6 Ways To Have Fun Teaching Commas

I am one of those teachers who loves teaching grammar, though not for the reason that most teachers love it.

The reason I love teaching grammar is that it is easy to make movement-based, interactive, and accessible to all students. With such short classes, I have to be creative with my "brain breaks." Because so many of my reading and writing activities require such high levels of thought, many of my students view the simple application of grammar rules as a welcome chance to move around, interact, and use their minds for some "light" thinking.

Taking students' descriptive writing from blah to BLAM!--Show, Don't Tell

In a previous post, I discussed having students master theme by writing their own stories designed around a self-chosen theme. But why stop with mastering a reading skill when we can incorporate a writing one as well?

I can't tell you how many stories I have read where the main character was "pretty," "popular," or "smart." No further description needed, to many a middle school mind. If I wasn't to tear my hair out with boredom, my kids needed to learn to "show, not tell."

Meaningful Main Idea Instruction

I try to teach main idea and summary towards the beginning of each school year, because I know that once my students can understand the central ideas of a text, it is much easier to delve deeply into the finer details.

Main idea isn't an easy skill to teach, however, especially once you reach fifth grade and beyond, where the Common Core State Standards require that students find two or more central ideas in a text I can't express how many times I've heard cries of, "What?! There's more than ONE big idea in the text?!"

Like with anything you are teaching, main idea will stick best when it is made meaningful and relevant. The following steps have helped immensely in my quest to bring students towards mastery of this difficult concept.

Make Your Students Want To Use Correct Grammar!

Raise your virtual hand if you have ever had a student over the age of eight years old who still doesn't put capital letters at the beginning of his or her sentences. Every year, I receive countless of these students, along with the students who don't write in complete sentences and the students who don't bother putting any punctuation whatsoever in a paper.

Using Pop Culture To Teach Reading Concepts (Minilesson suggestions included!)

I have been in many classrooms where the introduction to a reading skill consists of copying notes, maybe reading a short story together, and then practice worksheets. While I know the teachers who are creating these lessons are intelligent, creative, and hardworking educators who do many wonderful things in their classrooms once they get past this introductory stage, even I find myself drifting off during these lessons. I can only imagine what this experience is like for students who hate reading and fail to see its relevance to their lives.

To battle this boredom and make introductory lessons more meaningful, I use pop culture to introduce my lessons. Here’s why:

1. It keeps students engaged.

I have been asked if using music videos to introduce theme or a documentary to introduce main idea dilutes students' understanding of the concepts. My response is always to ask if stories that are sung don't have themes that are as important. I think my students' understanding is actually enhanced by using these media, because everyone gets actively engaged in these introductory lessons.

How I Taught My Middle Schoolers The Value Of Everyday Heroism

  Perhaps you've been in that meeting where the principal/district administrator/some other person who is not in a classroom declares that you are going to solve all the problems of middle school by integrating some form of social emotional learning into the classroom. Likely, this was accompanied by some form of internal or external groaning, as you realized that you had one more thing to do in your already over-stretched class.

    This blog is going to focus a lot on how social emotional learning can actually be the basis for an extremely rigorous and fulfilling curriculum. Turns out, that administrator may have been right 😃 Reading, writing, and discussion can lead to better citizenship, more empathy, and just generally better human beings.

    Today's post will not focus on rigorous reading or writing, however, but will again ask students to work on building their discussion skills (see posts about teaching academic discussion skills here and here). One of the first tasks I ask students to do as a community building exercise is to complete and present a Pyramid of Heroism.

A completed Pyramid of Heroism.

ARGH! Absences! Tips and Lessons For Easy, Successful Absences

       I always envy my friends in corporate positions who talk about the doctor's appointment or lunch that they just "ducked out for" (for three hours!). Teaching is not one of those careers where you can "duck out for" anything, unless you're okay with the possibility of a fistfight.

     So I literally spent WEEKS trying to convince one of my good friends to reschedule her wedding that was going to be held during the first week of school. Being absent during the first week falls in my top ten list for nightmares. Not surprisingly, she was not impressed by my pleas.

    I used to spend hours preparing for subs. I would write out detailed plans related to our current unit, print and label everything with color-coded Post-it Notes, and then realize I had made a typo and start all over. You can't make up this level of inane time-wasting.