We all want our students to be able to identify, understand, and use figurative language. Lucky for us, YouTube offers an array of videos for teaching figurative language that students will appreciate! I love incorporating video clips into mini-lessons, especially when I can pause the videos to have discussion. A teaching video with fun visuals can work well to reinforce terms and definitions. Music videos and movie shorts always…
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Middle School English
10 End-of-the-Year Survival Tips for English Teachers
The end of the year can be an exciting time for both teachers and students! Who doesn’t look forward to summer break, right? But with that anticipation sometimes comes the question How can I keep my students focused on learning? In class, it takes a little more to hold their attention. Have you noticed grades have a tendency to drop off for students late in the year? And besides keeping…
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How to Make Test Prep Simple, Quick, and Effective
Sometimes I hear teachers say, “I don’t do much test prep with my kids because we practice those skills all year long.” Well, that would be fantastic except for the fact that oftentimes our middle school students don’t retain the information we teach. On top of that, the state assessments, without a doubt, have a history of containing confusing and sometimes tricky content. So even though we’re embedding our standards…
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