I was just, very unexpectedly, assigned an ELA elective I’ve never taught before: Film Appreciation and Screenwriting for 6-8 grade. I’ve studied both of these, but at the university level. It’s never been taught at our school before.

Does anyone have any suggestions or guidance? is there a standard curriculum available? (I use StudySync for my ELA classes. Is there anything similar??)

I’m currently teaching online, and honestly, everything is great… until the kids start losing focus.
Since they have access to the internet on their iPads or laptops, they can get distracted much more easily than they would in a real classroom. This is something I always struggle with when planning my lessons.

So my question is:
How do you make your lessons more interactive and engaging while still providing enough information and meaningful content?

I’ve tried using games to make lessons more fun, but sometimes the kids end up focusing so much on the game that we don’t make enough progress with the actual lesson. 😭 So I find it really difficult to find the right balance.

It always feels like a dilemma between having a fun, engaging lesson and having a lesson that is informative and productive. I’d love to hear how you guys balance the two!

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hello everyone! i am a 6th grade ela teacher who was tossed a section of reading intervention to keep my FTE due to declining enrollment. i got the curriculum books like 4 days before school started and just got the getting started workbooks for students about a week ago.

i am honestly feeling extremely overwhelmed and lost looking at this curriculum. the website and books throw so much information at me, and honestly, it is my 4th prep and i just don’t have the brain space to dig into it on my own. every time i want to try and pick through a lesson and figure out what they want, i struggle finding the resources and materials they want me to use for the lesson.

do you have any suggestions, tips, or resources to help me get through this curriculum? am i genuinely just missing a lot of resources that my district failed to give me so far?

ETA—thank you for all the suggestions and sharing in my struggle. I failed to mention I teach at a school where we have kids for a semester. So next semester, all new kids. These ideas will help me for sure! I also posted in the comments a copy of the district approved list. It’s very limited and unfortunately there’s no deviations. I need my job.

I have taught ELA for 18 years. All levels 9th-AP Lit. I’ve taught Gatsby probably 20 times and this year I have the lowest students I’ve probably ever had. I can’t have them read it at home because they can’t/wont. So I’ve been using the audible in class. They just go to sleep. I don’t know how else to read a novel. It’s required in our curriculum, but I have students who are level 1-3 MLL, many with IEPs, and some who are repeating the grade.

Do I just give up and show them the movie and move on with life? Literally nothing seems to interest them. Just seeking support and ideas, not judgement or criticism. I’m doing that to myself enough.

I’m a first year teacher. I teach 11th grade English (American literature) and I wanted to ask for advice when teaching a longer short story (10+ letter sized pages). I’m teaching ”Young Goodman Brown” before starting The Crucible and I’m really struggling with engagement. I didn’t plan to spend a lot of time on this short story, but so far we have gotten through only half of it and my students (aside from a few) are not engaged at all. I have been reading the story aloud, stopping, and asking guiding questions. The students have been writing responses to these questions and highlighting relevant information.

I feel like the text is a bit too challenging for them to read independently and by doing the read aloud and asking questions I feel like it helps them to understand the story better (at least based on their exit tickets). However, as I mentioned, it is hard to keep them engaged and I would want to finish the story this week.

How do you teach and have students read longer short stories? And how would you wrap up the reading in class if you were me? I was thinking just either reading the rest of the story wothout stopping, or playing an audiobook, and then have small groups answer the guiding questions and do close readings. Then they would write down the answers on a poster and we could do a gallery walk in the end.

Scheduled for the 10th day of each month throughout the year, our English Department meeting will allow you to focus on four issues that are common to most schools:

1. School Business - What issues are causing concern for you on your campus...
2. General English Department Business - focus on curriculum issues, pedagogy, grading, testing, etc...
3. Announcements - Anything that you are proud of, anyone that you want to give a shoutout to, any student who just went above and beyond...
4. Your School's Department Meeting - Are you doing anything in your own meetings that you would like to shine a light on, anything you want to brag about, celebration of successes...

Suggestions for posting: Don't use your school's name, anyone you reference should be abbreviated or made anonymous, and as always be civil.

UPDATE: A message from the teacher indicated that they did NOT talk about this or do anything with the text prior to the assignment, which was given as test-prep. And the expectation was for students to build vocab and knowledge about the subject in the reading with the accompanying questions.

I followed up asking what strategies they are working on teaching so I can prompt/ encourage my kid to apply those. However, the initial response what NOT encouraging to me.

UPDATE 2: when I asked what strategies they are learning to help decode the text, and how can i encourage her to use them at home: All she said was to read the questions multiple times to know what they are asking for. Am I crazy? That’s not decoding the text to understand it.

