most rewarding and impactful aspects of writing workshop is the writing conferences your students will have with you and their peers. How can you make the most of this time? Here are some ideas for you: Start with the Ideas Ever collect a stack of completed essays, sit down with your giant […] Read more…
Your writing workshop is humming along beautifully. Students are working, you are conferencing, life is grand…until you look in your grade book. Gotta get those grades, right? But where are those assessments going to come from? You might not want to wait until the final draft or essay is turned in. Parents and administrators can […] Read more…
You’re ready to get started with writing workshop, but you have one nagging question looming in the back of your mind: What is the rest of the class doing while you’re holding student conferences? Fear not! Here are some ideas for how to manage your class during writing workshop. Teach routines Students should understand completely […] Read more…
If you’re thinking about structuring your class to include writing workshop, you might be wondering what the writing workshop format looks like. What does writing workshop look like? The most important part of writing workshop is to make it YOURS. There isn’t a “one size fits all” method. Adapt and adopt ideas that work for […] Read more…
If you’ve decided to teach writing using the workshop method, you probably have some questions. Here are seven questions and answers to help you get started. 1. What exactly is a workshop class? Remember the story of the elves and the shoemaker? I think of that story when I think of a workshop class. The […] Read more…
Congratulations! You’ve decided to adopt a writing workshop class! Now, you might be wondering: now what? Here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction! How Are Your Class Management Skills? Let’s be honest. One of the most important skills for a teacher is to know how to effectively manage her/his class. […] Read more…
Writing workshop can transform your classroom! Sounds magical, doesn’t it? I believe it’s true — and here is why: 1. Real Writers & Real Work Often students feel like they write something, it gets corrected, and…end of process. In a workshop, students grapple with the entire writing process: revision, determining what they really want to […] Read more…
Peer reviews are beneficial to the reviewer and reviewee alike. Students benefit most from peer reviews when a few things are set in place. When one of my teaching friends noticed I was using peer reviews in my classroom, she commented that she never used them. Why? “It’s like the blind leading the blind,” she […] Read more…
As a writing teacher, you probably feel like your mantra is “show don’t tell!” Getting students to write descriptively is a real challenge. Here are five writing challenges and prompts to try. 1. Do they understand what you mean by descriptive writing? (and can they find it?) Here is where a mentor text will help. […] Read more…