My Middle School Students have a way of looking like they understand something, can even verbally tell me what something like the theme of a text is (definition wise), but then struggle to pull it out of a text. So, I set out to 1. Deconstruct the standards (the first 8 reading anchor standard…
As an ELA teacher, I am tasked with teaching reading and writing in one 45-minute period. They also ask me to incorporate conventions and grammar when I teach writing. At the beginning of the year, it seems like I have sooooo much time to do all of this and it will be "no problem". Bu…
In the past, I have talked about how I "teach" this short story or that short story. But what I have come to realize is that while utilizing these amazing short stories is part of the process, it is not what I really should be "teaching". What I need to teach are the standards…
When I started teaching 27 years ago (31 as of the 2025-2026 school year), there were no standards. No state tests. No real expectations of what to teach. When I asked for something like a set of standards, my assistant principal handed me a thin curriculum guide with some suggested pacing. And…