Teaching Middle School ELA

Oct 07, 2026 — This week's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, The part of an ELA unit that students remember least is often the part we teach most: the long middle where they’re “doing the reading.” We’re not okay with that, because the during-reading phase...

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Oct 05, 2026 — Life doesn’t usually fall apart in the big moments, it frays in the tiny ones we never feel. We’re talking directly to middle school ELA teachers who are moving fast, carrying a lot, and living in their heads, replaying yesterday’s lesson or bracing...

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Sep 29, 2026 — We share three hook lessons that build background knowledge and activate student thinking so novels feel easier to enter and discussions get better fast. We break down exactly how to run each activity and how to recreate the same structures with any...

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Sep 28, 2026 — When your usual teacher energy disappears, it can feel scary, embarrassing, or like you’re doing something wrong. We sit with that reality and name it for what it often is: psychological exhaustion after a long stretch of stress, loss, and change. If...

Sep 22, 2026 — Welcome to the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast! In today’s episode, Caitlin and Pat kick off a new series, Hidden Gems of EB, featuring three low-prep classroom games that are fun, repeatable, and surprisingly rigorous. We’re sharing Connect Three,...

No transcript available.