At the start of a new school year (and quite frankly, all year long, too) one of my top priorities is building a strong, supportive classroom community. As teachers, we often teach a wide range of students with diverse backgrounds, interests, and personalities. One of the easiest and most effective ways to build connection, spark conversation, and help students feel comfortable in our classrooms is by engaging them in friendly, low-stakes discussions. For this task, I use “Would You Rather” slides in the beginning of the school year and for fun Friday attendance questions.

Whether you’re looking for an engaging bell ringer, a brain break, or a community-building activity, these Would You Rather slides are the perfect addition to your classroom routine!

Building Classroom Community: Why “Would You Rather” Questions Work

“Would You Rather” questions are quick, low-prep, and incredibly engaging. Because they come in both Google Slides and Canva presentation formats, they are versatile and easy to use! They encourage students to make choices, share opinions, and listen to others—all essential components of a collaborative classroom.

Even the most reluctant students often can’t resist picking a side when the options are things like, “Would you rather discover a new underwater species or discover a new planet?”

These kinds of fun and engaging creative prompts give students a chance to share their thinking, hear from their classmates, and find common ground with classmates they may not otherwise interact with.

And as we know, when students feel safe, seen, and connected, they’re far more likely to participate, take academic risks, and grow when the material becomes more challenging.

Would You Rather Attendance Questions

To make this classroom discussion and community building strategy even more seamless, I created a ready-to-go “Would You Rather” resource that’s perfect for back-to-school and for the entire school year.

This Would You Rather classroom resource includes 50 student-friendly Would You Rather questions designed specifically with secondary students in mind.

✅ Age-appropriate
✅ No prep required
✅ Perfect for middle and high school
✅ Great for whole class, small groups, or even writing prompts

Use them during the first week of school, as a Friday bell ringer, or when your class needs a quick reset.

Building Classroom Community: How I Use Them in My ELA Classroom

There are so many different ways to use this resource in your classroom. I like to use one every Friday as a fun Friday attendance question. I also like to share a couple of slides whenever I switch the seating around in my classroom so that my students can get to know each other and become more comfortable in their new groups.

Here is how you can use these slides in your classroom:

• Bell Ringer Activity: As students walk in, I project a “Would You Rather” question on the board. It sets a positive, low-stress tone for the class and gives students something fun to talk about with their table groups.
• Class Discussion Practice: I’ll have students move to one side of the room or the other based on their choice. Then, I’ll invite a few students to explain their reasoning. It’s a low-stakes way to build speaking and listening skills.
• Writing Prompts: I sometimes take it a step further and have students write a short paragraph defending their choice. It’s a fun and creative way to sneak in some argument writing practice.

Building Classroom Community One Question at a Time

The truth is, building a positive classroom culture doesn’t always require elaborate lessons or detailed activities. Sometimes, it’s the simple routines—like taking two minutes share and discuss quirky and silly answers to questions that have nothing to do with the class content.

By using “Would You Rather” questions consistently, you’ll help students bond, learn about one another, and feel like they belong. And when students feel like they belong, they’re more likely to engage in meaningful learning.

So if you’re looking for an easy, effective, and engaging way to build community in your classroom, try adding “Would You Rather” slides to your weekly routine. And if you want to save time, grab my ready-made resource here. It’s one small change that can make a big difference.

You can also grab this Classroom Community Bundle that contains four sets of community-building attendance questions to last you the entire school year! This bundle also includes thoughtful this or that questions. Also, if you are looking for more back-to-school activities for your secondary ELA classroom, check out this blog post: 15 Back-to-School Activities for Secondary ELA.

Of of the most engaging and interactive ways to start the new school year is by facilitating a back-to-school station activity in your classroom. Using back-to-school stations as a classroom activity during the first week of school a great way to get your students up and interacting with each other. Furthermore, back-to-school stations are also great for getting to know your students and handing out important class information.