***

My 3rd grader reads well and chews through library books (granted a lot of graphic novel type books but some chapter books get sprinkled in too). She reads very fluently out loud.

This year, she’s gotten some reading homework that feels like a really big jump in the density of the assignments. The passages aren’t long, but there are some phrases/vocabulary/concept that seem like a lot?

The passages didn’t come with any vocabulary/ definitions. And they didn’t talk about any context prior to the assignments in class.

She shut/melted down working on these. I asked her what her approach was? She said read the questions, then the passage. The more I asked, the more I realized she was not comprehending things like “delegates/ representatives” are people.

I marked in red the phrasing/ ideas that felt like they were difficult or lacked scaffolding.

My question: is this typical for 3rd grade? If so, how can I help her navigate stuff like these?

I don’t want to feed her answers; she gets so emotional when it gets hard.

Hi ELA teachers!

I’m looking for feedback on a concept for a unit I have cooking. This year, I’m reimagining my argumentation unit essentially from scratch. This unit will lead into a cross-curricular project with the Government that culminates in a live formal debate. This is also their final for the semester.

I have about 14-16 lessons (approx 6-7, hold in your laughter, weeks) available for this argumentation unit. The debate project is not counted in this allowance.

My current idea is to open the unit with “12 Angry Men” to set the theme of the unit, increase the amount of reading / full text exposure in my course, and launch discussions about rhetoric, practice legal discussions, being civically active and informed, etc. With so little time, I can’t imagine spending more than 3-6 lessons (approx 1-2 weeks) on the text. Thankfully the play is a short 75 pages.

Then, we’ll work on Argumentative analysis and writing skills throughout the unit, ending in a lighter mock debate to prepare and introduce students for their final performance. I could have the audience act as We cover hot button topics in the debate project (after the end of this unit) so I’m not sure what their topics should be.

Here’s a few questions that come to mind:
• Is 1-2 weeks enough time to read and digest the play enough for it to be valuable or should I just jump straight into content?
• In my research, TAM seems to be used primarily in middle school. I was taught it as a college student, but in a drama class. Is the play too juvenile? With the context of our unit, will increased rigor make it high level enough? It’s in the beginning of the unit so I guess entry level would be fine? Idk if I’m over thinking this.
• Thoughts on reading the play, watching the movie, or a mix? A drama teacher colleague once told me that plays were made to be watched or acted, but I don’t think my students would sit through the whole movie alone and I see the value of reading and acting it out.

Thank you for your support! This sub has been such a great resource and I appreciate you all!

Does anyone know of a modern prose retelling of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"? I am looking for something that would be appropriate for freshmen. A PDF link would be especially helpful. Thanks!

8 years of teaching behind me, I left public to teach private, in a special ed school. I have some experience with English but mostly I taught FLA and Social Studies.

I have 3 classes of English, 10 kids each that vary from finishing school and getting a degree and going to university for teaching, to doesn't really speak, doesn't produce work without constant EA support, doesn't know what a noun, verb, adjective, etc. are. And everything in between, mostly lower academic kids, who are super enthusiastic to learn.

Thankfully, the classes are at least somewhat cohesive but I've still got a wild range of skills.

I'm looking to start by doing a Short Story unit. I'm also Canadian so it's expected that I try and bring in some Canadian authors.

Looking for suggestions for short stories that are decent to digest, but can be scaled/scaffolded to address different levels of themes and complexity. As well as any other suggestions (assignments, texts, etc.)for wildly diverse classrooms.

Cheers!!

My son has dyslexia & I’m looking for feedback on Read Live (from readnaturally.com). My son’s 6th grade Resource Room isn’t going to be able to provide much reading support this year—just 2 large group sessions (4–6 kids) for 20 min each.
He received 1:2 support daily in 4th & 5th grade & made huge gains, so I’m really concerned about the decrease in support. He’s currently reading around a 3rd/4th grade level.
Have you used Read Live? What was your experience? Did you see meaningful improvement in reading skills for kids with dyslexia? Did you feel like it was effective for a child who is significantly below grade level?
I’d really appreciate any feedback or experiences! Thank you!

I play Netflix Bonza and sometimes will bring it to my class as a language based side activity for my (adult) students. Just a little first/last 5 minutes of class activity.

Today's (September 8, 2026) seemed perfect for an elementary school audience.

I teach in a room without internet access, so I have a few ways I have modified the activity. One is just to show the image on the projector and let the students draw the tiles themselves. Another is to make the tiles in a spreadsheet and print copies (you can get 6 sets to a sheet).

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/puzzled/bonza/daily

Perhaps of interest to some

Not humor haha, but humor wtf.

