12 Ways to Build a Virtual Classroom Community
Inside: There’s no secret ingredient to building a virtual classroom community. Every teacher will find approaches that work best for his or her own personality and teaching style. Hopefully, these…
How to Select the Best Novels for Your ELA Curriculum
It’s frustrating when we have what feels like hundreds of standards to teach and little time to do it in. How do you fit it all in? Everyone wants to…
9 Important Student Reflection Questions for the End of the Year
It’s the end of the school year, and you’re tired. Not to worry! This post will save you time. Use these student reflection questions to spark critical thinking about learning…
The Best Tips for Effective Remote Learning
The bottom of reality as I knew it fell out. As I read the email at 8:30 the evening before remote learning began, the pit in my stomach expanded. We…
How to Make the Most of eLearning Days
School closings can feel a lot like being stuck in the middle of a whirlwind. Remote learning is becoming more common, but that doesn’t mean that planning for eLearning days…
The Most Important Key to Supporting Struggling Writers
Inside this post: No matter the age, if you’re supporting struggling writers, there’s one key ingredient that is a game changer for building confidence and increasing achievement. During a writing…
Best Practices | Classroom Culture | English Language Arts | Instructional Strategies | Lesson Design
How to Engage Students: 20 of the Best Active Learning Strategies
As a new teacher, I didn’t fully grasp how to best engage students in learning. That’s not to say my class was a bore, but there were definitely days I…
Music in the Classroom: 13 Ways to Use Songs in ELA
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music” (Aldous Huxley). Think about the last time you felt truly inspired. Was music a part of the experience?…
Incorporating Art in ELA Class: Lesson Plan Ideas
It’s hard to find a student that doesn’t like some form of art. Incorporating art in ELA classes is beneficial for several reasons. For one, it gives students who like…
15 Must-Read ELA Blog Posts
If you’ve arrived in search of ELA blog posts, welcome! You’ll find a helpful roundup here. Education is a funny thing. As teachers, we are immersed in what we are…
Best Practices | English Language Arts | Instructional Strategies | Lesson Design | Teacher Tips | Vocabulary
Integrated Vocabulary: Teaching Vocab in the Context of Reading and Writing
Do you ever feel like there is something missing from your vocabulary instruction? Traditionally, students are given a list of words, and they memorize the definitions. Lists of words are…
Using Anchor Charts in Middle and High School: Why and How
For the longest time, I thought anchor charts were for elementary classrooms. I’d see photos floating around on social media, but I never gave them a second thought in terms…
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