The I Am series by Susan Verde and Peter Reynolds is one of the most identifiable book series in classrooms and stores. The art by Peter Reynolds is so specific to him, and the books have almost become synonymous with social & emotional text lists, mindfulness, and meditation for young people. There are 7 books in the series. This post covers 4 of them and how to use them in your classroom for teaching mindfulness through read-aloud and also writer moves for kids through mentor texts. While the recommended reading age for the books often states 3-7, these mentor texts could be used in any level classroom.

Let’s dive into using the I Am series as a whole group mentor text, and then let’s take a quick look at how 4 of the books can be broken down further for writing moves.

I feel like having a toddler around has helped me understand the role of sensory work and play far better than before parenthood. I even look back on my own childhood and remember moments where I can recall feeling dysregulated or something was off. I never liked the feeling of itchy socks on my toes. I hated having my hair done because of how it felt. When I initially started learning more about sensory play, one of the most powerful pieces was that everyone has sensory needs. Sensory regulation does not require a diagnosis, label, or “special” treatment. We all have the power to feel regulated or dysregulated by the work of the senses. Incorporating sensory experiences into the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classroom can ignite students' creativity, deepen their understanding, and make writing come alive. By engaging multiple senses, educators can create a dynamic and immersive environment that inspires students to express themselves through writing. We can also help our students regulate their own systems and challenge behavior issues that are tied to classroom management. In this blog post, we will explore 10 sensory writing activities that can transform the ELA classroom into a hub of sensory exploration and literary expression.

What could be better than working with mentor texts AND talking about food? I love The Food Group series from Jory John and Pete Oswald. All of the picture books in this series feature a type of food and then a description that hints at the story behind the food. The whole series can be used in a variety of ways in any classroom grades 4-12. These books would also make great introductory activities and back-to-school mentor texts because kids love talking about food (I mean, most of us like talking about food). This post is a breakdown of how to apply The Food Group series to lessons as a whole, and then it includes details in a few of the books so you can see the mentor text examples. I will also remind everyone of the mentor text process of how to use books to teach writing to kids.

Hope you are hungry! Let’s write.

Reading like a writer is a skill that allows us to delve deeper into the intricacies of storytelling, characters, and the art of crafting meaningful prose. It invites us to go beyond simply enjoying a story and instead, to analyze the author's choices, techniques, and writing style. We can unravel the layers of The Wild Robot by Peter Brown to uncover the secrets that make this book a remarkable mentor text for the middle school classroom, and learn how to apply these insights to the teaching of writing. From grammar to writing moves, the published books kids are already reading can be one of the most powerful tools for teaching kids to write in any genre.

Peter Brown's The Wild Robot is an extraordinary adventure alongside Roz, a robot thrust into a wild and unfamiliar environment. This post outlines the writer's moves throughout four different parts of the book including figurative language, character development and description, and the interplay between plot and setting.

You can also check out my daily/weekly lesson plans for using this book as a mentor text and my corresponding slide presentation.

Teachers have been asking for help for years all the while doing the work of multiple professionals in one work week. Between lesson planning, grading, communication to home, activities, and the actual working with kids during the school day, teachers have long been burning out. The newfound trends with AI (Artificial Intelligence) have taken the world of business by storm, with many saying that “you are behind if you aren’t using AI.” Yet, as a former classroom teacher, I was hesitant to check it out. It felt like plagiarism. It reeked of cheating. But, then I adopted a new approach:

What if AI can help teachers do the tasks that take up so much time so that teachers can actually focus on the work of teaching kids?

This post explores the transformative potential of AI in the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. AI has rapidly evolved, paving the way for innovative educational tools and resources that can empower educators to create dynamic and personalized learning environments. In the realm of secondary ELA, AI can serve as a virtual assistant, offering a plethora of benefits ranging from lesson planning and differentiation to supporting English as a Second Language (ESL) and English Language Learners (ELL) students. With AI by your side, you can unleash your creativity, efficiency, and effectiveness as an ELA educator. Specifically, let’s look at how AI can help out with the everyday tasks of teaching including lesson planning, activity preparation, and differentiation to be inclusive of all types of learners.

