Back to School Planning with #2ndaryELA

Brynn Allison, The Literary Maven , & Lisa Spangler, Mrs. Spangler in the Middle , host #2ndaryELA on Twitter every Sunday evening from 8 - 8:30 PM EST. #2ndaryELA is a weekly chat for secondary English Language Arts teachers focused on a topic. Every Friday, we post the …

Top 3 Hacks for Back To Middle School

If you're like me, it can be hard to go back to school. The summer days have been lazy and relaxing and now to have shift those gears into school mode means I'll need a little oil to get them going!  That's why I've put together the top 3 things that I do to start back to sc…

The First Week of Middle School

I have a friend whose daughter is going to be teaching for the first time this coming fall.  The daughter called me and said "I will be teaching Science and I know all about that but what do I do on the first day of school?  Just go over the syllabus?" I'll be honest, that was like…

Classroom Rules for Middle School

Since I have been teaching Middle School for 32 years as of the end of the 2025-2026 school year (and 1 year in high school - that's another story for another time), I am often asked what I recommend as the best behavior management system. I have had some great success with things like S…