English Language Arts

TED Talks are videos that present engaging ideas in 18 minutes or less. Their compact, visual format makes them a great vessel for the middle and high school classroom! Truly,…

Looking to teach students about how character development impacts theme? First, you’ll need to model with some specific, high-interest examples. Students need to know what character development looks like from…

Getting ready to begin student-led literature circles? Literature circles are the perfect opportunity to combine reading, writing, speaking, and listening in an authentic way! But, sometimes the broad nature and…

Ever wondered where to start with vocabulary instruction? Sometimes, it can feel like we are throwing darts in the dark. The target has to be out there somewhere, and if…

Does it ever seem like standardized test writing prompts are intentionally wordy and confusing? If you have stumbled upon this post after finishing your testing for the year, enjoy! For…

Looking to improve student-led discussions? While these conversations may be packed with some of the most powerful skills we can teach students, they certainly pose plenty of challenges. Consider, for…

Searching for engaging ways to build students’ background knowledge? Perhaps you need an activity to help students prepare to read a complex text, to write an essay, or to engage…

Inside: Is your choice reading program feeling stale? Are the independent reading activities falling flat? We can engage students and keep book love fresh by weaving in new ideas from…

Inside:  Have reading logs on your mind? Still wildly popular, reading logs have serious negative impacts on our students’ relationships with reading. This post is full of honest answers about…

Inside:  Wondering how to help students analyze diversity in literature? This post includes nine reflective questions to help guide conversations. It felt gigantic. The more she thought about it, Hailey…