data:blog.metaDescription
As part of our twilight INSET programme this year I am delivering a CPD session on marking. It’s a great opportunity to bring together lots of ideas from lots of superb bloggers, teachers and…
There are different ways to differentiate instruction. Which is the best one for math teachers? Which will have the best impact on your students?
Fun and engaging grammar games for your secondary ELA classroom! These grammar games will get your students collaborating, moving, and discussing those critical sentence structure and grammar skills! Bring fun to grammar instruction!
I don't know about you, but the new school year is in full swing, and things are crazy around here (stacks of papers to grade, keeping my son on track with
Filler Activities for ELA (blog post) What can you do with five extra minutes in secondary ELA? Here are a few ideas to engage students until the bell.
Fun and engaging grammar games for your secondary ELA classroom! These grammar games will get your students collaborating, moving, and discussing those critical sentence structure and grammar skills! Bring fun to grammar instruction!
Students learn in a variety of ways. Teaching English with hands-on activities can help language students learn and practice English vocabulary, grammar, concepts, and ideas. Here are six hands-on activities and games for teaching English + illustrations
This post shares tips and strategies for teaching different learning styles to meet the needs of all learners.
Teaching and learning research; trial and error; participation in studies; experience of teaching and observing teachers over the past 25 years.
Printable classroom bingo game to encourage students to engage and socialize on their first day of school with their new classmates! Bingo cards are a great resource and fun classroom activity for ice breaking and interacting Teaching, Classroom management, educational game, printable kids bingo, For elementary to secondary school. Provided in colour and in black and white.
This study guide is a must have reference when teaching and reviewing for the Texas STARR Algebra I End of Course Exam or any Algebra I EOC. I created this product after working with average students and special populations. I address the most frequent areas of confusion and difficulty. I added, cha...
Lately, I have been reading Sonia White’s Designing Defensible Programs for Gifted Secondary School Learners, and I have been inspired so much from her book. In one of the chapters I read abo…
Looking for a way to get students to have fun learning new words AND remember them longer? Try these brain-based vocabulary activities.
Visit the post for more.
Contents of President Abraham Lincoln's pockets on the night of his assassination. Contents of Abraham Lincoln's Pockets on the Night ...
Learn about Transcription and Translation in this fun coloring assignment. Explore the mRNA, DNA, and the ribosome!
You have so much good stuff to share, but to get anyone to actually look at it, you need to give it some polish.
These differentiation strategies in the classroom are perfect for middle school and high school students. I use these ideas in secondary math, but they would even work in elementary.
Wondering how to teach vocabulary effectively and meaningfully in secondary classrooms? Try these activities, strategies, and approaches if you're interested in upping your vocabulary game. #vocabularyactivities #highschoolela
For students, MLA format can feel like another rigid set of rules for writing with reasons unknown. For teachers, it can be tear-your-hair-out frustrating to
Hands-on and engaging activities help students learn and remember important concepts and key ideas. One way to get students actively engaged in learning is to use sticky notes in the classroom. Here’s a list of seven ways to use sticky notes in the classroom and what to do with the sticky notes at the end of the lesson. 1. Book flags for close reading and novel study I cut up sticky notes in thirds and distribute them to my students to use as book flags for when we read novels as a class. As we read the novel, I encourage students to write notes on the sticky notes and to jot down any important ideas. Since the novels we read in class are checked out from the school library, this is a way that I can model and teach text annotation and active reading to my students without destroying school property. For longer sections of text or after you finish a chapter, you can provide students with larger sticky notes. Instruct students to write a brief summary of the text on the note and then place the note in the book so that it flags the end of the chapter. This will help students remember what they read. 2. Collaborative Brainstorming and Gallery Walks Sticky notes are great for collaborative brainstorming activities and gallery walk exercises. Students participate in these activities by writing information on the sticky note and then posting the notes on chart paper or the whiteboard. This can be done as a jigsaw activity where students in different groups complete various aspects of an activity and then share their findings with the rest of the class. 3. Peer Editing For however many papers you would like your students to peer edit, provide them with that many sticky notes. For each paper that students peer edit, I have them write what the author of the paper did well on the front of the sticky note and how he or she can improve the paper on the back of the sticky note. Once they are done with that essay, they place the sticky note on the back of the paper and move on to their next peer editing task. This activity provides students with positive feedback and constructive criticism on how to improve their papers. 