Every year, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches, I reflect on how to make his legacy truly meaningful for my students. Middle schoolers often hear about Dr. King, but I wanted them to move beyond memorized facts and really connect with his powerful words and ideas. In my classroom, I’ve …
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As an ELA teacher, many things must be accomplished in the space of a year as there are many, many reading and writing standards. So, how do you fit all that into a class period? These are my top 3 tips: 1. Use mentor sentences for bell work to work on grammar When I say mentor sentences, I d…
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When we return to school in January after a lovely winter break, we begin work on Argumentative Text Analysis. Can you see my middle school students' eyes glaze over from where you are? Yup, it's a struggle. So, what do I do to engage them with analysis? Here are My top 3 tips: 1. Us…
When I first started teaching, I envisioned that by the time students came to middle school, they would be proficient readers. Of course, as it turns out, many middle schoolers still struggle with reading. In fact, it is worse today than it was in years gone by. So, what can a teacher do to help…