Here is a more in-depth look at the back-to-school station activity that I use in my classroom. You might also want to check out my other favorite back-to-school ideas and activities for middle school ELA and high school English.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL STATION 1

The first station is a student survey station. In this station, students complete a survey that helps me get to know my new students more. This survey includes carefully curated questions that provide me with useful information that I refer back to throughout the school year. I keep a binder all year long with these surveys organized alphabetically by class period. For the digital classroom, I also included a link to a Google form survey.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL STATION 2

The second station in my back-to-school station activity is a classroom technology account station. In the first week of school or so, I try to get all of my students signed up for all of the various class accounts we will use throughout the year. Providing them with a station to do this saves so much time. And then to help make things easier throughout the year, I post the class account set-up sheet in Canvas (used to be Google Classroom) and in my classroom so that I can easily refer new students to it.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL STATION 3

The third station is a course syllabus scavenger hunt station. Rather than read through the entire syllabus with my students on the first day of school, I have them work through a scavenger hunt to find, read, and write down all of the important things from my syllabus. And since it is likely that my important syllabus items might be slightly different than your important syllabus items, this station comes with a customizable recording sheet so that you can have students record the information that is most essential for your class.

BACK-TO-SCHOOL STATION 4

The fourth station is a book recommendation station. Since I teach English, I want my classroom to be a place that encourages a love of reading from the very first week of school. By having students think back and reflect on their favorite book and then recommend it to their peers, students start to are able to tell that my classroom values reading and reading for enjoyment.

Setting up the station activity for the first week of school does take a little bit of prep work. However, with each new back-to-school season, the prep work will be less and less. To help preserve your station cards and directions, I suggest printing the pages you plan to use year after year on cardstock to help it last.

Teacher praise for back-to-school stations

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely Satisfied

“I used this in all my classes at the beginning of the year. The HS choir, drama and world history students loved the “ME” page, and the MS choirs enjoyed the syllabus scavenger hunt. I plan to continue using this resource each year. Thank you!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely Satisfied

“Time & time again this resource proves to be amazing! I feel confident as a teacher to have the stations with options to edit the instructions, etc. Thank you for a great resource!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Extremely Satisfied

“Great beginning of the year stations to incorporate into the classroom! My students loved working through stations rather than sitting and listening.”

It’s time to go back to school! With the back-to-school season upon us, it is time to start planning back-to-school activities for the first week of school. Here are 15 engaging and fun first-day and first-week school activities for middle and high school students.

1. Student survey

Having students complete a classroom survey during the first week of school is a great way to get to know your new students. I’ve used this free back-to-school survey for years, and it is such a valuable tool because I get to know key information about my students right away.

After my students complete this survey, I keep them behind my desk organized alphabetically by class period in a binder. This survey is also included in my Back-to-School Stations and my Back to School Activities for Secondary ELA pack.

I can hear it now. One student defiantly raises a hand as I begin teaching Greek and Latin root words. Before I can even begin explaining the benefits, the student asks, “Why are we learning about this in English class?” Next time you have a student asking why they need to study roots and vocabulary from Greek and Latin, have this list on hand.

3 Reasons for Teaching Greek and Latin Root Words

1. Greek and Latin are foundational

You will be hard-pressed to find vocabulary without influence from Greek or Latin. The truth is, these “ancient” languages heavily influence our modern languages (particularly the Romantic ones). In fact, students who hope to learn other languages, especially Romantic ones, would do well to focus on building vocabulary in English rooted in Latin. Romance languages include French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Spanish, and Latin influences about 80% of the vocabulary in all of these languages. That’s 800 million people whose language is built on Latin alone.

2. Greek and Latin are building blocks

English is not considered a Romantic language, but a Germanic one. A significant portion, however, comes from the romantic influences of Latin and Greek (which is its own branch of language entirely). Students who are learning English, or who need to improve their English skills would do well to learn vocabulary that comes from Greek and Latin roots. Each year students should learn from 2,000-3,000 new words each year to increase their reading vocabulary. If these languages influence 70-80% of our language, then we should put in the effort to teach students roots that they can use to build their vocabulary in the future. To read more about vocabulary instruction, you can find this interesting essay by Joan Sedita from Keys to Literacy here.

