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.
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 …
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 we think of centers, we think of elementary. But what if there was a way to adapt centers to middle school and high school? What would it look like? How would it be organized? Those are questions I was asking myself last year when I taught ELA. I was thinking about how I could …
They say two heads are better than one, so it stands to reason that students working in pairs or groups can yield greater learning outcomes than individual performance tasks. Learning from our peers is usually more memorable and impactful than traditional lecture style teaching, even for us as adults! Before we assign writing tasks to …
For Sale: Baby shoes. Never worn. 6 words but a full story, right? It has all of the parts of a story: character, plot (with a climax & implied resolution), and conflict. It also evokes a strong image and emotions. I find such stories are a great way to get students working more closely with …
One of my favorite genres to teach my students is poetry. It’s often short and wildly varied and I love that poetry allows authors to break all the rules of grammar, punctuation and convention to create something totally unique. Some of my favorite authors to teach include Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and William Carlos Williams. …
Welcome to the inaugural post from ELA Matters, a collaborative blog focused on all matters of English Language Arts! We are a group of middle and high school educators working together to share our ideas and expertise with the secondary ELA world. Below you’ll find a list of our top 5 favorite reading strategies for …
Hi! My name is Carolyn from Middle School Café. I currently teach middle school ELA in the second largest district in the state of Oregon. I have over 25 years of ELA experience in grades 6-12. My current teaching assignment is 8th grade ELA – my favorite grade to teach! I firmly believe that if …
