Poetry can often be a polarizing topic to teach with half your students grinning from ear to ear, ready to show off their lyrical prowess, and the other half staring down in dread. I recently finished up poetry units with my tenth and twelfth graders and there were a few warm-up activities I tried that …
I’m all about working smarter and not harder, especially as we near the end of the school year! So a lesson that accomplishes more than one goal is amazing! And I have one for you today! It’s National Poetry Month meets grammar lesson meets end-of-year wrap-up! Seriously, all of these elements are in one lesson …
ELA Matters is a collaborative group of middle school and high school teachers who love to help all teachers. Here are some of the latest posts from our contributors that focus on middle school reading and high school reading with text suggestions, activities, and test prep options too! Carolyn from Middle School Café One of …
Poetry is one of those genres that tends to get a bad rap. I find students either LOVE poetry or HATE it. They are rarely in the middle. One of the big obstacles is students have to re-read poetry to really get to the heart and meaning of it. I find that exposure is important. …
Writing can be overwhelming for middle school and high school English Language Arts students, but adding low stakes writing activities to your teaching arsenal can help. Samantha from Samantha in Secondary has 10 ideas to add to your teaching toolbox. Low stakes writing activities are a great way to get those creative juices flowing without …
What if I told you you could implement a checkpoint system at the beginning of your writing unit to ensure struggling writers got timely help before they fell behind? Read on to find out how! Ask any ELA teacher what their least favorite part of the job is, and they’ll likely say something about grading. …
The ELA Matters team has come together to provide you with ideas and helpful resources to engage your students in writing activities. We’ve pooled our ideas, insights, and expertise so that you can empower your students!
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, …
For many middle schoolers, researching topics can seem like an intimidating task—but it doesn’t have to be! With a few simple steps such as utilizing technology and finding topics that interest students, you can help give your students the confidence they need to succeed in any research project! With practice and guidance from teachers like you along the way, they’ll soon feel excited rather than overwhelmed when it comes time for their next assignment!
Before you begin any new kind of writing, what do you do? Most likely, you head straight to Google and search for other examples of this writing style to help you along. So when it comes to our students learning new writing styles, it makes sense that they would need plenty of opportunities to study …
