teaching
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Teaching Like Normal (Even Though It’s Test Prep Season)
The Moment I Realized Teaching Was About to Stop I’ve never really done test prep. It’s not because I don’t care about the state exams. It’s just that my philosophy has always kind of been, if the students are doing hard work (reading challenging texts, analyzing syntax, wrestling with figurative language… you know things that… Continue reading
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10 Ways Wipebooks Transform Small-Group Work in Secondary ELA
The Wipebook Reusable Flipchart is one of the most used supplies in my classroom! If you’ve heard of them or seen them in action, you know how cool they are… if you don’t know them, well, they’re pretty amazing. Imagine one of your old-school paper flip charts but as a dry-erase. They are powerful tools… Continue reading
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Teaching Romeo and Juliet Through a Research Lens
In case you missed it, I have moved to a 9th grade classroom after over a decade in middle school. I have been loving the new texts that I get to help students understand but Shakespeare presents an interesting challenge. Besides the fact that it is a completely different English language than what we currently… Continue reading
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The Princess Bride Is the Perfect Movie for Any ELA Classroom
You know those days when you just really need to grade a bunch of stuff, get the children to stop talking for a minute, or straight up veg-out for a little while…but you also can’t justify losing instructional time? Let me tell you why The Princess Bride is the absolute best thing in the whole… Continue reading
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A Movie Marathon in ELA: Standards-Based Fun for the Weeks Before Break
The weeks before Thanksgiving (and again before winter break) can feel… well, a little chaotic. The students are buzzing, the schedule is off, and let’s be honest… you could use your own breather. But “just showing a movie” in any class is usually a no-go. That’s exactly why a group of secondary ELA teachers and… Continue reading
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Bite-Sized PD for Secondary ELA
My department is tiny. There are only ten of us for grades 6-12. We meet pretty regularly though and I love it. Every time that we meet, we do a little bite-sized PD organized by one of us. This month is my turn to present and I’m really excited about. I’m leading a quick 15–20… Continue reading
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What the Science of Reading Looks Like in a Secondary Classroom
When most people hear “Science of Reading,” they picture phonics charts, decodable readers, and first graders sounding out c-a-t and d-o-g. And while those things are absolutely part of reading development, they don’t reflect the full picture, especially for those of us who work with older students. What if I told you that…. The Science… Continue reading
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Writing to Boost Reading Comprehension
When we think about the Science of Reading, writing doesn’t always come to mind first. But the truth is, writing plays a powerful role in strengthening students’ comprehension—especially when aligned to the same levels we address in Scarborough’s Reading Rope: word recognition and language comprehension. Scarborough’s Reading Rope reminds us that reading comprehension is a… Continue reading
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Top Paragraph Activities for Engaging Students and Building Comprehension
We’re almost at the end of this blog series! We’ve discussed word level comprehension, sentence level decoding and now we’re looking at whole paragraphs. Understanding how paragraphs, or small parts of a text, work together is essential for reading comprehension. Strong topic sentences, logical paragraph order, and effective transition words guide readers through an author’s… Continue reading
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10 Engaging Vocabulary Activities for Stronger Word Knowledge in Secondary ELA
Building strong word knowledge is essential for students’ reading comprehension, writing skills, and overall language development. It is the most foundational part of reading but, often, our students come to us behind. There are absolutely times when interventions are necessary. I have another blog post on what those might look like for your secondary students,… Continue reading
