The number one question I see on forums is, what books should I read with my middle school students? There are so many great choices out there because young adult literature is rocking. To help you get started, here are 12 of my favorite books that I have read with my students throughout the years.
Read MoreResearch proves that when you have intentional and explicit vocabulary instruction, reading ability and comprehension increases. So the question is, how do you make your vocabulary instruction intentional and explicit? This post explains the 5 steps I use each week to teach vocabulary to my middle school students.
Read MoreTeaching inference in middle school can be somewhat of a challenge. Am I right? I hear you! I know how hard it is to teach and review inference with your students. The struggle is totally real! Here are the 6 step by step activities I use in my own classroom to help students develop and build their inference skills. Click to learn more!
Read MoreCollaboration is great, isn’t it?! It brings students together and not only enhances their learning, it builds those critical social skills students are in desperate need of. Here are my 5 favorite strategies I use in my middle school classroom to encourage collaboration. They are step by step, easy to implement, and low prep (because that’s how this teacher rolls!) Click to learn about the strategies and start using them today. Yay!
Read MoreThis is how I took bellringer from a typical routine and amped them up in order to build relationships and writing stamina throughout the school. Click to read exactly how to implement in your classroom. There is also freebie just for you!
Read MoreYou are a great teacher (that's why you're checking out products related to building relationships) and you know how important it is to spend time getting to know WHO your students are before you jump head first into content.
This post will give you some ideas you can use to start building relationships the very first week. Click to read more and start planning!
Read MoreAfter years and years of holding seminars in my middle school ELA classroom, I have come up 6 tips you can implement to help you and your students get the most out of a seminar session! I believe these tips help my seminars run effectively in ALL of my classes (yes, even that class that can’t handle hardly anything) Click to see if there are any tips you can add to what you’re already doing!
Read MoreIn order to teacher one of the most engaging novels I do all year, I have to front load and build tons of back ground knowledge. What better way than to use the countless primary sources from the assassination. This is the step by step guide to how I pump up their prior knowledge with primary sources.
Read MoreUp until this point, a lot of our students have just focused on plot, characters, POV, setting, etc. as independent concepts. This is how I got my students to go beyond thinking about story elements in isolation, and to start looking at how they work together and interact.
Read MoreThis one skill I have taught my students is something that is not only super useful for them right now, but it something that can be applied to all subjects throughout their academic career. This is WHAT I teach them and HOW I implement it on a consistent and daily basis!
Read MoreWow. Some days are just a struggle in the middle school ELA classroom. Trying to get 12-14 year olds to focus on reading for an extended amount of time takes some work and energy. After watching my students float off into la la land after 15 minutes of reading, I knew I had to come up with a way to keep them engaged during extended readings…
Read MoreI don’t know why today was they day, but it was. I mean, I’ve done it this way for years. But, for some reason, today was the day that where it became glaringly obvious: the way I was doing gallery walks to showcase student work was not meaningful or engaging. This is how I fixed the problem between class periods and instantly increased student engagement.
Read MoreIt look me years to find the perfect notebook set up for my ELA class. I went through sections, interactive, and unstructured styles, but could not find anything that worked for me until this…
Read MoreDo you have students in your class that seem to get overshadowed? That struggle to get their thoughts out as fast as some of your other students. I saw this happening when I was asking questions, and knew something had to change. This is how I got my quieter students and those who need a little bit longer processing time involved…
Read MoreWhen my lessons started to turn my classroom into something you would find in a 1980s movie, I knew I needed to change. Reworking the standards into bite sized pieces was just what my students (and me) needed! Here is how I did it…
Read MoreRETHINKING GRAMMAR LESSONS
When I think of grammar lessons, I'm transformed to my 6th grade classroom where my teacher is standing at the blackboard {with chalk and everything} diagraming sentences. I remember looking around at the bored faces of my classmates, the eyes rolling back, and drool puddling on the desks.
I knew I had to do something to make my grammar a little more exciting!
