Teaching Middle School ELA

I’m sure you can all relate to a feeling that Alexa so openly shared with me today. Sometimes, as teachers, we find ourselves in a rut--lacking inspiration, energy, or confidence in the classroom. It could be due to a particular unit that isn’t clicking, some classroom personalities that aren’t quite jiving, or simply a time when life outside of school is so hectic, draining, or challenging that o...

There is no doubt about it--Valentine’s Day is one of the craziest days of the school year in a middle school classroom. Hormones and red carnations fly, and I will tell you from my own experience that the day can either be incredible or a complete nightmare.  Today, I will share my tips and tricks for creating a lesson on Valentine’s Day that will engage your students, feed on their energy and en...

In today's episode, I'm interviewing one of our EB Teachers' Club members, Monica Jayasinghe. Monica is a 6th grade ELA and Social Studies teacher in Watts, California, which is located in Los Angeles.  Hear what Monica has to say about her experience as an EB Teacher:  "When I come home, I don’t have to stress about what I’m going to do tomorrow and are they [my students] goin...

Can you name a single teacher who doesn’t wish they could spend less time planning? Yeah… I didn’t think so. Honestly, who wants to be spending their free time working when they could be enjoying their hobbies, family, or friends? No one!  I get it, and I am all about working smarter, not harder. So today, I want to share a strategy with you that TOTALLY shifted the way I think about managing my t...

Today I want to talk a little about my story and why engaging lessons are at the forefront of everything I do in EB Academics. Along with one of our team members, Kara, I create a lot of the content, or monthly lesson plans for our teachers in the EB Teachers’ Club. It’s super important to me that the lessons are rigorous and standards-aligned and yet are so much fun for the students that they are...

If our students are not engaged in their learning, then we’ve lost them already.  They’ve tuned out and they’re thinking about all the other pressing concerns preteens and teenagers face. So all of your incredible academic goals for them are going to be really hard to accomplish. I know that’s not how any of us imagined our classroom when we decided to become teachers.  We became teachers to be cr...

Okay, let me ask you, have you ever wanted to have just more fun in your ELA classroom, but thought to yourself, “Well, I’m not creative enough to come up with a fun lesson. Or, "I don’t have the time for creating all the materials for an engaging lesson.” You know, those thoughts that hold us back? But still, deep down you know you want to have more fun in your classroom with your students a...

As a long-time writing teacher and instructional coach, I’ve learned about this great debate among ELA educators: to provide sentence starters or to not provide sentence starters.  I’ve been shocked to hear that many teachers are very resistant to using sentence starters because they have the belief that sentence starters make students’ writing “too easy, too formulaic, or too boring.” But I have...

As we round out 2019, let's talk about how our limiting beliefs are holding us back from being the best version of ourselves, and ultimately, the best teacher for our students.  This episode is short, but powerful, and we urge you to spend some time thinking about what we've brought up and the questions that we leave you with. How can you show up in 2020 that will have the biggest impact...

As teachers, of course, we’re constantly adjusting our lessons and even our curriculum. There’s a last minute assembly we have to attend, so our Socratic seminar for Wednesday is rescheduled or the short story we chose for our kids totally backfired and there was little engagement, so we’re scratching it for next year. We’ve grown used to this aspect of our profession. But, what about the things t...

In today's bonus episode Tara, one of the teachers in our Online Professional Development Course Writing Instruction: A Proven Approach, outlines what it was like for her moving from elementary school to middle school English Language Arts and writing. Her journey is one so many teachers can relate to, as many of us are asked to change grade levels throughout the course of our careers. Tara s...

In today's episode Sarah, one of our students in our Online Professional Development Course, Writing Instruction: A Proven Approach, outlines the many successes she's seen in her classroom as a result of using the EBW Framework and the entire EBW Approach. Sarah mentions one of the biggest game-changers for her, TAG, and why she can't imagine teaching this first sentence of an essay...

