Annotation, Classroom, Close reading, Education, High School, Middle School, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, student needs, Teaching, Teaching annotation, Teaching tools, Texas, Uncategorized

Annotation Academy- Teaching Your Secondary Students to Annotate

My Introduction to Annotation Several years ago, I was attending AP conference at TCU and heard the term annotate for the first time. I say several years, it was probably more like a decade ago. Of course, as an English student, I knew what interacting with a text was, but I don't remember hearing the… Continue reading Annotation Academy- Teaching Your Secondary Students to Annotate

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

Anchoring Your Instruction: Using Anchor Charts in Secondary English

Do you ever go on Pinterest (of course you do) and see some of the incredibly adorable anchor charts for the elementary classroom? They are so colorful, and they have little drawings of people and fish, and they rhyme and stuff. Can you imagine hanging something like that up for your middle or high schoolers… Continue reading Anchoring Your Instruction: Using Anchor Charts in Secondary English

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

My Flexible Seating Journey in the Secondary Classroom

I've always been a teacher that likes to make my classroom a bit more homey than most. Even in my first year of teaching, I wanted to add lamps, a couch, and a papasan chair to my room to give it that little something extra. Well, my first year was 20 years ago, and there… Continue reading My Flexible Seating Journey in the Secondary Classroom

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

Literature Circles in the Secondary Classroom: Student-Choice Novels Made Easier

Have you ever wanted to let students choose their own novel to read, but you couldn't figure out the best way to assess all those books? Don't want to write 20 tests? Tried to find literature circle materials that weren't for elementary kids? Well I might be able to help! How This All Started Originally… Continue reading Literature Circles in the Secondary Classroom: Student-Choice Novels Made Easier

bloggers, Classroom, Education, High School, Humor, Middle School, Sarcasm, Secondary ELA, Secondary English, Teacher, Teaching, Texas, Uncategorized

Why would anybody want to be a teacher?

Why would anybody want to be a teacher? Let alone a middle/high school teacher? Aren't those kids awful? I couldn't do it! Teenagers are so disrespectful nowadays! They're so entitled! How can you stand it? Especially when you know you'll never make any money? NO WAY! If you've been a teacher for more than five… Continue reading Why would anybody want to be a teacher?