5 Ways to Prepare for ELA Standardized Tests
Test prep season is in full swing. It’s quite likely that if you teach in a public school, that you are feeling a little bit
5 Ways to Improve Your Listening Test Scores
If you teach at a school that administers the PARCC, SBAC, or CAASPP, these standardized tests will assess your students’ listening skills. And typically, this
Poetry Analysis Collaborative Poster Project for Secondary ELA
If there’s one genre that intimidates students, it is definitely poetry. Poetry, for some reason, can make students shrink with uncertainty, doubt, and fear before you even begin the unit. However, this collaborative poetry analysis poster project is one that you and your students will absolutely LOVE!
When I teach poetry in my classroom, I first like to introduce students to it by teaching them how to read and annotate poetry. By breaking this process down for students, it immediately becomes less intimidating.
Gamifying Lord of the Flies: 6 Ways to Engage Student
Lord of the Flies is a classic piece of British literature. And while many students in modern-day US students might not be able to relate to the plights of Piggy, Ralph, Jack, and Simon, there is a way to hook kids into the book: gamifying Lord of the Flies!
Just like the boys on the island experience a myriad of challenges to survive, my students also participate in a survivor-type team challenge as we read the book. Throughout the unit, my student teams work together on assignments and compete against one another on challenges that demonstrate their understanding of the novel. Teams earn points for winning challenges, and the team points are displayed on the board throughout the entire unit.
Teaching Secondary ELA in the 2nd Semester
The second semester is full of promise. By this point in the school year, I know my students. I know their strengths, their weaknesses, and
Dear First-Teacher Me: An open letter to first-year teachers everywhere
Being a first-year teacher can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. And while it might seem like you are always swimming upstream, I promise, it does
Three Tips for Teaching Generation Z
Society has some less-than-desirable thing to say about our students. In the news and on social media, they are sometimes referred to as the tide-pod
Fitting the Common App Essay Prompts into Your Curriculum.
Writing the Common App essay can be a stifling process for students, especially for the kids who insist they have “nothing interesting to write about.”
Valentine’s Day Activities for Secondary ELA: 4 ELA Valentine Activities to Try
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it is time to think about infusing rigorous and academic content with the whimsy fun of February 14. Here’s a list of several different activities you can do in the middle school ELA or high school English classroom during the first couple weeks of February. Your students are sure to love these Valentine’s Day activities for secondary ELA!