4. Literary Analysis Using sticky notes for literary analysis is a fun way to closely read fiction and gain a deeper understanding of the text. Whenever I use sticky notes for literary analysis, I only focus on one or two literary elements at a time. I have my students draw a picture of the literary element or device on the top of the note, write a supporting quote underneath the drawing, and explain the significance of the device underneath the note. I use this same method with this Sticky Note Literary Analysis Unit and Literary Analysis Mini Flip Book. Also, you can check out my post about 15 literary analysis questions you can ask your students. If you would like to try using sticky notes for literary analysis with your students, download this FREE ORGANIZER! 5. Exit Ticket One fun and easy way to use sticky notes in the classroom is to use them as an exit slip or a ticket out the door. I hand each student a sticky note and have them write their names and the answer to a question on the note. As they leave class for the day, the students place the notes on the door. 6. Class Survey I recently used sticky notes with my seniors to get their opinion about which rhetorical appeal was most effective in the speech we were analyzing. I gave each student a sticky note and had them answer the question before posting the note on the board in its designated area. Once we were done with the task, I had my students look at the results and discuss them as a class. 7. Multiple Close Readings When I told my seniors that they were going to read an article four different times, they looked at me as if I was a space alien. They were reluctant to believe that they would gain any additional information or insight from subsequent reads. After my students read the article once for understanding, I then had them read it three more times, each time analyzing the article for something specific: good arguments the author made, weak points in the author’s arguments, and the author’s use of emotionally-charged words. I had my students document their findings on a different sticky note each time they read the text. Once the exercise was complete, they were surprised to see just how much they gained and how differently they read the article each time by looking at it through a different lens. Also, here are some close reading strategies to use in the classroom that really work! What Do I Do with These Notes? Once my students are done with the sticky notes, I always have a difficult time tossing the then in the trash. Instead of throwing the notes away, I take pictures of the completed project and post the pictures onto a Padlet. A Padlet is similar to an online bulletin board that can be posted on Google Classroom. Posting the sticky note work on Padlet and Google Classroom is especially helpful if students are absent or if you wish to return to the content later on in the year. Looking for more ways to incorporate sticky notes in the classroom? Check out these ideas and resources! Sticky Note Review Game by Addie Williams Novel Scavenger Hunt by The SuperHERO Teacher Chart Paper, Post-Its, and Formative Assessments by Room 213 Close Reading and Student Accountability by Room 213
As someone who graduated in the very early 2000s, I’ve seen the dynamic shift in educational practices and pedagogical strategies. The high school classrooms
Hands-on and engaging activities help students learn and remember important concepts and key ideas. One way to get students actively engaged in learning is to use sticky notes in the classroom. Here’s a list of seven ways to use sticky notes in the classroom and what to do with the sticky notes at the end of the lesson. 1. Book flags for close reading and novel study I cut up sticky notes in thirds and distribute them to my students to use as book flags for when we read novels as a class. As we read the novel, I encourage students to write notes on the sticky notes and to jot down any important ideas. Since the novels we read in class are checked out from the school library, this is a way that I can model and teach text annotation and active reading to my students without destroying school property. For longer sections of text or after you finish a chapter, you can provide students with larger sticky notes. Instruct students to write a brief summary of the text on the note and then place the note in the book so that it flags the end of the chapter. This will help students remember what they read. 2. Collaborative Brainstorming and Gallery Walks Sticky notes are great for collaborative brainstorming activities and gallery walk exercises. Students participate in these activities by writing information on the sticky note and then posting the notes on chart paper or the whiteboard. This can be done as a jigsaw activity where students in different groups complete various aspects of an activity and then share their findings with the rest of the class. 3. Peer Editing For however many papers you would like your students to peer edit, provide them with that many sticky notes. For each paper that students peer edit, I have them write what the author of the paper did well on the front of the sticky note and how he or she can improve the paper on the back of the sticky note. Once they are done with that essay, they place the sticky note on the back of the paper and move on to their next peer editing task. This activity provides students with positive feedback and constructive criticism on how to improve their papers. 