The blog
Teacher Tips
Writing strategies, lesson ideas, and classroom routines for grades 4–8, straight from my classroom.
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Writing Workshop
Why Isn’t My Writing Curriculum Working?
If your writing block is the most exhausting part of your day, you’re not alone. Here’s what finally changed everything in my classroom.
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Evidence & CER
Why You Should Stop Using Comprehension Questions in a Novel Study
Nobody discusses books like trivia night. Why I swapped comprehension questions for literary evidence trackers.
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Classroom Life
What to Do When Classroom Management Strategies Aren’t Working
Rules posted, procedures practiced, and it’s still chaos? A plan for a difficult class where students start managing themselves.
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Evidence & CER
Why Students Struggle with Evidence-Based Writing
You asked for evidence and got copy-paste fluff. Here’s why evidence-based writing is so hard and how to make it click.
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Essays & Argument
How Do You Teach Argumentative Writing in Grades 5–8?
Thesis, evidence, counterclaims, formatting... it’s a lot. Here’s my 10-day, step-by-step method for the argumentative essay.
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Classroom Life
How to Reach Reluctant Writers: 5 Powerful Interventions That Actually Work
“Writing is boring.” “It’s too hard.” Five interventions that rebuild trust with reluctant writers and get them writing again.
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Writing Workshop
What Does the Research Actually Say About the Science of Teaching Writing?
Where’s the science of writing? A middle school teacher’s breakdown of the research, plus three components every writing program needs.
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Essays & Argument
Let’s Stop Teaching Essays This Way: Try the Rebuild Relay
Everything is awesome when students are the builders. The Rebuild Relay is a hands-on way to teach essay structure that actually sticks.
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Classroom Life
What Are the Best ELA Warm-Ups for Middle School?
Ten minutes a day adds up to 30 hours a year. Here’s the 3-part warm-up routine that makes every one of those minutes count.
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Evidence & CER
How Do You Teach Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning in Middle School?
Tired of “because I like it!”? Here’s the three-step system I use to make Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning stick in grades 4–8.
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Writing Workshop
How to Launch Writer’s Workshop
Blank pages, confusion, behavior issues. Here’s why I threw out the traditional workshop model and what gets students wildly engaged from day one.
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Writing Workshop
What’s the Best Order to Teach Writing Skills in Middle School?
Figurative language? Sentence variety? Hooks? Here are the six essential writing skills I teach, and the exact order I teach them in, so students write with clarity, voice, and purpose.
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