For many years at the beginning of my career, I taught summer school. As an ELA teacher, we naturally studied a novel. I remember teaching "Freak the Mighty" and "Max and Me and the Time Machine". What I discovered was that it is hard to get students into a book during the…
It was 4 days before the state writing test and we needed some quick and focused practice. What can I do in just 4 days and make an impact? That was my quandary and these are the 5 ways that I found to help get my students ready for the state essay writing test! 1. Structure Task Cards These ta…
Once the counterclaim paragraph has been taught (perhaps with a handy mnemonic ), it's important to practice, right? But how can one practice without writing an entire essay? Here are my top three ideas: 1. Task Cards I made some task cards with two small (about 1/2 a page) texts. Then …
Teaching the counterclaim paragraph (or counterargument paragraph) is a critical part of teaching argumentative essay writing. Where I teach (Florida), it can make or break an essay. Without the counterclaim paragraph, a student is likely not to score above 60% on the standardized test. But wha…