Since August 2022, I have been teaching pre-service secondary education students who are preparing to teach middle and high school. Overwhelmingly, their biggest concern moving into their field work and student teaching (and eventually their own classrooms) is classroom management. With ...
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3 Engaging Activities to Teach Setting in the Secondary ELA Classroom
Setting: it’s the time and location a story takes place. That’s it. That’s the lesson. Well, at least, that’s how I used to think about setting until I had to start teaching it to high schoolers. Ages ago when I was planning my very first unit for my very first teaching position (a unit on short ...
The Best Teacher Outfit Ideas for Cute and Easy School Style
Last week, my pre-service student teachers were gearing up to start their field practicum. While we were going over expectations and organization, our conversation led us to cute teacher outfits (that are also affordable). Though teacher style may seem like the last thing on our priority list, it's ...
12 Outdoor Learning Activities for the English Classroom
For most of the school year, you might be cooped up in your classroom thanks to mother nature. The winter months can certainly drag on. However, when spring comes around and the weather forecast predicts sunny days and fresh air, you have a perfect opportunity to take advantage of outdoor learning ...
How to Teach Transcendentalism to High School Students
Recently, I was talking to one of my pre-service secondary English teachers about her upcoming Transcendentalism Unit for student teaching. This student enjoyed learning about Transcendentalism in college, but was extremely nervous about teaching Transcendentalism to high school students, and ...
3 Creative Ways to Teach Characterization to Secondary ELA Students
When it comes to teaching characterization, there are a few go-to lessons we all know. Of course, we know direct and indirect characterization. We might even know STEAL, speech, thoughts, effects on others, actions, and looks. This blog post isn’t going to review those strategies. Instead, this ...
