Ela writing

As middle school ELA teachers, we all want to work to empower our young writers. They often come to us a little shaky, a little unsure. Teaching students--SHOWING THEM--that writing is a process can help middle school writers to build confidence and skill. Ultimately, our job as ELA teachers is not to teach students to scaffold and support students to write a singular essay. Our job is to give students the tools to become WRITERS beyond our classrooms. That means giving students the tools to…

Use Mentor Sentences in your ELA middle school classroom to improve student writing! Find practical ideas to teach writing skills.

Sentence Starters and Transitions Anchor Chart for Informational Writing! Helps Grade 1-3 students transition from their topic sentence, to points, facts, and closing. Great support for independent writing.

Create a classroom of writers with these fun writing activities for middle school students! There's something for everyone!

Expanding Sentences Anchor Chart and Mini-Lesson

When it comes to teaching, one of the most beneficial things I try to do for all of my students in every lesson is provide layers of differentiation and scaffolding so that I reach as many kids as I can. When it comes to teaching writing, one way I scaffold instruction comes in the form of sentence frames. But first, an anecdote. I’ll never forget my first teaching job. It was a long-term substitute position teaching ninth grade English to students who were severely behind grade-level. I was…

Simplify writing instruction! Writing Tip for the Secondary ELA Teacher: When teaching writing in middle school and high school, break it down and simplify it. This writing strategy will help students become stronger writers by focusing on essential skills one at a time. Teaching Writing | Teaching Tip | Teaching Writing Tip | Middle School Writing | High School Writing | Writing Activities for Secondary ELA | Writing Instruction

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about the benefits of assigning a collaborative writing assignment in the high school English and middle school ELA

How I Turned Writing-Phobic Students into Writing Machines (or How Ralph Fletcher Rocked My World) - So what exactly is a Writer's Notebook? Ralph Fletcher describes it this way: “A Writer’s Notebook is a blank book where a writer can engage in the fun, often messy job of being a writer – practicing, listening, playing with language, gathering images and insights and ideas. The purpose of such a notebook is to nourish the writer.”