3. Greek and Latin are not dead

Indeed, Ancient Greek and Latin are not official languages. When a language has no native speakers, it technically qualifies as a “dead language”. However, all modern languages have been influenced in one way or the other by Greek and Latin. So although there are not native speakers, they are far from unused and unneeded. Beyond vocabulary skills, many students who pursue technical or scientific careers will find themselves working with Greek and Latin roots. Understanding vocabulary from the viewpoint of Greek and Latin is about as close to “universal” as you can get with languages.

And, if none of those reasons work, you can always share that learning Greek and Latin roots will improve their test scores in your class. You can only lead a horse to water.

If you’re stumped for a starting point in introducing Greek and Latin vocabulary to your classroom, check out my 20-week program for Greek and Latin Roots. You can find it here in my store, but be sure to check out my digital and print bundles for more options in your classroom.

20-Week Latin and Greet Root Word Vocabulary Program

Teaching Greek and Latin root words is fun and engaging with this vocabulary unit! This Latin and Greek root word vocabulary program includes the Google™ digital and traditional print versions. It includes 20 weeks of vocabulary instruction and 200 words for a complete vocabulary study!

For each of the Greek and Latin root words, this vocabulary unit includes an instructional slide for vocabulary instruction, a daily vocabulary exercise to help you make a routine of learning root word vocabulary, a hands-on activity, and an end-of-week quiz.

Here’s what you’ll get:

• 20 23-slide editable presentations with instructions for Monday-Friday
• 200 vocabulary words with definitions
• Greek and Latin root word tree organizers
• Double-sided daily vocabulary recording sheets
• Hands-on table sort activities
• Weekly vocabulary quizzes

Your students will love learning vocabulary with this method because it will take the stress out of vocabulary. Rather than needing to study words and lists at home the night before the quiz, students will have worked with the vocabulary words a little bit each day to authentically learn the words and their meaning. Your students will love how easily these vocabulary words come to them with the help of the daily activities. 

Be sure to share your favorite and student-loved activities for teaching roots here in the comments or join me on Facebook and Instagram to continue the conversation.

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.

So this year, I tried something new. I’ll admit, I was a bit apprehensive because of my massive Kahoot! fail before, but after discussing the idea and planning it all with my friends during one of our lunches together, we all went ahead and did stations.

Overall, all four of us said that this setup for Back-to-School Night was a success!

Using Back to School Night Stations

As the parents walked in, I greeted them at the door and invited them to look around the room and see all of the different stations on the different tables. I also provided them with a one-page informational sheet containing all of the stations’ information.

This way, if parents didn’t want to participate in stations, they didn’t have to. When our ten-minute session began, I briefly introduced myself and the station activity with a one-slide presentation.

I had six stations for my Back-to-School Night, and I’ll probably tweak them a bit for next year, but here is what I did.

Back-to-School Night Station 1: I wish they knew…

During the day, I had students respond to the prompt “I wish my parent(s) knew…” on a sticky note. It was an anonymous response, and they shared their notes on the whiteboard in the back of my room.

At BTS Night, parents read the notes and wrote their own, responding to the prompt, “I wish my child knew…” Parents placed their sticky notes on a piece of chart paper, which is still on the inside of my classroom door.

Now, this was a heavy station. Many students are stressed, and some were really, really honest. But to even it out, some of the responses praised their parents and talked about how much they admired them. Still, though, it was heavy. However, I heard great feedback from the parents about it.

Back-to-School Night Station 2: Amazon Wishlist

At the start of the session, I told parents this was entirely optional. I also joked about teenagers needing 10 tissues each time they blow their noses. This is my first ever year creating a wishlist for my classroom and sharing it with parents, and they were excited to help out and contribute.

Some parents even talked about how they always bought supplies for elementary because lists were sent home, but nothing goes home in high school.