4. Literary Analysis Using sticky notes for literary analysis is a fun way to closely read fiction and gain a deeper understanding of the text. Whenever I use sticky notes for literary analysis, I only focus on one or two literary elements at a time. I have my students draw a picture of the literary element or device on the top of the note, write a supporting quote underneath the drawing, and explain the significance of the device underneath the note. I use this same method with this Sticky Note Literary Analysis Unit and Literary Analysis Mini Flip Book. Also, you can check out my post about 15 literary analysis questions you can ask your students. If you would like to try using sticky notes for literary analysis with your students, download this FREE ORGANIZER! 5. Exit Ticket One fun and easy way to use sticky notes in the classroom is to use them as an exit slip or a ticket out the door. I hand each student a sticky note and have them write their names and the answer to a question on the note. As they leave class for the day, the students place the notes on the door. 6. Class Survey I recently used sticky notes with my seniors to get their opinion about which rhetorical appeal was most effective in the speech we were analyzing. I gave each student a sticky note and had them answer the question before posting the note on the board in its designated area. Once we were done with the task, I had my students look at the results and discuss them as a class. 7. Multiple Close Readings When I told my seniors that they were going to read an article four different times, they looked at me as if I was a space alien. They were reluctant to believe that they would gain any additional information or insight from subsequent reads. After my students read the article once for understanding, I then had them read it three more times, each time analyzing the article for something specific: good arguments the author made, weak points in the author’s arguments, and the author’s use of emotionally-charged words. I had my students document their findings on a different sticky note each time they read the text. Once the exercise was complete, they were surprised to see just how much they gained and how differently they read the article each time by looking at it through a different lens. Also, here are some close reading strategies to use in the classroom that really work! What Do I Do with These Notes? Once my students are done with the sticky notes, I always have a difficult time tossing the then in the trash. Instead of throwing the notes away, I take pictures of the completed project and post the pictures onto a Padlet. A Padlet is similar to an online bulletin board that can be posted on Google Classroom. Posting the sticky note work on Padlet and Google Classroom is especially helpful if students are absent or if you wish to return to the content later on in the year. Looking for more ways to incorporate sticky notes in the classroom? Check out these ideas and resources! Sticky Note Review Game by Addie Williams Novel Scavenger Hunt by The SuperHERO Teacher Chart Paper, Post-Its, and Formative Assessments by Room 213 Close Reading and Student Accountability by Room 213
Teaching characterization during a novel study or short story unit? Here are 5 ideas to help you teach students how characters are developed, how we learn about characters and more!
Have you been wanting to try stations in your Secondary ELA classroom but aren't sure where to start? Read through this quick post where we share 8 station ideas and how to use them with your ELA students.
When you have a problem to solve, but you just can't find a way to tackle it, brainstorming can help you find an innovative solution. These techniques are easy to learn and apply.
With so much content to cover in the middle school ELA and high school classroom, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Here is a look at my favorite ELA
Studying CAN be taught. Learn how retrieval practice, interleaving, elaboration, and other research-based study strategies can help your students learn better.
With so much content to cover in the middle school ELA and high school classroom, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Here is a look at my favorite ELA
How do you use rubrics in the secondary ELA classroom? Implement them? Modify them? Dozens of methods for supporting students with rubrics exist. In this post,
Society has some less-than-desirable thing to say about our students. In the news and on social media, they are sometimes referred to as the tide-pod
While the importance of classic novels is undisputed, sometimes it is good to switch up the literature you teach and include more than the canon in your
Podcasts are a great tool to use in the secondary ELA classroom to target listening and comprehension skills. If you don't know where to start, you can always start your students with the Serial Podcast. This post contains a list of 12 podcasts to engage secondary students. From The Donnor Party
As part of our twilight INSET programme this year I am delivering a CPD session on marking. It’s a great opportunity to bring together lots of ideas from lots of superb bloggers, teachers and…
The novel is often at the center of our ELA curriculum. This #2ndaryELA Twitter chat was all about teaching novels at the secondary level. Middle school and high school English Language Arts teachers discussed the novels they teach at different grade levels. Teachers also shared ideas for activities and other valuable resources. Read through the chat for ideas to implement in your own classroom.
