Writing

Lined up, cube-shaped beads with letters on them that spell

ELA: Beyond Sentence Writing for Vocab Comprehension

Teaching vocabulary—integrated in a text or in isolation—can be tricky when it comes to thinking of engaging ways to create meaning. We fall back on the old “write a sentence that shows the meaning of the word” assignment. But we all know that when students are developing an understanding of a...

ELA Activity: Eavesdropping Poetry

In this creative writing activity, secondary ELA students will use what they overhear in the hallways to write poems! Download the lesson template and hear from ELA teacher Jennifer Nash how she implemented this activity in her classroom!

ELA: Instagram Activity for Learning Vocabulary

For this activity, students are tasked with creating an Instagram post imagining that their assigned vocabulary word was a person posting on social media. All aspects of the post should relate to the meaning of the vocabulary word. It is more than okay if more than one student is assigned the same...

Text: Download Tips; Image: Man grading paper

My Red Pen Is Dusty, and I’m Glad

Over the course of my career as a middle school ELA teacher, I’ve graded more writing pieces than I can count. I’ve graded late into the night, on plane trips and car rides, while watching volleyball practices, and on my lunch breaks. If you’re a teacher, you’ve been there. You relate.