With so much content to cover in the middle school ELA and high school classroom, it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. Here is a look at my favorite ELA teaching resources that help cover the breadth and depth of the English Language Arts standards.
Resources for Teaching Vocabulary
When it comes to teaching vocabulary in the classroom, it is best to focus on a few words a week and spend some time each day on the words. That’s why I love my Academic Vocabulary Teaching Unit (available in both digital and print formats). With more than enough words to fill an entire school year, this academic vocabulary unit is an entire vocabulary program complete with instructional materials, student activities, and assessments.
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| Academic Vocabulary Teaching Unit |
Resources for Teaching Writing
When it comes to teaching writing, there are two teaching resources that I always go back to and use again and again in my classroom. The first one is my Master the Essay: Essay Writing Bundle (available in both digital and print formats). This essay writing teaching unit breaks down the essay writing process paragraph by paragraph and includes color-coded examples to help students learn the basics of how to write a multi-paragraph essay.
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| Master the Essay: Essay Writing Bundle |
From there, I like to build on the basic essay writing skills and focus on, or spotlight, higher-level writing techniques that help students really level up their writing. To do this, I focus on one lesson at a time from my Writing Spotlight Units (available in both digital and print formats). From focusing on writing commentary sentences to getting students in the habit of writing in the third person, this lesson series builds strong writers.
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| Writing Spotlight Units |
Resources for Teaching Critical Reading
Once students reach the secondary level, it’s time to place an emphasis on critical and close reading. One of my favorite teaching units for this is my Short Story Close Reading Unit (available in both digital and print formats). This unit includes close reading, critical analysis, and literary analysis writing for seven different short stories. Not only is this a complete shott story unit in itself, but it also helps students learn how to read literature critically.
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| Short Story Close Reading Unit |
Resources for Teaching Language
When it comes to teaching the language standards, there is actually quite a bit to focus on. One of my favorite back-to-the-basics types of teaching resources for this is my Punctuation Teaching Unit (available in both digital and print formats). This teaching unit includes end marks, commas, semicolons, and more, and it helps reinforce important punctuation knowledge.
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| Punctuation Teaching Unit |
Another one of my favorite teaching resources to use to teach the language standards is my Figures of Speech Unit (available in both digital and print formats) for teaching figurative language. This is one of my newer teaching resources, and it includes eight different mini-units, each one focusing on a particular figure of speech. With direct instruction materials, task cards, student practice, and sketch notes, it is a fun way to teach figurative language.
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| Figures of Speech Unit |
