Teaching Middle School ELA

Some days, teaching feels manageable. Other days, it feels impossible. And the frustrating part? Nothing on your schedule has changed. In this week's Monday Mindset, we're exploring how the world within us shapes the way we experience our classrooms. If you've been dealing with Sunday anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, or constantly wondering how you're supposed to fit everything in...

Welcome back. For today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we are continuing our Hidden Gems of EB Series.  Skip the unit test without skipping the standards. Caitlin and our curriculum writer Pat share three end-of-unit project ideas that feel like a fun weekend for students but function as a rigorous, evidence-based assessment for you. First, we break down a classroom “drive-in m...

October has a way of humbling even the most prepared middle school ELA teachers, so for today's Monday Mindset episode, we talked about how the planning system you swore you’d follow starts slipping, the “leave by four” boundary gets pushed later and later, and suddenly your weekends are full of grading again. We don’t think it’s because you don’t care. We think it’s because you’re trying to...

This week's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, The part of an ELA unit that students remember least is often the part we teach most: the long middle where they’re “doing the reading.” We’re not okay with that, because the during-reading phase is where real comprehension, analysis, and confidence get built or lost. So we’re sharing three practical “hidden gems” that make the middle of...

Life doesn’t usually fall apart in the big moments, it frays in the tiny ones we never feel. We’re talking directly to middle school ELA teachers who are moving fast, carrying a lot, and living in their heads, replaying yesterday’s lesson or bracing for tomorrow’s to-do list. This Monday Mindset is a teacher mindset reset built around one idea that sounds almost too simple: romanticize the mundane...

We share three hook lessons that build background knowledge and activate student thinking so novels feel easier to enter and discussions get better fast. We break down exactly how to run each activity and how to recreate the same structures with any text, even without the EB Teachers ELA portal. • the EB Into, Through, Beyond planning framework and why Into lessons matter • a classroom timeline wa...

When your usual teacher energy disappears, it can feel scary, embarrassing, or like you’re doing something wrong. We sit with that reality and name it for what it often is: psychological exhaustion after a long stretch of stress, loss, and change. If you’ve been telling yourself, “Once this passes, then I’ll be okay,” this Monday Mindset offers a kinder, more honest way to move forward. We talk ab...

Welcome to the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast ! In today’s episode, Caitlin and Pat kick off a new series, Hidden Gems of EB , featuring three low-prep classroom games that are fun, repeatable, and surprisingly rigorous. We’re sharing Connect Three, Word Toss, and Conflict Knockout —games designed to get students reviewing key skills, building vocabulary, and practicing important ELA concepts...

Our favorite, Monday Mindset! In today's episode, we’re talking about how perfectionism fuels teacher burnout, why being coachable matters more than always being “right,” and how leaning into your strengths can make teaching feel a whole lot lighter. If you’ve been carrying the pressure to do it all, this episode is your reminder to keep your standards without demanding perfection from yourse...

You know that moment when you finish giving crystal-clear directions and a hand shoots up three seconds later asking, “Wait, what are we doing?” We found a classroom job that solves it instantly, and it’s called “Alexa.” Pat, our curriculum writer, joins me to share the most creative and oddly specific classroom jobs teachers are using to protect instructional time and cut the constant mental jugg...

Today's Monday Mindset episode is a special re-air, but it’s one worth revisiting! 💛 In “Creating Evidence for Yourself,” we’re reminded to recognize our progress, trust our abilities, and pay attention to the small wins that prove we’re growing—even when we don’t always feel it. Press play for a little Monday motivation and a fresh reminder that you’re capable of more than you think! Here&a...

This week's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode: The fastest way to feel less overwhelmed in your middle school ELA classroom is not a new curriculum or a stricter rule. It’s a better system for all the tiny tasks that steal your attention while you’re trying to teach. Caitlin and Genevieve share a practical approach to classroom jobs that focuses on reducing teacher cognitive load, ti...

You know that feeling when you’re weighing a decision and every option seems loaded? That tense, looping thought of “What if I make the wrong choice?” Today, Caitlin shares a story that cuts straight through that noise and lands on a simple truth: the regret that sticks is often the choice you never made. Caitlin talks about a real crossroads moment, the kind that feels exciting and terrifying at...

In Part 2 of this behind-the-scenes conversation, we sit down with EB Academics curriculum writer Pat to break down what effective word study looks like from 5th through 8th grade and how to build a system that becomes more rigorous each year without becoming overwhelming. We dive into why 5th grade begins with syllables, sounds, and decoding before introducing vocabulary, how spelling rules are i...

That sinking feeling when something doesn’t work out the way you pictured it can hit hard, especially in teaching. You plan the lesson, you see it in your head, you walk in ready, and then the room goes quiet in the worst way. Today we’re sharing a Monday Mindset that starts with a personal story of unmet expectations and turns it into a practical tool you can use all year long in your middle scho...

Memorising vocabulary lists can look like “rigor,” but we’ve all watched it evaporate the moment the quiz ends. We want word learning that transfers into real reading and real writing, so we brought back our curriculum writer and word study specialist Pat to walk through what actually makes vocabulary instruction stick for middle school ELA students. We dig into the heart of word study: teaching w...

Another Monday Mindset today! We talk about a small but powerful gratitude practice that fits into real teacher life, plus the positive psychology research that explains why it works. A statistic shared from Happify highlights how a one-time act of thoughtful gratitude can create an immediate 10% increase in happiness and a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms, while also reminding us that the ben...

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, We start with Genevieve’s non-negotiable: teach a writing and thinking framework first. When students learn how to make a claim, back it with evidence, and justify their reasoning, they stop starting from scratch in every unit. That same structure carries into discussions, constructed responses, and essays, whether the text comes from you...

Another inspiring Monday Mindset eipisode,  We walk into a new school year with fresh notebooks, a new seating chart, and a quiet hope that this year will finally feel lighter, only to realize a few weeks later that the stress feels familiar. If you’re a middle school ELA teacher who’s tired of waiting for the roster, admin support, or the schedule to magically fix everything, this Monday Mindset...

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode, Grammar shouldn’t live on a worksheet and die on a quiz. We want middle school writers who can actually use conventions, sentence structure, and punctuation to communicate clearly, with purpose, and for a real audience. That’s what drives this part two breakdown of our grammar mini-series: practical, classroom-ready moves that make gramma...

We start August with a Monday Mindset that pulls the focus back where it belongs, on you as a human being with limited energy. We walk through a simple but uncomfortable question: who got the best of you last year, and who got the scraps? From there, we reframe energy as a finite resource and talk about why “self care” is not the point. The point is protecting what refills you, so you can be more...

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're tackling one of the most common classroom frustrations: teaching grammar in a way that actually sticks. We discuss why students often forget grammar rules when it comes time to write and share a simple three-part framework that helps them understand, practice, and apply grammar with confidence. If you're looking for a more...

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're talking all about bell ringers—and why so many of them end up feeling like busy work instead of meaningful learning. Curriculum writer Pat shares a simple weekly framework that helps students build reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skills in just the first few minutes of class.  You'll also learn how to plan purpos...

What if the only thing standing between you and a productive week is waiting until you "feel like it"? This Monday Mindset episode is a reminder that your mood doesn't get to dictate your movement . We talk about why motivation is unreliable, how action creates momentum, and share a simple challenge to help you stop procrastinating and start making progress—just five minutes at a ti...

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're talking about one of the biggest challenges in teaching literary analysis: helping students write strong evidence-based responses before they tackle a full essay. You'll learn how a simple mini Response to Literature routine can strengthen students' claims, evidence, and justification throughout an entire novel unit—m...