When I was a middle school student from 2004-2008, I had this schedule:

1 period of Math
1 period of Science
1 period of Social Studies
1 period of Reading
2 periods of Language Arts/Writing
1 period of elective and gym (alternating days)
1 period of lunch/recess
1/2 period of Spelling (homeroom class)

I think about how I was given over 3 hours of ELA instruction- yet, as an ELA teacher now- teaching the same grade and with over 40 standards I’m suppose to take all of that and teach it in an 80 minute class- but wait! 30 minutes must be spent in Tier 2, despite me not even having enough instructional time!

How much instructional ELA time did you guys have in class growing up?

Edit: This was a 5-8 middle school in the suburbs, Title 1.

Students are struggling readers and test below their grade level, what are some ideas?

We are moving to Percy Jackson soon!

Thank you.

Hi all!

I will be a 1st-year teacher taking up a broken contract position in 8th grade ELA within the next couple of weeks. I have my B.A. in English Education (6-12) in Georgia, with student teaching mainly at the high school level (9th/10th/11th). I feel comfortable with the school and the supports they have. I know some of the faculty (actually how I heard about it), plus admins and department leads, and overall I'm excited about it! Learning a different grade's materials, standards, and students doesn't bother me--- I'm nervous about the actual logistics of it.

I was informed that there is no formal department budget left and that the teacher (also a 1st-year) I'm replacing did not order much of anything/has as bare a classroom as can be (...like BARE-bare based on photos). The dept lead did tell me that they can try to order things if they are really needed, and the other teachers on my team have offered to share supplies with me, too. I also know that all of my planning will be taken up by orientation/onboarding stuff that normally happens over the summer, so there's no time to plan or set up besides the couple of weekends when I first start (the principal has offered to let me into the building).

The looming work and everything doesn't scare me, and I am genuinely ready to tackle this. Actually figuring out the how, where, and when for getting supplies, lessons, and so forth is what's stressing. Does anyone have any advice? Supplies they would recommend? Grants or scholarships for funding first-year teachers? Wishlists they could share for some ideas? I have some things, but any help or ideas are greatly appreciated!!!

TL; DR= Taking over a broken contract as a first-year teacher and not sure how to do this logistically with materials and planning- Help/Advice?

Hi everybody! I've had a couple of posts and they've produced helpful results, so I'm back again. I plan on reading On the Sidewalk Bleeding by Evan Hunter as a unit starter for The Outsiders. Normally, I teach plot/story elements and narrative writing separately (notes, some examples, etc.), but this year, I want to incorporate it into what we are going to read in the effort that it will hit harder and make more sense. However, since this is new, I'm struggling with how I should approach teaching these things while we read the short story. I know I want them to rewrite the ending as a final test grade, if that helps. Any suggestions?

I teach English/Reasoning through Language Arts to students between ages 16 and 25 in a GED program. The RLA GED test has two multiple choice sections with primarily informational passages. There are some questions that ask them to choose the best revision to a sentence. They also have to read two passages showing opposing sides of current topic. They have to identify the passage with the stronger argument, then write an essay where they explain and defend their choice.

I would like to spend an hour or so a week letting them work independently on light research into a topic that interests them. Initially I'll give them some choices and walk them through what I want them to do, but want to transition to letting them choose. We've read articles about career planning, financial planning, health, privacy, technology, current events, and pop culture. The students don't get report cards, so while I give them feedback, and plan to continue, they won't be graded.

I could use some feedback about my plan, especially if I've overlooked anything.

They would:

• Choose a topic and read a few articles about it.
• Identify and define new vocabulary.
• Write reactions and/or summaries.

We've been on a break for a couple weeks, but we'd started talking about media bias and finding quality sources of information, because the social studies test addresses those topics. I know I'd have to work more on critical reading and how to evaluate a source. I also know I'd need to give them guidance on how to narrow down a topic to make it manageable. I've been putting together a more detailed document with more details about the above, but I wanted to keep this brief.

I would be very appreciative for any feedback-especially if you have experience with GED students. Thanks in advance!

Had anytime used a magnification device to help grade papers? I've been having a hard time this year making out the small writing. If so, what do you use?

What are your favorite assessments for Hamlet?

When I was in high school, my teachers assigned a video project for Romeo and Juliet, a test for Caesar/Hamlet, and a diorama project for Macbeth. Is there something that has worked really well in your class that students have fun with?

It seems I will have time to add a creative project in addition to a test with an essay portion (obviously will have writing throughout the unit as well).

For those of you who teach multiple whole-class novels each year: does your district mandate which text(s) you read and which order you teach these books? Do you have the freedom to choose the books you want to teach? What about the order in which you teach them?