Middle School English

Full year lesson plans provide huge time savings to busy teachers. It is important to have lesson structures and assignments in your classroom that can be used all year.

By Presto Plans I first realized the power of bell ringers years ago, thanks to a particularly unruly class that would bounce off my walls after lunch. After consistently wasting the first ten minutes of class getting students seated, settled, and ready to learn, I decided to give bell-ringers a try. They were immediately a classroom game-changer. Bell-ringers—sometimes referred to as “warm ups” or “do nows”— are questions, tasks, or other warm up activities that students complete at the…

Much like students who spend more hours on the hook of an essay than they do the bulk of an essay, I often found myself with a case of English teacher writing block when it came to planning my first day of school activities. Though I have ten years (x two semesters each) of ... Read More about First Day of School Activities for High School and Middle School English

Classroom preparation is the key to success!

Since I don't have a vocabulary book or program that I HAVE to follow at my school, I used to always worry if I was doing enough vocabulary instruction. Even when I was theoretically following best practices or authentically investigating words as they came up in texts, I was concerned about if I was really helping my students become better readers. After a lot of trial and error, I'm now proud of what we do for middle school vocabulary, which falls into four main areas: Specific Words for…

I began elementary school in the era of phonics. Looking back, I can honestly say that it seemed to work okay. Matching pictures with their word families in plaid workbooks... I learned to read, but

Here are SEVEN engaging activities for the first week back to school in middle school and high school English Language Arts. #middleschool #highschool #8thgrade #7thgrade #6thgrade #ELA #english #languagearts

Teaching with games in the classroom is not just “fluff.” Middle school and high school English teachers, learn how you can reinforce core English language arts skills AND engage students with games like Goosechase, Superfight, and more! #highschoolenglish #englishlanguagearts #middleschoolela #ela

Use Mentor Sentences in your ELA middle school classroom to improve student writing! Find practical ideas to teach writing skills.

Musings from the Middle School: Printing a Poster... the Cheapskate Way!