Back-to-School Night Station 3: Curriculum

I placed all of the class novels and textbooks on the tables for this station. I had a brief overview of our units for the year, and I invited parents to look over the supplies.

Back-to-School Night Station 4: Syllabus

I had my syllabus out for parents to look at and QR codes taking them to the place where they could add in the digital signature.

Back-to-School Night Station 5: Sign-in and Remind

At this station, I had my sign-in sheets and a QR code for parents to sign up for my class Remind.

Back-to-School Night Station 6: Class Calendar

Did I mention that I had all the QR codes? At this station, I shared a QR code to my Google Doc class calendar that I plan on. This document has all of our plans for the entire semester. It includes what lessons we do, it has hyperlinks to presentations, and it says what is due when.

Now more than ever, it is essential that students understand the importance of digital citizenship. It’s part of being career-ready. It’s part of utilizing tools like the internet effectively for education. And it’s part of understanding the boundaries of recreational use.

What is digital citizenship?

Being a good digital citizen means understanding the responsibilities associated with technology, particularly the internet, but also how it all applies to computers and devices in general.

What does it cover?

I think our first thought is cyber safety. But digital citizenship is so much more than that. It’s also how students use the internet to find help for school. It’s how they interact when searching for a job or emailing professionally. It’s what they post to social media. It’s knowing when it is appropriate to use technology (digital wellness). And it’s knowing how to show empathy when behaving online. 

Why is it important?

We are absolutely in a world where access to technology is more of a need than a want. This was even more important in 2020. Our students do homework, turn in papers, look up resources, find the news, socialize, and seek entertainment via their technology access. Students will apply to jobs and colleges online. They’ll work jobs with Zoom calls and emails. They’ll comment on posts. Post photos. Technology is embedded in every aspect of our lives. 

Teaching digital citizenship.

Conversation Skills

This is multi-faceted. Students will exchange and be involved with so many digital conversations within a day. The text and comment and write and read all of these interactions. Students would do well to understand the empathy needed in these exchanges. Discuss how connotation isn’t always clear when reading. You can come up with examples of how students can respond to different types of posts (or discuss if one should respond, period). You can also point out the difference in recreational use vs professional use, and how the words you type are there forever. This would also be a good place to discuss cyberbullying, and where the line is between “expressing an opinion” and being outright hurtful.

Digital Literacy

Students need to know how to distinguish accurate information from misinformation. This often is covered when students first begin looking up sources for essays, but it is a skill they need to know how to use in their personal lives as well. Students should have frequent practice with digital literacy because it’s really quite tough to learn discernment skills. This includes knowing the basics of data information and scams to look for.

Digital Wellness

To me, this is a biggie. We basically have technology on our persons 24/7. Discuss with students the importance of “unplugging”. Find articles about brain development and screen times. Debate how social skills are affected by technology. Students would do well to understand we need to take a break and now over-indulge.

Digital Security

There can be a lot of over-sharing, especially on social media platforms. It isn’t just about understanding the importance of choosing secure passwords. The little quizzes on Facebook that basically mine for information that are used in security questions. Knowing that a video you just shared showed your street address, and you were wearing your school logo. Students also need to keep their smart-technolgoy secure. Teach them about the best sort of security for their phones (like how an online photo of their face can trick the facial recognition software on their phone). Look for VPN lessons to add extra layers of privacy. Teach students that the more “locks” they have on their information, the safer they are and the harder it is for others to steal it. 

Professionalism 

Lastly, students should know how to present themselves professionally. A lot of their online interactions will be recreational. There’s a lot of social media. A lot of texting. A lot of messages. Students might not spend a lot of time emailing or may not know how to write resumes and cover letters. Give students a crash course in professional etiquette. Show them the difference between colloquial speech that is okay to use with their friends and the professional writing when they request information from a professor, contact HR, or apply for a new position. I have an email etiquette unit that works perfect for discussing professionalism. My unit can be found here. Or, the digital bundle option can be found here.