This post is for anyone who judges a book by the cover or the first page. When it comes to narrative writing of any kind, the opening lines can make all the difference in captivating readers' attention. Narrative hooks are the secret ingredient that sets the stage for a compelling narrative. In this blog post, I provide a step-by-step guide to teaching narrative hooks in the secondary ELA classroom, empowering students to craft captivating beginnings that hook their readers from the start. You can take from my own lesson examples, or use the stories I use to design your own lesson.

I think one of the hardest things to implement in any classroom, let alone an English Language Arts classroom, has got to be incorporating opportunities for students to speak to one another about content. Talking with teachers, many of them voice concerns about the management of speaking and listening activities and being afraid of the “chaos” that might ensue when we put students in charge of talking about what they are learning. If we as teachers are brave enough to let out students focus on speaking and listening skills and strategies, it might just be the key to unlocking great reading and writing learning. Effective communication lies at the heart of language arts education. Developing strong speaking and listening skills is crucial for students to express themselves confidently, comprehend information, engage in meaningful discussions, and collaborate effectively. In this blog post, we will explore 25+ strategies that all educators (not just ELA) can implement in any classroom to promote and enhance students' speaking and listening abilities.

The summary assignment in the upper elementary and middle school classrooms often doesn’t get talked about much in professional development materials, but it is one of the MOST assigned assignments during a given school year. Teachers are focusing on skills surrounding retelling, comprehension, and checking for understanding regarding genre. Summary writing is one of the cornerstone types of assignments that need to be mastered before moving to more complex material. Often, as a new teacher, you may not know where to begin. This post is an introduction to teaching the narrative summary and the nonfiction summary in grades 4-8. You will find the difference between narrative and nonfiction summaries, strategies for tackling both assignments, and then example assignments you can use now.

Teaching perspective and point of view when it comes to reading analysis is often the first step in a more advanced interpretation of any story. It is one of the capstone lessons that take place in middle school, and it is almost always found in canned curriculum guides that are used by larger districts. Traditionally, teachers focus on the first person, second person, and third person. Then, within third person- third person omniscient and third person limited. Narrative reliability often happens in 8th grade and beyond. This post is about how to do a brief introduction to the basic concepts of first person, second person, and third person.

As a reminder, here are quick definitions of each of the points of view:

First Person- the speaker or whoever is telling the story is speaking

Second Person- focuses on the listener of the story, think of this like a tour guide (On your left, you will see…)

Third Person- a voice outside of the speaker and the listener is telling the story

Third Person Limited- the voice doesn’t have all of the information, the individual scenes of a story are told with just that scene’s information

Third Person Omniscient- the voice is all-knowing, it knows all events, feelings, back stories, and what is going to happen

I first became familiar with the pre-writing portion of this assignment during a C3WP session I attended in 2019 through the National Writing Project. C3WP stands for College, Career, and Community Writers Program. If you are unfamiliar with the National Writing Project, it is an amazing network of literacy educators that often think outside of the box when it comes to teaching reading and writing. There is also a mission entrenched in the idea of “teachers as writers,” and continuing professional development as an integral way to continue building skills as an educator. Many of the writing sessions that are geared toward both adults and children focus on the inspiration from the life of the writer as a way to access the entire writing process.

Back in 2019 when I first wrote about generative writing, I said:

“...generative writing really is at the heart of all writer’s workshops because it uses the students’ interests and personal experiences to create the topics, provide the organization, and make the connections that are so necessary for engagement and comprehension.”

The term “generative” writing has a few different meanings in the world of writing.

It can take the form of an idea brainstorming in creative writing. It is often unedited and looks like a stream-of-consciousness exercise where the writer is not concerned with conventions like grammar, spelling, or punctuation. The cool thing about generative writing is that the students are the prompts. Your job as a teacher is transformative when you help facilitate the writer to discover their own writing process-including idea generation. Generative in the sense of this post means the ideas are generated from the writer’s life and then transposed into a variety of genres. This post will walk you through how to do this with argumentative writing, and then apply it to a writing workshop. 