Join me in this bonus episode while I interview one of our EB Teachers, Amy Cawthon, who has been implementing and successfully utilizing our EBW Framework with her middle school students. Amy discusses many of the struggles she used to face as a writing teacher and how her students' writing has transformed in just a four short months.  Links mentioned in this episode: ebacademics.com/writing...

Jennifer, a second year high school English teacher, shares her journey of being hired 5 days before the first day of school to where she is now in her second year - a much more confident writing teacher. Her journey is one focused on inspiration, growth, self-realization, and taking the initiative.  Links mentioned in this episode: ebacademics.com/writingwaitlist Are you enjoying the podcast? Tag...

Nancy's journey as a writing teacher is one that shows us the beauty in what is possible for us as teachers. When we want to grow, when we see the opportunity for change, and when we come from the mindset of what  IS  possible, everything can change for us and for our students.  Links mentioned in this episode: ebacademics.com/writingwaitlist Book mentioned in this episode: The Remarkable Jou...

This episode is extra special as both Jessica and I share our teaching stories with you. From bad teaching experiences to great principals, quitting teaching and the in-between, we're sharing the whole enchilada with you.  Links mentioned in this episode: ebacademics.com/writingwaitlist Are you enjoying the podcast? Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to! M...

Do you know what sucks? Grading crappy student writing. There. I said it.  But I’m guessing you didn’t need me to tell you that.  You’ve probably been there, and I have too. I know the emotional roller coaster and tremendous time suck that accompanies scoring this kind of writing.   Fortunately, this week's episode is all about what we can do to combat this elephant in the room. Let's di...

It is very possible that today’s podcast episode will completely contradict a major component of the way you teach literary analysis. In the episode, we reveal our third game-changing strategy for teaching evidence-based writing, and we’re asking you to take a breath, suspend judgement for a moment, and allow us to walk you through exactly why we believe in this strategy, even though it goes again...

This episode is the second part of our Mini Series PD for Evidence-Based Writing on the podcast. In this episode, we'll be covering the idea of eliminating writer's block. All too often, we can make the mistake of solely relying on teaching "hook," and this gets our students STUCK.  Use this simple and incredibly effective strategy to completely eliminate writer's block an...

This episode kicks off a Mini Series PD for Evidence-Based Writing on the podcast. In this first episode, I'll be talking all about how you can hook your students and get them interested and engaged with evidence-based writing (also known as literary analysis writing) through a fun detective activity.  Links mentioned in this episode: ebacademics.com/memberwaitlist Are you enjoying the podcas...

In today's episode we have Jenna Copper from Doc Cop Teaching to share exactly how we can effectively utilize picture books in our middle school ELA classrooms to enhance our current curriculum.  Links mentioned in today's episode: Jenna's VIP Library: ebacademics.com/jennapodcast Jenna on Instagram We would love to hear from you! Please take a moment to leave us a review in iTunes....

In today's episode we're talking all about vocabulary with Melissa from Reading and Writing Haven. She's going to help us with different strategies, fun and engaging ideas, and just an overall approach that we should consider adopting in our own classrooms.  Links mentioned in today's episode: Melissa's Blog Post about Vocabulary: ebacademics.com/melissapodcast Flocabulary...

This episode gives us a glimpse into another Middle School ELA Teacher's classroom. Ashli Cassidy is a 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade ELA Teacher from New Jersey. She shares with us some great strategies that have been working well for her this year as well as lesson plan ideas that we can take back to our own classrooms. Ashli is also a member of our EB Teachers' Club. To learn more about The...

This is SUCH a great episode that walks you through the how and WHY for bringing podcasts into your Middle School ELA classroom. Ashley Bible from Building Book Love is here to teach us everything we need to know. She even has a great blog post all about podcasts with an incredibly helpful free download for you to utilize as well. Check out her blog post here: ebacademics.com/ashleypodcast Make su...

In today's episode we're talking about some very simple steps you can take for a better year, using mindfulness practices and strategies. Kailey from The Balanced Educator Podcast is sharing her brilliant insights with us, so we can find more joy in our teaching practice.  Learn more about Kailey, The Balanced Educator, and Educalme by visiting  https://www.educalme.com/home . You can al...