There are so many resources available. There’s no one way to go about this, and a lot of your lessons will come from the class culture and what your students already understand about digital citizenship. Find articles that work best with where your students are at, and help them become well-rounded citizens in the digital world we live in. You can also consider Business&ITCenter21, a teacher-created digital curriculum. You can find information on their Digital Citizenship module here. ISTE also has resources listed in their article here. 

One of the best ways to get to know a new class of students is by providing them with a quick student survey that gathers essential information. On the first day of school, I always provide my high school students back-to-school survey survey that contains essential information that helps me not only get to know my students but also be the best teacher I can be for them.

This Back-to-School Survey includes Two Versions

One of my newer additions to this survey is a section on pronouns and how, when, and with whom I can use the student’s pronouns. Providing this simple space for students to express themself and their identity is so crucial for creating a safe space and building a positive classroom culture.

According to the National Survey on LGBTQ Mental Health 2020 by The Trevor Project, 48% of LGBTQ youth reported engaging in some form of self-harm in the last 12 months, and that statistic drastically rose to more than 60% for trans and nonbinary youth.

By simply including this simple question to the survey and providing our students with the space to be themselves, we can help save student lives.

Other important questions in this survey include questions about who lives with the student and what their favorite accomplishment is. I’ve found that by including these questions in the survey and knowing this information about my students, I can form stronger bonds with them to help create a strong classroom community.

Using the Back-to-School Survey

Once my students complete the survey, I collect them and keep the surveys stored in a binder all year long. I organize my binder by class period, and then each class period is organized alphabetically. If I ever need to conference with a student or call home, I look at their survey first.

You can grab this free student survey by clicking on this link.

This Back-to-School Survey is Also Included Here…

This back-to-school student survey is also included in two of my most favorite back-to-school resources and activities for middle and high school students. First, it is included in my Back-to-School Activities packet. This resource includes more than 11 different activities to use throughout the first couple of weeks of school to help the students get to know one another and the class.

The second resource this back to school survey is included in is my Back-to-School Student Stations. This resource has four different stations for students to complete on the first day of school or during the first week of school.

If you are looking for more back-to-school resources and activities, read this post about engaging back-to-school activities for the secondary ELA classroom.

While classrooms may look different this year, whether you are teaching in-person, in a hybrid setting, or entirely online, there are still ways to add personalized details to the back-to-school season. If you’re looking for information about starting the school year remotely, you might be interested in this blog post.

Here are four ways to center your classroom on the needs and interests of your students.

Creating a Student-Centered Classroom: Get to know your students.

This notion may seem obvious, but to personalize your classroom for your students, you have to know a little bit about them before starting the class. A great way to do this is to send out a back-to-school student survey at the beginning of the new school year to your students before class gets underway. If you’ve already started instruction, don’t worry. You still have time to get to know your students and their interests.

Your questionnaire can address topics from favorite books to favorite candy to favorite after-school activities. If you are teaching remotely, it also might be a great idea to survey students about their access to technology and comfort-levels of being on camera in a Zoom class.

A survey can be a great way to get a basic understanding of what your students like and don’t like, and it can help create assignments that students will enjoy. For example, if you are focusing on poetry and know that a few students like basketball and a few students shared that they love making cookies, you can group some of those students and have them work together to write a poem about that thing that unites them. This intentional grouping makes them feel like they can connect to the assignment more deeply. Plus, it shows your students that you took the time to get to know them. It also helps students to get to know other people that share the same interests.

Creating a Student-Centered Classroom: Personalized name tags and table tents

If your students are about to be back in your classroom in person, allow them to personalize their area with a nameplate that also represents who they are. If you are teaching online, encourage students to bring certain items to the Zoom classes to show off to their classmates. Yes, this might feel a bit childish, but students will reminisce about show-and-tell, and it is a great way to help build a virtual class community! In my digital Back-to-School Welcome Stations, one of the back-to-school stations is a virtual nameplate. I encourage all of my students who don’t feel comfortable having their cameras on to share their virtual nameplate instead.