Teaching inspiration often comes in cycles, especially for literacy teachers. We get excited about a reading project, and then figure out a workshop for writing that just works. We create a project for kids that gets them moving, and then come up with the perfect book-tasting setup that makes them want to read more. We hone in on the aspects of teaching that keep us going when it gets rough. Sometimes we know inspiration fades away during periods of burnout. This project with writing got my creative flow turned on again to want to research, put together, and create a lesson and activity for kids. Creative writing play kits are loose part containers that show kids how to find story ideas in everyday surroundings. They could be used for a variety of things, and you could easily create them with things you find at the Target dollar spot, local craft store, or even things around the house. Many of the things were items that my two-year-old can’t play with just yet because they were too small. This post is an outline of creative writing play kits: What they are, how to use them, and how to get inspired by putting them in front of kids.

The teaching of a poetry unit always begins the same. We talk about what is poetry, and then students will almost always give me their opinion on poetry writing as a genre. Some students love poetry. Some students immediately throw defenses up because they have notions about poetry that involve feelings, emotions, and talking about personal stuff. They aren’t wrong, but poetry is more than that perception. As teachers, we are charged with showing our students that it is okay to express feelings. It is okay to write about ourselves because it is a reflection of the safe environment we have created without our classrooms. While I have taught many different poetry assignments over the years, I have loved observing student reactions and seeing their faces when I play slam poems. It is like watching a show or attending a performance. There are tons of videos on Youtube, but this post will look at some of my favorites. Besides awesome examples you can use with kids today, I have given a few additional poems that teacher leaders could use when leading teacher training as well.

I became a teacher in 2010. I decided that I wanted to go into teaching when I was in high school, and I have never looked back…until now. When I started Writing Mindset in 2017, I wrote about the frustrations that happened within the field of teaching. Things like grading, lesson planning, and feeling like I was running a never-ending race of papers, emails, and strategies to reach young readers and writers. I always felt like I belonged in my classroom, if only I could get the amount of paper under control or figure out how to self-care my way out of stress. 12 years is a long time to try to get the balance thing right, and the secret is, that there is no balance.

Teaching is a work of the heart.

I have been talking to my teacher friends about something that naturally occurs each school year: Each of us will end up with at least one tougher class than the rest of the classes. This might be an advanced class that is really concerned about grades, a class that struggles with engagement or behavior, or a class that seems to constantly be at odds with each other. We have all seen the teacher memes or posts that highlight many of these ideas:

Your most challenging student will never be absent.

Dear teacher, I talk to everyone. Moving my seat will not help.

When a student asks to go to the restroom, just seconds after their best friend.

Welcome to teaching! When salaries are low, and everything is your fault.

When you find out that your worst-behaved student…has 3 younger siblings.

There’s no tired like teacher tired.

The sayings are true. We are tired. We are constantly making minute-by-minute decisions, and we are genuinely exhausted. Instead of dreading a class, I would like to offer some ways to turn that class into one that you love again. Nobody wants to be miserable. So, if some systems are put into place for both the teachers and the students, then the parameters are setup to safeguard your happiness as the leader of the classroom. You are no longer controlling chaos, but perhaps enjoying being in front of 30+ middle schoolers (at least in my position) again. This post offers 25+ tips that are designed to revise and edit classroom systems, reframe negative thinking, and insert more love and joy into your classroom for each and every hour. Take what you need. If you are struggling with a particular hour in your day, maybe you try one or two of these tomorrow or next week.

When I make a list of non-negotiables each year, Friday Free Write is on the list. Free-writing doesn’t have to be on a Friday, but the English teacher in me loves the alliteration, and I love ending the week with a little bit of joy. Free-writing is joy. Why? Free-writing allows students to explore the topics, genres, and prompts of their choice. When I survey students at the end of the year, they always say to keep free-writing. I even always offer for the administration to come do walk-throughs and observations during these times because I want them to see the excitement and happiness kids get out of free-writing. While I can infuse love into academic writing, there is nothing like having time to think of your own story and then share with others. This post walks you through what is free-writing, what it looks like in a middle-school classroom, and the logistics of setting up a free-writing time-block in your own literacy classroom. I answer commonly asked questions including what to do when kids won’t write. I would urge non-English teachers to also consider free-writing time as it helps students learn the power of generating their own ideas and showing them their ideas are important enough to put down on the page.

