If you’re a new 6th, 7th, or 8th Grade ELA Teacher looking to plan and organize a fiction unit, you’re in exactly the right place! Let’s take a look at the basic elements of a fiction or short story unit so you feel confident in what to teach when you’re
In order to create a peaceful learning environment, it’s important for us as teachers to build positive relationships with their students. Establishing procedures and routines in the classroom can also help create a sense of predictability and security for students. The tips, tricks, and timeliness of this topic is merely
If you’re a middle school teacher, classroom management is key to having a successful year. It can be difficult to keep middle schoolers on track, but with the right tips and tricks, it can be done (without stress, begging, or selling your soul)! The tips, tricks, and timeliness of this
Really? A “classroom management plan” for a Middle School ELA Teacher?” Yes, absolutely! Thinking ahead, being proactive, and knowing what you’ll do or say in certain classroom situations is how you’ll stay in control, remain calm, and feel confident during all those pop-up classroom management issues that your school doesn’t
With neverending to-do lists, it’s overwhelming to think about how to incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) into our classrooms. With so many mounting responsibilities, how can we possibly begin to tackle the countless needs of our students? We realize this is a big job. Like, a really big job. However, we
When we think about what to teach during that very first week of school, it’s not as much about the academics as it is about teaching the routines, procedures, and expectations that are crucial for a smooth-running classroom. Mini-lessons that first week are really just the tools through which I
What to Teach Your First Week of Class Planning your first week of class–whether you’re a seasoned teacher looking for a change or a teacher new to the middle school ELA classroom–is laid out right here, day by day for you! Whether you have a 45 minute class or a
What to Teach After Your First Day of Class If you’re here with me, then you probably already have a pretty good handle on what you want your very first day of Middle School English Language Arts class to look like. You’ve probably already read the article where I describe
What to Teach Your First Day of Class Planning your first day of class–whether you’re a seasoned teacher looking for a change or a teacher new to the middle school ELA classroom–is laid out right here for you! Whether you have a 45 minute class or a 90 minute block
Middle School ELA students are going to have sooo much information thrown at them during the first week of school, not to mention during the first day of all their classes. Imagine (or remember?) your time as a student and every 45 minutes or every 60+ minutes you’re changing classes:
You know you need (and want!) to engage your middle school ELA/R students grammar instruction, but you’re stuck at: >> How to teach grammar consistently (there’s just no time!) >> Whether to teach grammar in isolation or not (forget religion and politics—this is what really divides people!) >> What to
Where to even begin (or end, or support, or extend) your elements of fiction / short story unit in Middle School English Language Arts & Reading . . . I’ll share my favorite mini-lesson topics with you here so you can think about what concepts you might want to include
We say “grammar” but really, that’s an umbrella under which we have things like usage, mechanics, parts of speech, sentence structure, etc. The word grammar covers all of it (that may seem obvious, but if you’ve been teaching math for 10 years and you just got “voluntold” to teach English
Locating or creating resources to support elements of argument and persuasion is time-consuming and frustrating, especially when you’ve already taught the concepts and need more materials! I’ve created a collection of my top 10 mini-lessons and learning experiences (I’ll share them with you in a sec) so you can teach,
Flipping your instruction (in case you’re new to the concept) is where students are introduced to material through videos or other digital content on their own time, usually outside of class (but I’ll show you other methods, too). The idea is that instead of the teacher teaching a concept in