Creating a Student-Centered Classroom: Incorporate students into stories

This simple teaching strategy is great when you’re working on essay-writing or editing and need some text examples. If you are about to workshop students’ essays and want to practice editing as a group, use a paragraph that you wrote incorporating students’ names and personal interests. This shouldn’t have to be mentioned but always write about students in a positive light. Avoid anything that might be misconstrued or embarrassing. The goal is to make students feel welcomed into your classroom, not alienated. (This could also be a great survey question. Do students give you permission to use their names in writing examples?) Students will get excited when they see themselves being included in the sample paragraph, and it will be more engaging to edit than a paragraph from another source.

Creating a Student-Centered Classroom: Consider students’ talents when creating assignments

If you have some freedom in choosing assignments for different units, considering students’ talents and interests is a great way to spark creativity and engagement with the class material. If you have many students interested in theater, assigning students to act out a scene would allow them to demonstrate their understanding by doing something they love to do. If you have students who love music, whether it be singing, playing an instrument, or simply listening to music, ask them to come up with a 5-song soundtrack that they think would pair well with the book you just read. If you have students interested in film, let them create a “trailer” for a book. If you have students who love art, suggest they recount their favorite part of the novel in the form of a comic strip. All of these assignments cater to students’ specific interests, but they are also an excellent way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the text through a medium they enjoy.

This will make them feel like you understand their interests and welcome their unique qualities in English assignments. If your class varies significantly in terms of hobbies and extracurricular activities, you can give all of these assignments as options. Students love when they have a choice in their assignments. If you assess on a standards-based rubric, you could have quite a few different assignment options. , and students can choose which one is the most exciting for them.

Every class will be different, as it is a different makeup of students with diverse backgrounds and varied interests and passions. This means that every classroom environment will be unique to the students inhabiting it. Personalizing your classroom, whether it be the physical space or the types of projects you assign, will help students to feel welcome and comfortable. Not every student will be excited about their English class, but incorporating these personalization ideas will help spark creativity and keep students engaged with the material.

It’s back-to-school time, and that means it is time to start thinking about the ideal back-to-school activities for your secondary ELA classroom. I’ve compiled the best back to school activities for secondary ELA, middle school, and high school for you!

Throughout the years, I’ve tested several different back-to-school strategies and styles. Through years of experience, I’ve learned that I have the most success in the classroom when I spend dedicated time with my students at the beginning of the year building relationships, establishing trust, reviewing classroom policies and procedures, and teaching key concepts. This blog post a plethora of back-to-school activities for secondary ELA that will be the perfect fit for your classroom.

From there, I like to teach and review content areas that I focus on throughout the year. Here are some of my favorite lessons and back to school activities for secondary ELA.

Back to School Activities for The First Day

When it comes to the day one of a new school year in the middle school and high school ELA classroom, the last thing you want to do to celebrate a new school year is read and spend extra minutes on your syllabus and go over the policies on day one. While it is important for students to know the syllabus, it can wait. Here are some great first day of school back to school activities for secondary ELA that are perfect both middle and high school.

1. Back-to-School Stations

Get to know your new students with an engaging first week of school activity: Back to School Stations! This back-to-school station activity will help you and your students get to know one another for the new school year.

Plus, these stations, which are great for the start of a new school year, also help students get organized! The digital option is also included!

STATION 1 – Back to School Student Survey

In this first back-to-school station, students complete a survey that will help you get to know them more. There is also a link to a digital Google Forms survey as well!

STATION 2 – Class Tech Accounts

This station is all about helping you and your students organize all of your tech accounts. In this station, students will copy down the required tech accounts and their sign-up codes for your class.

STATION 3 – Course Syllabus Scavenger Hunt

In this station, your students will read through your course syllabus in small groups and then find and record important information on a course syllabus one-pager.

STATION 4 – Book Recommendations

As an English teacher, I am always trying to encourage a love of reading in my classroom. In this station, students complete a book spine and recommend a book to their peers. l.

2. Back to School Activities for Secondary ELA

Engage your new students from day one with these 11 back-to-school activities that are ideal for the first day and first week of school!

