Does this sound familiar? Could this be you right now? It’s Sunday night, and my teacher breaking point has ruined my whole weekend because last week was awful, and I’ve spent the weekend so upset while also dreading Monday. Self-sabotage, self-care, self-esteem, self-doubt, all piled up on stress over personal
Teaching Middle School English Language Arts (ELA) demands more time, energy, and dedication than any other grade level or subject area (forgive my bias—just speaking from personal experience here)! * Hundreds of students at one time that we’re responsible for * Grading writing and essays in lieu of multiple choice
Recently, I shared a couple of articles listing many different types of brain breaks for your Middle School ELA students. But today, I want to give you some brain breaks for teachers… because you need them just as much as your students do! Why Do I Need Brain Breaks for
Let’s talk about how to differentiate consistently for middle school English Language Arts without EVER drowning in extra work . . . Let me SHOW YOU HOW to differentiate for your students’ needs in a way that’s easy, realistic, and sustainable for YOU! I can show you:
Middle School ELA: Embedding Reading & Writing Rather than go into a ton of boring research-based information about why embedding reading and writing in the classroom curriculum is so beneficial for the thinking and learning process, I’d rather just show you! I’m including three links with three totally 100% done-for-you
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.
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
Struggling with what to say to a parent through email? It can be tricky putting things in writing sometimes, and it’s easy to suddenly lose an hour of your precious time trying to get the words just right when it involves a parent and a student. There are several reasons
Ok, people. You get what you pay for. I discovered this the hard way. Well… I take that back. Not so much the hard way per se, but I discovered this in the the annoying, inconvenient, waste-of-my-time kind of way. Free apps are awesome for personal use because I don’t
How do you really use your meager conference time/planning time? Whatever paltry amount of time you have for planning during the school day, use it to actually get stuff done. Living life first, then teaching, won’t happen if you’re not even being productive during planning time. I know you’re exhausted
Keep your work/school email OFF of your personal smartphone. It’s pretty convenient to just have your school email go straight to your phone so you can respond to messages while standing in line at the copy machine, or while waiting for the kids to come in from the next class.