Teaching students to visualize while they read is an essential skill in becoming an active reader because it enables them to make inferences while they read, recall and summarize the text, and make a deeper connection to the text by visually demonstrating their unique interpretation of it. While some students love the opportunity to get […]

While reading and viewing, I find that my students have difficulty maintaining focus, so one of the strategies I use to help them be more active readers and viewers is predicting. Making predictions boosts engagement because students are more invested in what they are reading, to see if their predictions were correct. Placemat Predictions Before […]

Incorporating strategies into your lessons for making connections to literature will help students to become more engaged readers and develop the ability to comprehend texts on different levels. Each of these strategies, broken down into text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections can be used in the classroom or adapted for online learning by creating breakout rooms […]

Television commercials are a great medium to spark discussion or debate in your classroom because they are generally short (so they won’t take up too much time that could be spent on discussion), and they usually contain a message or statement that can be discussed or debated. Television commercials are also a mirror of social […]

Creative writing can be one of the most fun and fulfilling activities for ELA students, but sometimes the hardest part is just being inspired! Here is a list of 25 items to use when your students need to find that magical writing spark.  1. Artwork Paintings & Drawings: Use famous pieces to inspire the premise […]