This Back-to-School Activities Packet is ideal for middle and high school students, and it is filled with beginning-of-the-year ice breakers and activities you and your students will love! It is one of my favorite back to school activities for secondary ELA.

You and your students will get to know each other, your students will get to know the class, and it will help start the school year on the right foot with these beginning-of-the-year activities.

These 11 first-week-of-school activities are designed to help students get to know each other and become more familiar with the class. Now includes print and digital activities!

3. Writing a Personal Statement

Within the first few weeks of the school year, I like to have my students write a personal statement. Since I teach juniors, this is a paper in which they can use later in the school year as they apply for colleges, jobs, scholarships, and internships.

One reason why I love assigning a personal statement within the first few weeks of school is that it allows me to get to know my students more.

Relationship Building Activities 

4. Growth Mindset and SEL Activities

As I work my way into the school year, I like to incorporate growth mindset and SEL into my classroom. This Growth Mindset Activities resource includes goal-setting activities, information about growth vs. fixed mindset, and activities to get your students thinking.

It is another one of my favorite back to school activities for secondary ELA, but it can also be used throughout the entire year!

5. Growth Mindset Escape Room

Escape rooms are always a hit with my students, and this Growth Mindset Escape Room is a great challenge to get your new students working together, trusting one another, and learning to collaborate with new students.

One of the best things about setting up an escape room toward the beginning of the year is that it provides you with critical information about your students; you can see who the leaders are, and you’ll also be able to spot some of the students who might need a little extra assistance.

Plus, students enjoy working together to solve the challenges.

Content-Based Lessons and Back to School Activities for Secondary ELA

6. Back to School Lesson: Teaching Email Etiquette

My lesson on email etiquette is one of my very first content-based back to school activities for secondary ELA for the entire school year.

Teaching students about email etiquette and how to correctly write an email to adults is such an essential skill that they’ll take with them even after they leave the four walls of your classroom.

Even more so, there is a big push to teach students skills for college and career readiness, and teaching email etiquette hits that mark.

7. Annotating Text Made Easy

Another one of my favorite lessons to teach at the beginning of the year is how to annotate text. Since I teach in a common core state, everything that I do is based on the standards.

And since I teach a grade-level that takes standardized state assessments, teaching annotating skills at the beginning of the year helps prepare students for state testing because it helps to lay the foundation for text-based evidence. These are just a few of my favorite lessons and back to school activities for secondary ELA.

8: Sticky Note Literary Analysis

After all of the back to school activities for secondary ELA are over, the very first unit I teach is a short stories unit. I take this time to teach, review, and reteach important literary elements, closely read short stories, and begin literary analysis.

This sticky note literary analysis unit comes with PowerPoint that reviews the main elements of fiction as well as literary elements, which is perfect for the beginning of the school year.

This unit also comes with hands-on, engaging organizers that use sticky notes to help students begin to unwrap the literary analysis process.

9. Writing Spotlight: Writing About Quotes

Alongside reading short stores, I have my students write in the beginning of the year and I refine their writing skills with my writing spotlight lessons.

I have my students write a literary analysis response each week with each short story that we read.

At the very beginning of the year, I am solely focused on building skills. I want students to write a three-sentence response: a topic sentence that answers the prompt, properly embedded quote, and a sentence explaining the connection between the quote and the prompt.

Even though it is just three sentences, these quick writing prompts, content-wise, ask kids to do a lot of hard work. My Writing Spotlight mini-unit helps students write more analytical commentary sentences.

10. Embedding Quotes in Writing

Embedding Quotes in Writing

One of the final lessons that I teach my students at the beginning of the year is how to embed quotations in their writing properly. Since we’ll be doing this all year long, it is so important that my students learn and master this skill early on in the year. The significant benefit of teaching this skill at the beginning of the year is that by the time you get to your first formal essay, most of the students will know what to do.

These lessons and back to school activities for secondary ELA are absolutely perfect for the first month of class.