Browsing Category
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 …
As we approach the middle of the school year, it is the perfect time to take stock your classroom library. When is the last time you’ve changed the display books? Updated your book review bulletin board? Added a new title to the shelf? Keeping your library looking fresh will keep students coming back to check out new books.
Teaching students to write opinion pieces can be challenging for a number of reasons. For starters, students may not like having to be vulnerable by taking a stance on an issue, and even once they choose a stance, many will teeter between both sides of the argument, making their writing less impactful. Without the proper …
Summaries are something every teacher does year after year to introduce and then to reinforce the skill. After all, it is a backbone writing skill that applies to all subjects, not just ELA. But summary writing is difficult for students… and teachers too! My way around these difficulties is to use a mixture of activities …
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 …
Book clubs are my go-to strategy for engaging students in authentic conversations about reading. It has been my saving grace this year as students have struggled to return to the classroom. Why do I love book clubs so much? Book clubs help put students in the driver seat of their own learning! I have found …
Before beginning any reading or viewing activity in my classroom, I always start with the “4P’s” – previewing, predicting, accessing prior knowledge and assessing purpose. Practicing each of these pre-reading strategies is a sure-fire way to amp up engagement and help your students become more active readers. Read on to see how I introduce each …
7 Strategies to Help Students Read Better
Do you teach literary theory in your ELA classes? Do you find it a challenge for you or for students? Have you thought about using a core text for different theories? One core text to rule them all… if I was a big Lord of the Rings fan this would be an even more poignant …
When I started my career as a teacher, I made a lot of assumptions about students’ ability to write. After many years in the classroom, I’ve learned that teaching kids to write well is no small task. What I now understand is that we should be intentional about our instruction and lessons. Nurturing good writers …
