Blog - Page 5 of 41 - The Daring English Teacher

3 Coloring Activities for Secondary ELA: sketch notes, mind maps, and one-pagers

When it comes to engaging middle school ELA and high school English students, I’ve noticed a pretty consistent trend: teens like to color, doodle, and create. As much as some teens might moan and groan about coloring, it’s actually quite therapeutic, and it helps many disengaged students focus on the lesson, assignment, or assessment. That is why these coloring activities for secondary ELA are great additions to your curriculum!

However, when it comes to coloring in the classroom, all coloring-type assignments are not created equally and should not be used synonymously. In fact, sketch notes and doodle notes, mind maps, and one-pagers all have their own distinct place and purpose in the classroom. And when used effectively, these activities and assignments help unlock students’ creativity and analysis skills.

Before diving into the different coloring activities, it is important to have the materials you need to successfully facilitate these assignments in the classroom. There have been quite a few times when I walked into my classroom at the start of a school day not planning on coloring, but I throw it in because at the last moment I felt that it would serve a purpose in my daily lesson. This blog post contains affiliate links that help cover the cost of the blog.

Starting Class With Bell Ringers: 5 Reasons Why You Should

If you aren’t using bell ringers in your secondary ELA classroom – you should. Starting class with bell ringers is an excellent strategy to help

How to Plan a Short Story Unit: 4 Tips for Planning a Short Story Unit

Planning a short story unit can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Here is a look at how I plan my short story unit. HINT: It requires backward planning! When I teach short stories, I like to use this close reading unit that follows along with these four steps.

Keep reading to learn how to plan a short story unit for your middle school ELA or high school English class.

How to Teach Personal Statement Writing

If you are looking to read about how to teach personal statement writing, I’ve got you covered. Keep reading to learn more and to see

10 Activities for Teaching Lord of the Flies

Teaching Lord of the Flies can be a fun and exciting class novel. There are deep themes on innocence, building civilizations, and the dangers of

Teaching Speak: 10 Activities to Use While Teaching Speak

Speak is one of those powerful reads that, unfortunately, many students relate to. If not from personal experiences mirroring the main character, the reality of dealing with trauma and the fallout of PTSD, depression, and other ostracizing events. Teaching Speak, though, can be a challenging task. It becomes a deeply personal and empathetic read, so I make an effort to include it in my reading list throughout the year. Read on for activities and ideas to try in your own classroom.

Teaching Journalism: 5 Journalism Lessons and Activities

You and your students will absolutely love these journalism lessons! The beginning of a new school year can be hectic for journalism teachers who are tasked with simultaneously teaching new journalism students who don’t have any journalism experience while also planning and publishing content for the school newspaper.

10 Activities for Teaching Romeo and Juliet

zRomeo and Juliet is one of those classic pieces of literature I think everyone has read. Even students who haven’t read the Shakespeare play have

Back to School Night Stations: A Twist on the Traditional Presentation

I’m not sure about you, but I always kind of dread Back-to-School Night. It’s late, I’m usually exhausted from the first couple of weeks of school, and many times the turnout isn’t even that great. I recently tried Back to School Night Stations though, and it was much better!

I’ve had my fair share of Back-to-School Nights. I’ve done the standard ten-minute presentation where I talk about the class the entire time. I’ve had parents write notecards to their students. I even tried playing Kahoot! with parents one year, and that was just a trainwreck. Even with the best-laid plans, Back-to-School Nights are just awkward.

At my school, we have six class periods. We have a ten-minute presentation for each class period that is supposed to be just for that class. Then, there is a ten-minute passing period. Parents often come in right at the start of the passing period, and for me, it’s just awkward having that weird silence with some parents waiting as I awkwardly stand at the door trying to guess what parents are mine.

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