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You're in the right place for action steps and take-aways if you're a busy Middle School ELA teacher who prefers personal family time over prepping for class. You want to teach with confidence while also leaving at a very decent time each day. On that note, welcome to the library where I only share the kind of recommendations + advice that'll uplevel your classroom without taking away from your personal life.
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Latest from the Blog
Middle School Poetry Ideas
Poetry Strategies for MAXIMUM Student Engagement Download the lesson plans and resources by clicking on the image below. Here’s what I’ve got for you: A lesson plan page for two days of lessons An “At a Glance” page for you to get an overview of the activities, how to differentiate
Hopes & Dreams Middle School ELA Lesson Plan
Click the link below to download the lesson plans! You can also click here if Google Drive is easier 🙂 Do you crave full, complete, bell-to-bell lesson plans 100% done for you all year long? Learn more about how I serve super-busy middle school ELA teachers by giving them back
Christmas Lesson Plan for December
Middle School ELA December Lesson Plan PERFECT for that last day or two right before BREAK! What’s inside the lesson plan: A Lesson Plan page aligned to both CCSS and Texas TEKS standards A beautiful Power Point for your students to work from which puts that last day
Middle School ELA Thanksgiving Lesson Plan
Middle School ELA Thanksgiving November Autumn Lesson Plan 1 – 2 Days This is the PERFECT English / Language Arts Lesson Plan for that day (or two!) right before Thanksgiving Break! Your kids are going nuts, you’ve got nothing but travel and recipes (or both!) on your mind, and
Middle School Halloween Lesson Plan (Grade 6-7-8)
Middle School Halloween Lesson Plan PERFECT for Grades 6 – 7 – 8 available here. Download, use, enjoy, and let me know how it goes! Here’s what’s included: Two poems just right for Halloween time! A teachable mini-lesson for you to teach with (it’s an interactive Power Point
How to Grade Papers in Class (without getting in trouble!)
A teacher friend of mine admitted to me that she got caught grading papers in class. Now let me tell you—she wasn’t sitting at her desk back in the corner of her room while her 6th graders watched a pointless movie or took selfies. It was nothing like that.
Expository Unit for Middle School English Language Arts
Organizing an entire middle school English / Language Arts expository reading and writing unit can be daunting and overwhelming. What to teach each day? How to fit it all in? And the most stressful of all— Is there a quick, easy way to organize the
3 Essay Grading Hacks for Middle School Teachers
Essay Grading Hacks Top 3 Ways to Get it Done FAST! Wow! Grading essays! Ugh… Holy cow. Middle School English / Language Arts teachers could drown in essays every weekend if it weren’t for a change in mindset on what grading essays can and should look like. First of all, it
Teaching Students How to Write Insightful Commentary
4 Activities to Get Your Students Writing Insightful Commentary Teaching your students how to write insightful commentary once they’ve chosen their quotes or their text evidence can be tricky. This type of writing involves higher-level thinking and the ability to synthesize what they’ve learned and make new connections based on
Embedded Quotes: Easy Ways to Teach Your Students!
Teach your English / Language Arts Students How to Use Embedded Quotes Middle School Grades 6-7-8 Whether I’m teaching expository reading and writing or literary reading and writing, teaching my students how and why to use embedded quotes at the middle school level can be tedious and daunting. Click
How to Say NO to Extra Credit!
Extra Credit is a Major Time-Suck! How to say NO to students, parents, and administrators when they ask about extra credit in your middle school English Language Arts classroom. “Can I do anything for extra credit since my grade in 7th grade ELA is 88? I really have to have
4 Ways to Make Small Groups Work
The goal with implementing these four strategies for keeping students on task during group work is that each one serves to maintain student engagement. Each strategy is interesting for kids and allows for creative interactions between students to promote learning. 1) Use Music Strategically While playing soft, instrumental music in
Reading Aloud Doesn’t Have to Suck!
Kids Reading Aloud: It Doesn’t Have to Be Painful! Easy, actionable steps to take to ensure your students can read aloud with real voice and tone: First of all, I just want to say that this particular blog post is focused on helping your Language Arts students learn to read
Teaching FLASHBACK in Your Middle School ELA Class
Teaching Flashback Activities for Your Middle School ELA Classroom Elements of Fiction: Flashback [Let’s say your students are reading a story and it begins like this:] Underneath the creaky, weathered deck of the front porch a pale, peeling hand was hurrying along the edge, coming up and over the top. It’s just
