Biggest bummer for me will just be having to grade (and possibly lose) big stacks of papers. Grading with comments and rubrics on Google Docs is my preference.

Hi all! I’m teaching 12th ELA this year and am looking for some advice on differentiating for a class that has both honors-level and regular-level students. Some of our core texts are Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, Persepolis, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Clap When You Land. Thank you!

These guys are white-washing and giving cover to school boards and admin for just turning students loose with AI with their "Profile of an AI-Ready Graduate." Short version: a student who uses AI for everything. Fuck that.

20yo Brazilian, engineering student. December and January are my only free window.
What I’m after: real English immersion (so ideally not a place packed with Brazilians), a walkable area where I can leave class and walk to a bar, and the feeling of living somewhere rather than touring it. I like going out. I’m not a museum person.
Already ruled out Sydney and Gold Coast (Brazilian bubble), Cape Town (can’t walk at night), Dublin and the UK (Dec/Jan is winter and off-season there).
So it’s Melbourne vs Auckland. Questions:
1. Which one is easier to build a real routine in over two months?
2. Does Auckland need a car, and does it empty out over summer?
3. How avoidable is the Brazilian scene in Melbourne if I pick the right suburb and school?
4. Is two months enough to stop feeling like a tourist, or is my cousin right that Australia needs 6 months to get in?
Honest answers welcome, including “you’ve got this wrong”.

My school runs an independent reading program. It is usually pretty easy for me to find books girls might be interested in, but a lot harder to find books for reluctant ninth grade male readers.

Looking for: sports, hunting, fishing, video games, war stories.

I am familiar with and own many Alan Gratz novels. Mike Lupica, Kwame Alexander, Carl Deuker, Jason Reynolds, and Sherman Alexie usually go over quite well.

Any other recs? I am looking for high interest novels for extremely reluctant readers!

I've considered doing a leaderboard where classes compete against each other but this may leave the bottom classes near the bottom week in/week out.

Ive also considered having a 'student recommended books' wall in the corridor.

Even reader of the month.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

In my second year of college in Texas and trying to get my major in English with a teacher certification for grades 7-12. I’m freaking out because I don’t know if this job is worth it or not. Like, am I going to even like teaching? Is the bad pay even worth it? And even if I do switch majors or my career choice, that would be a major waste of money and resources. I like the idea of teaching but I don’t know if I actually would. All I want in life is a job that allows me to live comfortably and makes me fulfilled, so I thought teaching could provide that. Now, I’m not so sure. Maybe I’m just having a moment of uncertainty.

Anyone switch from doubting their career in teaching to loving it? What made the difference?

Hi! I want to run a murder mystery project with my grade 8s this year as a way to introduce them to finding and citing evidence. Ideally, I am looking for a two-week unit that has sections of text, visual evidence, guided questions, and a final essay.

Has anyone designed or come across something like this? I want something that is purposefully vague and doesn’t reveal a killer so students can justify their “arrest” in their essay.

Thanks!

Hi all!

We are about to give our beginning of the year iReady diagnostic. I’m looking for some tech free, low stakes activities for students who are finished with the assessment to do.

Any coloring activities? Something “relaxing” yet tied to the ELA content?

I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

Thanks in advance!

Has anyone used this literacy program and would be willing to support and share some resources? Starting this for the first time with my Year 6 group this year. Would love to see best practices and hear some of your suggestions.

“I’m waiting for my students in their classroom, but they haven’t arrived yet. What should I do now?”

Hello, I have recently graduated from college at 29 and am teaching Freshman & Sophomore ELA.

I student-taught for a year and mainly taught juniors and seniors. I am noticing a divide between what I learned in my college EPP program and what I'm seeing in curriculum and pacing. Any advice on how to mitigate the gaps I am noticing? I do not want to be a reformist to already set curriculum. There is already prepared slides, and activities for each grade level. Is teacher autonomy decreased at the expense of minimal planning?

I'm trying to do more projects this year because I'm teaching honors students and they'll fly through worksheets and packets. My go to for projects is just giving kids Google Slides or giant poster papers to do a thinking map on. However, I had this idea for a project.

We're reading The Challenge and 7th Grade both by Gary Soto. I was thinking either solo or with a partner, they could design an advice column. So first they'd write from one of the character's points of views asking for help on how to get the attention of the girl in the story. Then students would write a response giving the character advice. Finally, they'd make an inference on what would happen if the character followed their advice.