The first few moments of class are critical for a variety of reasons, but the main reason for really focusing on those first few minutes is your entire lesson could be a success or failure depending on whether or not your students are engaged from the beginning. I love talking to teachers about warm-ups. I love hearing different strategies and ideas. One of the most powerful pieces of teacher advice I have to give is there is power in sharing the why or purpose behind your lesson right away. Our brains are hardwired for the information of “why am I here?” to feel safe and to create a sense of belonging. On another level, your warm-up helps unlock your classroom environment. You make students feel welcome with a warm-up.

So, how do you start class?

I have started my middle school English Language Arts class in a variety of ways. I sometimes rotate my warm-up strategies based on the grading marking period or trimester. I sometimes keep things that work well, and then I toss out other things that don’t. I almost always come back to some form of creative writing or choice reading with conferences.

I could talk about sketchnotes all day. I could also really talk about how I think sketchnotes merge seamlessly with thinking maps. Both of these tools create a visual method of note-taking for students that defies the traditional norms of the column notes or teacher-guided notetaking. They also have the power to transform assessment in our classrooms. Students light up when they are able to complete a formative assessment or a summative assessment in a way that isn’t standard. It is outside-of-the-box. It is necessary.

Sketchnotes is visual note-taking.

If you need to be sold on the love of doodling watch this TED Talk, or simply check out any of Lynda Berry's work, like Syllabus. I love Verbal to Visual because they have made an entire center for teachers to become familiar with sketchnotes. This post is a gallery post of examples of sketchnotes and applications from my classroom. This post is meant to be an inspiration to infuse art into your literacy classroom.

Narrative writing is always the first big unit taught in sixth-grade English, but I would also argue that narrative writing is the perfect way to open up a brand new school year because we are finding out about our students’ stories. I am also pretty sure that October may be one of the toughest months to teach in considering that it consists of conferences, the end of the first marking period for my middle school, the flu season that starts circulating, and it is my birthday month. The last part is not a bad thing, I just find it easier to resent less “me time” with all of the to-do lists piling up. This post contains step-by-step directions for teaching a personal narrative writing unit at the secondary level. This includes directions, elements of the assignment, teaching strategies, and mentor texts. I also wanted to include information about writing conferences and grading information.

During this past week of school, I had a realization that the newness of the back-to-school season was starting to wear off. I found myself getting used to routines with remote teaching, and I felt like I finally had some organization to my day-to-day schedule again. With this feeling, almost always comes the anticipated dread of the stacking up of the paper pile. Whether this stack is in-person or virtually in a Google Classroom, this pile can feel draining. I can insert other words all associated with burnout. I wanted to do a round-up of posts about grading in general on the blog that I have used throughout the years. Some of these posts are more general posts about grading categories, reflections on blocking out time, and trying to manage the load. Some of these posts are about specific ways that I work through larger assignments to give feedbacks (Hello, conferences and using rubric codes). You will also see a vulnerable post that started the blog in 2017 where I admitted that working through the giant stacks of paper is one of the reasons I would ever consider leaving teaching. As teachers, managing the to-do list and paper load is one of the most important points we make in our own self-care. My hope is that you find a strategy that lightens the stack you have growing on your teacher's desk or in your inbox. Check out these 15+ posts to inspire your grading routine.

I waited tables at a restaurant during college as many did during their formative years. I hated whenever I had to order something OTF or On The Fly. Why? Because immediacy demanded attention out of me, the cook line, and everyone else around me. I would dare say that the entire field of education operates under OTF standards. Everything is an emergency in education, yet there is no fear like the fear that sets in when sub plans have to be made. In my 105 Ways to Make the Most of Winter Break post, I remind everyone to schedule in those sick days...even if you aren't sick. However, the ultimate fear of scheduling sick/sub-days-planned or not planned-is making sub plans. These lessons take hours, are a giant hassle, and sometimes will get printed or set up correctly, and then sometimes not. Now, with the move to online learning, it is important to adapt to this type of environment as well so that creating sub plans is easier even in virtual teaching. I think this transition will change how sub plans are done forever as we move to everything being available online. This post strives to give 25 different sub plan ideas and more for the writing teacher. These could be used for any teacher, but they are particularly helpful if you are an English teacher that focuses on writing.