If you had asked me earlier in my career whether I wanted my students to use a tool to correct their grammar, such as Grammarly, my answer would have been heck no. However, after a few years, I have seen the benefits of Grammarly as an excellent tool for students in my high school English …
Today Miss K is kicking off our quarter of posts on teaching reading. Reading is a built-in norm in all our English classrooms. She continually tells students that reading makes you a better writer and writing makes you a better reader; they go hand in hand. It is most likely a similar discussion in your …
How the Power of Word Choice Started The words we use with students and the words that students use in their educational experience, social worlds, and internal monologue matter. Teaching them the power of word choice is key. Last year, Miss Krzyzanowski had an exit ticket early in the year that asked “What is something …
After years of hearing about I-Search projects, Miss K finally introduced one in her classroom this year, and it was fantastic. This post will walk through what an I-Search Project is, what elements it can include, what Miss K found worked (and didn’t), and what she would do next time she assigns the project. First, …
We have all entered a professional development session thinking about the never-ending to-do list we have as teachers. Add the additional steps for English teachers to grade the piles of paragraphs, essays, and presentations. I end up feeling disgruntled sitting in a meeting that feels like it could have been an email or filled with …
Over the years, Sami has tried to use a variety of classroom routines to help students know what is coming: taped areas on the whiteboard, paper signs at the door, verbal reminders, folders with classwork, and more to help students be more organized throughout the year. For the past few years, she has consistently been …
Raise your hand if you are tired of hearing a mumbled “here” while taking attendance. Instead, maybe you are tired of hearing nothing but crickets. Perhaps you are in the group that constantly forgets to take attendance and are frantically filling it in at the end of the day. Over the past decade of teaching, …
This week Samantha K is sharing how she tackles vocabulary in the upper-grade levels. It’s nothing fancy, but it is an idea to add to your toolbox. She works to balance the fun element of learning with the long-term skill focus with older students. When it comes to vocabulary, Samantha looks at the goals for …
Happy March ELA Matters! March 1st means that March Madness is around the corner on the court as well as in my classroom. Our current focus on ELA Matters is to share ideas around writing skills. So this week, I am sharing how I engage students in reading poetry and practicing their analysis and writing …
The Challenge(s) How many times has a student responded with “I don’t like reading” when you introduce independent reading or reading in general? This has been one of the biggest hurdles when I have attempted to bring independent reading into my classroom. Even after spending hours reading YA novels to be in the know and …