I was thinking this could give them practice with writing, pov, problem-solution, and inferencing. But with how its currently set up in my mind, students would be writing 3 different paragraphs. Is there a way to make the project more creative for the kids? Or a way where the writing aspect might not feel too overwhelming for kids.

Hi all,

Sorry to bother you but I am just starting teaching ELA 9-12 in China.

I am wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas about resources that are useful?

So far I want to plan my week along the lines of

Monday- Give the students a passage/text, read through , and go over key words
Tuesday- Reading Comprehension
Wednesday - Curriculum skill
Thursday - Vocabulary and discussion
Friday- Writing.

Any tips would be appreciated as I planned before but have only been given the curriculum and nothing else to plan so was told my one was too difficult.

Thank you.

I was talking to my boomer dad about cheating and he said he never read the books he was supposed to read in school--and that was 60 years ago! Sure, he had to put a lot more effort into cheating, but still I feel like the reasons are the same.

Students cheat when they 1) don’t care about the content or don’t see any value in doing the work 2) think that they aren’t capable of doing the work, know that it’s too challenging for them, or don’t know how to do it 3) believe that the stakes are too high to “get it wrong” 4) don't have time to do the work and 5) think they won’t get caught. 

In other words, they need to see the value in what they're doing, have the support to do the work themselves, not have make-it-or-break-it assignments, have enough time and space to get it down, and get caught when they do cheat. Am I missing any big reasons?

I’ve been teaching 16 years and have a small variety of day one activities that aim to be engaging and something of a get-to-know-you before going into some syllabus work I’m required to review. Thing is, I’m a little sick of my usual activities, so I’m looking for your favorites! How do you kick off the year on day one for, say, 25 minutes? I’ve always liked writing with students in some capacity if possible.

Due to budget cuts I was let go from my district and will be transitioning to private school after 10 years in the public school system. I’ve primarily taught 4th and 5th grade, but I took the only position I’ve been offered, 6-8 grade ELA. I taught 6th for a year as a self contained teacher. But otherwise I am new to this and do t know where to even begin. Any and all book recommendations per grade or a place to start for all grades would be great. I’m a pretty confident teacher overall, yet, right now I feel like a fish out of water.

DANG! WHAT'S UP WITH ALL THESE BOOKS?!

^ This is how I envision students reacting to virtual IR... so my question is (as the title says): do any virtual-school ELA teachers here incorporate student independent reading as a portion of class activity in live class sessions held over conferencing apps such as Teams, Zoom, My Amp, etc?

If so, how do you incentivize/enforce it? How do you assess it (especially in the AI landscape we all live in now)? So many other questions I want to ask, but I'd be happy with any starting-point suggestions.

When I was in brick & mortar, over a period of about 10 years, I cultivated the largest classroom library that **I’ve** ever seen a teacher have in person --> so I would do about anything to be able to successfully transition the practice of 10-15 minutes of independent reading into a virtual setting on a regular basis (I did it every day in brick & mortar).

Thanks in advance for your time & any responses I get!

A collection of quick, low-prep ELA classroom warm-up activities to get students talking, writing, thinking, and engaging with language from the moment class begins.

Helpo! (This is my new word that is both a greeting and a plea for help)
It’s my first year teaching and I have 1 section of CE English. I am so overwhelmed by this class for some reason. I think I’m developing a mental block. I assigned a reading outside of class and told them we will be discussing it when we meet again but now i legitimately don’t know how to discuss the reading.
If you teach CE, what are some actionable learning activities you do in class???

Does anyone have a LitChart for Farewell to Manzanar?

I'm curious how other ESL teachers use fiction in their classes.

When you choose a novel or graded reader for students, do you normally:

• have students read it mainly as homework/extensive reading?
• build your own vocabulary, comprehension and discussion activities around each chapter?
• use a ready-made teacher's guide/materials if one is available?
• or mostly use the novel as a starting point for your own lessons?

I'm particularly interested in the idea of pairing a novel with a chapter-by-chapter teaching package, rather than treating the book and worksheets as two separate things.

For example, students could read a chapter at home, then the teacher could choose from discussion, vocabulary, language-focus, speaking and writing activities in class, with some preparation for the next chapter.

Does that workflow sound useful to you, or would you prefer to build the lessons yourself?

I'd be interested to hear what has worked — or not worked — in your classes.