Independent reading can be a struggle. You have a ton of ground to cover each school year, which means your class time is stuffed to the brim. You can’t imagine adding independent reading time, too. And even when you do attempt to make time for students to read on their own, the behavior is so bad – you regret the decision immediately. Luckily, there’s a way out of this chaos. With the right independent reading strategies for middle school, independent reading can be a part of your routine (without the headache). Independent Reading Strategies for Middle School You know how important it is for ..read more

When I ask teachers about their biggest struggle with narrative writing, they always say the narrative elements. And I totally understand why. Trying to get students to fully understand and be able to apply the narrative elements successfully in their own writing is a challenge. You’re usually left reading bland essays that leave a lot to be desired. But getting students to apply those elements is doable. It starts with explicitly teaching the elements of narrative writing to your middle school students! What is Explicit Instruction? I want to make sure we are on the same page with explicit in ..read more

If you’ve used student notebooks in your middle school classroom before, you know just how chaotic they can get. Students write things in random places. Papers are constantly falling out or getting glued in all over the place. It’s a mess. To combat this, I created a system for grammar and reading notebooks that keeps things organized, so students can always find what they need. I want to share four grammar and reading notebook tips that will take your student books from chaotic to useful. (PS. You can use these tips whether you use interactive notebooks or another notebook method.) #1 Use Se ..read more

I’ve read my fair share of PD books, and some are much better than others. When I was in the classroom, I used these books for English teachers to enhance my lessons and work with students. Now, I utilize what I learn to create resources and workshops that support your efforts in the classroom. Through all my reading, I’ve landed on a few favorites that I refer back to time and time again. I’m sharing these PD book titles because you’ll find endless options when you search online. But like I said, some aren’t that great. I don’t want you to waste your time reading the bad. Instead, you can pic ..read more

Raise your hand if teaching narrative writing has you feeling stressed or overwhelmed. I’ve been there. Every writing unit seems to bring its own challenges and narrative writing has a few unique ones. Unlike other types of writing, narrative writing is more flexible and involves more creativity. But that doesn’t mean it’s without “rules”! Getting students to master the narrative writing elements is what will take their stories to the next level. Tips for Teaching Narrative Writing I spoke about this on another blog about using mentor texts novels, but I am a big fan of using mentor texts to t ..read more

You would think narrative essays would be one of the easier forms of writing. Students have been interacting with narrative stories since they were little kids. Not to mention, we tell stories all the time in our daily lives. But actually writing narrative essays? It’s a big challenge for students. Using novel mentor texts for narrative writing is a super effective tool to guide students towards strong essays and develop independence with writing. What are Narrative Writing Mentor Texts? Mentor texts act as a model of the skill you want to teach students. They help deepen students’ understandi ..read more

Let’s face it, grammar can be really boring – for you and your students. Not to mention, it feels like there is never enough time to teach it. Between your reading and writing units, where should you cram in daily grammar practice? I struggled with this, so I was committed to finding another way to teach grammar for middle schoolers. Luckily, I found a strategy that works and can be done in only a few minutes a day. It’s Not Just You: Teaching Grammar is Hard I’m going to guess one of the reasons you became an ELA teacher is because you love to engage in thoughtful discussions with students. T ..read more

You’ve probably heard all the hype around the Science of Reading (SOR). Sounds pretty great, right? Research-based approaches to reading, sign me up! But a quick Google search turns out results like phonics, decoding, and phonemic awareness – topics we don’t usually cover in middle school ELA. So, where does that leave you when looking for strategies for struggling readers? While a large portion of SOR focuses on lower-elementary, that doesn’t mean we have to throw it out the window completely. There are still valuable tools and strategies for struggling readers supported by SOR. What is the S ..read more

I’m a huge fan of using mentor texts in the classroom because I’ve seen what they can do. Traditionally in the classroom, students are given the definition of a concept, and then they jump straight into applying it. This leads to a lot of students feeling lost and teachers feeling frustrated when students can’t work independently. Mentor texts and mentor sentences make learning more tangible and support students’ understanding of a concept, so they can better apply it on their own. What Are Mentor Texts? Mentor texts act as a model of a skill you want to teach students. They can be sentences o ..read more

One of my favorite classes I ever taught was a books and movie elective class. Students loved it. I loved it. In this class, we would read books that were made into movies for young adults. While teaching this class, I saw how movies were a huge incentive for students. I had reluctant readers who would finish a book because they wanted to compare it to the movie. I also saw kids get really excited about reading because they were familiar with a movie. Of course, you don’t have to teach an elective to make this possible. You can incorporate popular books made into movies into your regular class ..read more