Behavioral Immaturity

Behavioral Immaturity in the Middle School Classroom

You feel it, I feel it, we all feel it: group dynamics are different now. I started this article with a rather long lament about it. We don’t have as much time to teach content now that social-emotional needs prevail, the skill disparity is growing, parents aren’t as supportive, resilience has...

Reporter holds out microphone for an interview

Interview with a Character (ELA Activity)

There are so many more interesting methods to writing a character analysis than writing an analysis paragraph. Oftentimes, English or language arts teachers forget that there is creativity in language and we should embrace it while also staying on track to grade based on our standards or curriculum...

8 books

8 "Herstory" Books You Need to Read

I know sometimes it can be a struggle to get kids excited about nonfiction. Even I find myself more drawn to the escapism of fiction. But our world is fascinating and complex and I find that the only way to fully understand it is by engaging with nonfiction. 

ELA Activity: 10-Song Playlist

As a high school language arts teacher, I’m always trying to provide my students with alternate but equal assessments that aren’t always an essay. It’s true—you can totally assess a set of skills using claim, textual evidence, and reasoning in creative ways. This 10-song playlist project is one...

animated clouds

Word Clouds for Understanding Word Choice

Student writers—especially reluctant ones—often struggle with choosing the most fitting words to create an appropriate tone or mood in their writing. As a result, their essays end up with a lot of words like “nice” or “things” or “people.” These words are fine (another less-than-stellar word), but...