Mrs. Spangler in the Middle

When state testing comes around, I find that many of my students and their parents become anxious and want a way to review at home.  I used to just say things like "You are a good reader.  You know how to think things through.  You'll be fine."  But then I got to thinking, what if t…

My middle school students always say "I don't need to plan."  To which I respond " If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".  Confused looks.  Blank stares.  Eyerolls.   But seriously, I say, without a plan, how can one be sure to have everything that's needed? Here'…

Once I have taught my students to read & flip the essay prompt , read and mark the text , write an introduction paragraph for informative and argumentative , write the body paragraph and the counterclaim , the last part of the actual essay is the conclusion paragraph.  My students typically…

When teaching the counterclaim to my middle school students, there are actually two ways we could go:  embed the counterclaim in the body paragraphs OR write a separate counterclaim paragraph. I taught at one middle school in my district, where they taught the embedded counterclaim, and I am curr…