As educators, we know how critical reflection is to the learning process. Getting students to reflect- deeply and meaningfully- is often one of the most challenging lessons we teach. I have found that both my middle school and high school students will often scoff at these reflection activities, pro
Wondering how to teach vocabulary effectively and meaningfully in secondary classrooms? Try these activities, strategies, and approaches if you're interested in upping your vocabulary game. #vocabularyactivities #highschoolela
By The Daring English Teacher Assigning dialectical journals to your students is a sure-fire way to get them to interact with the text on a deeper level. Additionally, dialectical journals are a great addition to any novel study. When students know they will need to record and analyze meaningful quotes, they read the text more closely. Traditionally, dialectical journals are double-entry journal responses where a student writes a quote from the book on the left-hand side and then reacts and analyzes the quote on the right-hand side. However, in today’s era of online study guides, it is all too easy for students to look up a quote and its corresponding analysis instead of authentically engaging with the text. One of my favorite ways to have students complete dialectical journal entries while also dissuading them from looking on the Internet for answers is to require students to connect their dialectical journal entries to a predetermined concept. Usually, when I do this in my classroom, I think about my final project and goal for teaching the novel. From there, I select several big-picture concepts that thematically relate to the plot. In doing so, my students keep a detailed journal filled with meaningful quotes as they read that they will be able to use as evidence for the final essay once we finish the book. When I use this strategy for my dialectical journal assignments, I require three distinct components for their entries: a correctly cited quote, an insightful explanation that includes literary analysis, and a connection to the concept. For the quote, I typically allow the kids to select any quote they like. However, I instruct them that the quote must be complete and that it must be one that they think is important. I require that my students place quotation marks around the quote and that they cite it in MLA Format. Citing the quote is especially helpful because then students know where to find the quote again. For the explanation, I encourage students to include a thorough explanation as well as analysis. To get students thinking, I first prompt them with some questions: What is happening in the quote and why is it important? How does this quote move the plot along or advance the conflict? Does this quote relate to another part of the test? What symbolic or figurative meaning does this quote include and what does it mean? By prompting students with these questions, I find that I am more likely to receive higher quality analysis from my students. For the final part of the dialectical journal entry, I require my students to connect the quote they chose to one of the class concepts we are studying. Before we even begin reading the novel, we discuss these concepts as a class. If time permits, I introduce these concepts to my students with one-day poster projects. I added this third component to my dialectical journal entries to combat plagiarism from online sites. It is so easy for students to look up quotes and their corresponding analysis for a dialectical journal entry; however, this connection to a class concept component helps focus students on finding their own quotes. Here is a list of concepts to use with some literature in your classroom. Romeo and Juliet: Love (and the power of love), Hate, Family, Violence (and the causes of violence), Foolishness, Impulsivity, Tragedy, and Mortality. Of Mice and Men: The American Dream, Friendship, Prejudice, Companionship, Discrimination, Dreams, Isolation, Justice, and Women in Society Animal Farm: Parallels to the Soviet Union, Socialist ideas, Classes, Leadership, Corruption, Lies and deceit, Violence, Pride, Religion. Lord of the Flies: Civilization, Savagery, Leadership, Order, Intelligence, Fear, Innocence, Loss of Innocence, War. Night: Inhumanity, Losing faith in God, Tradition, Religion, Mortality, Lies and deceit, Night, Human rights, Torture, Silence, Indifference. To help students write more analytical dialectical journals, I've created this FREE Dialectical Journal Template. This template includes both color and black-and-white versions of two different templates: one template follows a linear pattern, and the other follows a traditional double-sided journal entry pattern. More great dialectical journal and literary analysis ideas: Teaching the Process for Literary Analysis by Room 213 Creative Reading Task Cards by Nouvell ELA Quote Analysis and Poster Project by Secondary Sara
