Choose the ones that fit for your classroom. Great for online teaching as well. It gives students a job to do as classwork that can rotate and take away monotony. Hands-on ELA at it’s best. New ideas for roles. Some great suggestions for struggling students.
Category Archives: close reading
Questioning Stems add on help
Begin with the end in mind. Remember when you are asking higher-order thinking questions regularly in classroom practice and small group reading analysis, be sure to ask questions on your midway, chapter, and end-of-unit test. For example, if the assessment asks the student to infer the author’s purpose in a phrase or word choice, beContinue reading “Questioning Stems add on help”
Literature Circles Choices
Reminder to give students a plethora of choices when choosing the books they will read in reading circles. Treating it like a book club provides excitement and motivation. Diversity in the choices creates a well-rounded year-long year-at-a-glance for students and teachers. The students often can’t narrow it down to one book. This gives them theContinue reading “Literature Circles Choices”
Music and ELA can be taught together
Music teachers can teach poetry in the classroom as easily as an ELA teacher. For example, “America the Beautiful” or “The Star Spangled Banner” were poems before set to music. Take a moment to have students locate rhyme or figurative language before setting the words to the beat. Let your ELA teacher know so theyContinue reading “Music and ELA can be taught together”
ELA and Mathematics Can Be Taught Together
Like Stem and Science Education, using related literature and non-fiction articles can prove great integration of ELA and mathematics and social studies. Take the current disaster of the decade whether it is Hurricane Katrina or earthquakes in Syria, find the statistics of what level the hurricane or earthquake happened, and explain the chart levels toContinue reading “ELA and Mathematics Can Be Taught Together”
ELA and Stem can be taught through non-fiction
Use your favorite news or historical reading sites like Newsela or Commonlit to find related STEM subjects taught by your science or math teacher. Inquire about what is being taught to target specific levels of information that would fit with the teaching partner’s plans. For example, if the Stem or Computer Science teacher uses hamContinue reading “ELA and Stem can be taught through non-fiction”
How do I raise the level of my questioning while teaching online, facilitate, and get grades?
Try having a group analyze a text with this checklist for them to check off as they discuss. It allows students to be in charge of their learning and teachers to facilitate the level of their discussion without reinventing the wheel each and every time they complete a close reading analysis about a text. LiteracyContinue reading “How do I raise the level of my questioning while teaching online, facilitate, and get grades?”
Classic Poetry for elementary grades.
Let’s go from the top. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge. Does that scare you? Nah! Let me show you a section you can pull and teach to upper elementary they will love, be engaged, and be motivated to learn. Lines 71-119 focus on the section of the poem where the mariner shootsContinue reading “Classic Poetry for elementary grades.”
Can I use harder texts to teach younger grades?
Yes, you can. A few tips are needed to get it to be successful. Remember, use classic poems to reach DOK 2 and 3 for higher-order thinking skills. Try using an excerpt instead of a full text. When choosing an excerpt, be careful to cut out a section that has meaning, metaphorical connections, or themeContinue reading “Can I use harder texts to teach younger grades?”
Teaching poetry to young and older students with themes makes it more inviting.
Teaching poems in isolation isn’t always the way to go when teaching students to appreciate great poetry. When teaching poetry, try choosing two or more poems with a similar theme and have students analyze them for comparative or contrasting elements and themes.
ELA On The Move 