Have you ever read a student’s “summary” that’s really just every single detail of the story crammed into one never-ending run-on sentence?

Or, on the flip side, the student who fully embraces minimalism—“The article was about whale sharks.” The end.

Makes you want to lay your head down on your desk and ‘accidentally’ let their papers fall into the trash can, doesn’t it?

Well…head up, buttercup! ☕ There’s an easy way to teach objective summaries, and I promise—it actually clicks.

Here’s how you can easily get your students writing solid, structured, and actually objective summaries:

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t was 2:00 PM, 6th period, and I had a couple of advanced students sitting at their desks, vacantly staring at their independent book, clearly done with their assignment (and their day).

They’d crushed the Voices from the Woods project early (check that one out here) and were pretending to read—but let’s be real, they were just staring at me.

I had two options: let them stare holes into my soul for the rest of class or pivot.

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had one of those teacher moments recently where I realized my usual lesson wasn’t going to cut it.

I gave my advanced class a pretest on narrative point of view, expecting to find a few areas to reinforce.

Instead? Most of my students had already mastered the basics!

I knew the usual mini lesson I was using with my regular classes would be too easy and repetitive—I needed something that would push them to think deeper and apply their knowledge in a creative way.

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That first week back after winter break... whew. 😅

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Students are sluggish, attention spans are short, and getting back into the groove can feel like trying to run through quicksand.

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I know the feeling—so why not channel that “fresh start” energy into something meaningful and easy to implement?

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I’ve got just the thing.

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Research shows that setting goals before a test helps students focus and take ownership of their learning. I’ve seen it firsthand: when students are invested in their own growth, they try harder. It’s not always about passing the test—it’s about doing better than last time.

And let me tell you, the shift in mindset has been a game-changer.

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know teaching inference and text evidence can sometimes feel like an uphill battle (especially when you’re trying to help students read between the lines and they are just so literal).

That’s why I’m so excited to share something that might make your life a little easier!

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If you have students wrestling with the concept of central idea, I think I've got something that could help. It's a strategy that turned the tide for G and my other students, and I'm excited to share it with you.

Click through to read about How to Teach Students to Find the Central Idea…

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I was right in the thick of our central idea unit when I hit a snag. I realized that if I lined up yet another session of just reading an article and filling out a graphic organizer, my students were likely going to stage a revolt.​

Now, don't get me wrong – I'm all for graphic organizers. They're fantastic tools for breaking down concepts. But, let's be honest, after the sixth or seventh article, even the most engaging topics start to feel a bit... well, monotonous.

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After a positive observation with this lesson, I wanted to share this gem from my teaching toolkit with you! It's an exciting resource from our Week 17 lesson plan, all about bringing the Central Idea to life.

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What do you do when a student does not meet or follow your expectations on the second day?

As I mentioned in my last email, I was a special education teacher, so I taught in many co-teaching situations.

In one classroom, the regular ed teacher pointed to a student, Anthony, and said, “Look. He’s not responding to the journal question. Should we write him up for not following directions?”

She was right. He was not meeting the expectation of being actively engaged in his work. 

However, from experience with this student, I knew if we put negative energy out there, we would be met with negative energy. 

I suggested something new - something that could put positive energy out in the classroom….

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If your students are like mine, then I know at this time of year you are pulling out all of the bells and whistles to make it through the day.​

To help you, I have some fun and engaging review games for you this week!

And because nobody has the mental bandwidth to be cutting things, gluing stuff, and turning your classroom into a life-sized version of The Floor is Lava game, these games are low prep and super easy to implement.

The first game is an oldie, but goodie…

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When we finished this poetry activity, my students actually said, “That was fun! When can we do it again?”

I said, “Y’all do realize you just analyzed and discussed poetry, right?”

It didn’t matter. 

They were invested in it. 

So, what was this magical activity?

A Poetry Seminar!

If you want some of this poetry magic with your students, follow these steps for hosting a poetry seminar. 

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Thinking back, there is only one multiple-choice test that holds a spot in my memory, and that’s the SAT. Otherwise, I have zero memory of taking tests in school.

It has been 24 years, but what I do remember is creating a project where I had to collect dead bugs, pin them to a poster board, and identify them by looking up their characteristics in a book. 

Multiple-choice tests may have their place in the world, but when it comes to truly exploring, mastering concepts, and creating 

meaningful learning experiences, nothing beats a good old-fashioned project. 

That’s why when it came time to assess my students on text structures, I wanted to do something different, something I’ve never done before in the classroom, something exciting and meaningful for the students…

Creating our own websites!

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Learning morphology can be time well spent in your classroom because it unlocks the structures and meanings within words.

It is like handing your students a secret decoder ring that allows them to unlock the meaning behind complex words.

With morphology, your students can understand the hidden messages in words that seem intimidating or confusing. In turn, this increases a student's reading comprehension by building a strong vocabulary base.

​If you want to join in on the fun, here are some tips on how to teach morphology.

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For some reason, even though many of our students like to argue, they struggle with developing sound arguments.​

That’s where we come in, right?​ ​

We have to teach our students how to form an argument so their main point is better than, “because I think so!”​ ​

A structured argumentative writing unit is just the thing to make that happen!​ ​

Here are the five steps you can follow to create a structured, engaging, and meaningful argumentative writing unit.

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Basic answers are a good start, but they need text evidence in order to take it to the next level. 

Here are a couple of activities you can do to help your students “Level Up” by adding the text evidence needed in order to write a meaningful response.

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Don’t you love it when students turn in writing assignments without a single punctuation mark?

Or submit a four-sentence response that is really just one looooong sentence because there is not a period to be found?

I have even had students turn in one-sentence short answers without a period in sight. 

When I first started teaching, I thought it was laziness. Like putting a dot at the end of a sentence was too much work.

While this might be the case for some students, there is definitely more at play here.

Click to read more…

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I have found that my students really like reading plays. They like taking on parts and becoming their character for the class period.

When we do these, almost every student is engaged and following along.

When it was time to read a novel, however, I could tell after about 20 minutes some students started to get restless.

 Despite using my best character voice and enthusiasm, I thought their restlessness could be due to hearing only my voice, so I decided to try something new….

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