Hands-on and engaging activities help students learn and remember important concepts and key ideas. One way to get students actively engaged in learning is to use sticky notes in the classroom. Here’s a list of seven ways to use sticky notes in the classroom and what to do with the sticky notes at the end of the lesson. 1. Book flags for close reading and novel study I cut up sticky notes in thirds and distribute them to my students to use as book flags for when we read novels as a class. As we read the novel, I encourage students to write notes on the sticky notes and to jot down any important ideas. Since the novels we read in class are checked out from the school library, this is a way that I can model and teach text annotation and active reading to my students without destroying school property. For longer sections of text or after you finish a chapter, you can provide students with larger sticky notes. Instruct students to write a brief summary of the text on the note and then place the note in the book so that it flags the end of the chapter. This will help students remember what they read. 2. Collaborative Brainstorming and Gallery Walks Sticky notes are great for collaborative brainstorming activities and gallery walk exercises. Students participate in these activities by writing information on the sticky note and then posting the notes on chart paper or the whiteboard. This can be done as a jigsaw activity where students in different groups complete various aspects of an activity and then share their findings with the rest of the class. 3. Peer Editing For however many papers you would like your students to peer edit, provide them with that many sticky notes. For each paper that students peer edit, I have them write what the author of the paper did well on the front of the sticky note and how he or she can improve the paper on the back of the sticky note. Once they are done with that essay, they place the sticky note on the back of the paper and move on to their next peer editing task. This activity provides students with positive feedback and constructive criticism on how to improve their papers. 4. Literary Analysis Using sticky notes for literary analysis is a fun way to closely read fiction and gain a deeper understanding of the text. Whenever I use sticky notes for literary analysis, I only focus on one or two literary elements at a time. I have my students draw a picture of the literary element or device on the top of the note, write a supporting quote underneath the drawing, and explain the significance of the device underneath the note. I use this same method with this Sticky Note Literary Analysis Unit and Literary Analysis Mini Flip Book. Also, you can check out my post about 15 literary analysis questions you can ask your students. If you would like to try using sticky notes for literary analysis with your students, download this FREE ORGANIZER! 5. Exit Ticket One fun and easy way to use sticky notes in the classroom is to use them as an exit slip or a ticket out the door. I hand each student a sticky note and have them write their names and the answer to a question on the note. As they leave class for the day, the students place the notes on the door. 6. Class Survey I recently used sticky notes with my seniors to get their opinion about which rhetorical appeal was most effective in the speech we were analyzing. I gave each student a sticky note and had them answer the question before posting the note on the board in its designated area. Once we were done with the task, I had my students look at the results and discuss them as a class. 7. Multiple Close Readings When I told my seniors that they were going to read an article four different times, they looked at me as if I was a space alien. They were reluctant to believe that they would gain any additional information or insight from subsequent reads. After my students read the article once for understanding, I then had them read it three more times, each time analyzing the article for something specific: good arguments the author made, weak points in the author’s arguments, and the author’s use of emotionally-charged words. I had my students document their findings on a different sticky note each time they read the text. Once the exercise was complete, they were surprised to see just how much they gained and how differently they read the article each time by looking at it through a different lens. Also, here are some close reading strategies to use in the classroom that really work! What Do I Do with These Notes? Once my students are done with the sticky notes, I always have a difficult time tossing the then in the trash. Instead of throwing the notes away, I take pictures of the completed project and post the pictures onto a Padlet. A Padlet is similar to an online bulletin board that can be posted on Google Classroom. Posting the sticky note work on Padlet and Google Classroom is especially helpful if students are absent or if you wish to return to the content later on in the year. Looking for more ways to incorporate sticky notes in the classroom? Check out these ideas and resources! Sticky Note Review Game by Addie Williams Novel Scavenger Hunt by The SuperHERO Teacher Chart Paper, Post-Its, and Formative Assessments by Room 213 Close Reading and Student Accountability by Room 213
Reading a whole novel over the course of a few weeks can leave students drained and exhausted. By the time students complete the book and go to take the final exam or quiz over the book’s contents, they may have forgotten some essential elements. If this sounds familiar, you will love these novel review activities! Take the time to review each novel with your class before assigning the final test. When I plan my schedule, I usually have students take the test after they turn in their essays. Not only does this help students review, but it also gives me a class day to grade essays! Here are four critical topics to cover in your class novel review.
With a new school year upon us, it’s time to re-energize your teaching practices with some new routines and resources. Here are ten teaching resources and
