Category: student needs

Assessments, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, state assessment, student needs, Teacher, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching, Test Prep, Texas, Uncategorized

Game on! Using games as test prep in the secondary classroom

johnstonselagems

  Changing my mindset Five years ago, I moved from teaching in a public school to teaching in a charter after 15 years. One of the hardest things for me to wrap my brain around was that my new school did not focus on state testing. They knew it was a necessary evil, and our… Continue reading Game on! Using games as test prep in the secondary classroom

Classroom, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, student needs, Teacher, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching, Teaching annotation, Teaching tools, teaching writing, Texas, Uncategorized

Hero’s Journey and Annotation

johnstonselagems

  A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away), I started teaching hero's journey when a colleague and I began teaching Full Tilt by Neal Shusterman. If you haven't read that book, or any of his work, PLEASE DO. He is one of the best YA authors out there, in my humble opinion.… Continue reading Hero’s Journey and Annotation

Classroom, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, student needs, Teacher, Teaching, Teaching tools, Texas, Uncategorized

Annotation: Marking a Text with Purpose

johnstonselagems

For a very long time I struggled with how best to teach students to annotate. I had heard all the advice like, "Tell them they're having a conversation with the text". Or "Have them use symbols to show what they were thinking". Seems simple enough, right? Well, those did NOT work for me or my… Continue reading Annotation: Marking a Text with Purpose

Classroom, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, student needs, Teacher, Teaching, Teaching tools, Texas, Uncategorized

Keep This for Reference- Reference Materials for the Secondary English Classroom

johnstonselagems

When I first started teaching 20 years ago, I had not given much thought to how I would have students organize and keep the work they did in my class. When it came time to ask for supplies, I defaulted to what I knew, and I had them bring a binder and dividers. I had… Continue reading Keep This for Reference- Reference Materials for the Secondary English Classroom

11 minute essay, Assessments, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, state assessment, student needs, Teachers Pay Teachers, Teaching, Teaching tools, teaching writing, Texas, Uncategorized

Have Your Students Been Drafted?- Using the 11 minute essay to teach expository writing

johnstonselagems

Since I talked about timed expository/informational essays on Instagram , there has been some interest in an explanation of what it is, and how and why you should use it. I thought, instead of trying to explain it to each interested teacher, I would just write a post about the technique that has truly changed… Continue reading Have Your Students Been Drafted?- Using the 11 minute essay to teach expository writing