Review days should be helpful. They should give students a chance to practice skills, clear up misconceptions, and build confidence before an assessment. Unfortunately, review can also become one of the most boring parts of the school week. Teachers ask questions. The same few students raise their hands. Everyone else stares at the clock while …
If your students’ writing sounds something like this: The boy ran down the street. The boy was scared. The dog chased him. The dog was barking. you are definitely not alone. Middle school writers often rely on short, repetitive sentences because those sentences feel safe. Students know how to write a basic subject-and-verb sentence, so …
The first time you tell middle school students that they are going to read Shakespeare, you may hear a few groans. You might also hear questions like: “Why does he talk like that?” “Is this even English?” “Do we really have to read this?” Shakespeare can feel intimidating to middle school students—and sometimes to teachers, …
Walk into almost any middle school ELA classroom, and you will find students reading at very different levels. One student may finish a novel in two days. Another may struggle to get through a single page without support. Some students understand what they read but have difficulty writing about it. Others can decode the words …
Conflict is one of those literary elements that students usually understand long before they know the academic vocabulary for it. They recognize when two characters are fighting, when someone is struggling with a difficult decision, or when a character is trying to survive a dangerous situation. The challenge is helping students move beyond simply saying, …
Anchor charts are one of those classroom tools that can seem incredibly simple—but when they are used intentionally, they can make a big difference in a middle school ELA classroom. Whether your students are learning how to identify theme, cite text evidence, analyze characterization, revise an essay, or remember the difference between tone and mood, …
Comparing two texts sounds simple enough—until students actually have to do it. Many middle school students can tell you what happens in Text A and what happens in Text B. The real challenge comes when they are asked to explain how the texts are similar, how they are different, and why those similarities and differences …
Starting a new novel can be one of the most exciting parts of an ELA classroom—or one of the most challenging. Teachers may be eager to dive into a story, but students do not always share that enthusiasm. Hand students a novel, announce that they will be reading it for the next few weeks, and …
The phrase data-driven instruction can sound intimidating. It may bring to mind complicated spreadsheets, standardized test reports, and hours spent analyzing numbers. However, using data to guide instruction does not have to be overwhelming. At its core, data-driven instruction simply means using information about what students know—and what they still need to learn—to make better …
Peer editing sounds like a great idea in theory. Students exchange papers, provide thoughtful feedback, make meaningful revisions, and become stronger writers in the process. Then reality happens. One student writes, “It’s good,” at the bottom of the page. Another corrects every comma but ignores the confusing argument. Someone else rewrites an entire paragraph in …
