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Comprehensive Bundle: Steinbeck’s The Pearl Activities

Looking for The Pearl activities that excite your students’ creativity and critical thinking skills? The Pearl Unit Bundle will keep your students hooked from start to finish. The Pearl Lesson Plans included in the Bundle Pre-Reading: The Pearl Activities & Unit Calendar Before you begin, The Pearl Activities bundle includes an editable unit calendar. You can expect… ⭐️ Suggested lesson plans designed for 40-50 min. classes ⭐️ A total unit length of 4 ½ weeks (adaptable to be shorter or longer) ⭐️ Minimal homework throughout (homework-free option if unit length is extended) ⭐️ Students will engage in an anticipatory activity that provides resources (2 videos and 2 articles) to conduct research on John Steinbeck and Cortez Pearl. There are SO many benefits to using these activities as your anticipatory set! During: The Pearl Reading Guide

Carina Assayed January 17, 2023

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Memorable Nonfiction Writing Activities for Secondary ELA

Nothing says nonfiction writing has to be boring, and yet, that’s what many middle school and high school students think. If you’re looking for nonfiction writing activities to engage this crowd, here are some great ideas. Nonfiction Writing Examples Nonfiction writing examples are EVERYWHERE and part of showing students that this isn’t an umbrella term for “boring writing” is showing them engaging examples. In addition to AMAZING nonfiction texts like Radium Girls by Kate Moore and Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (both available as young reader editions), you can show students exemplar blog posts, self help articles, and tourism brochures. The sky is truly the limit. I’ve blogged before about my favorite nonfiction books for the ELA classroom. Here are 8 Nonfiction Excerpts Worth Teaching from a post over at the Secondary

Danielle Hall November 15, 2022

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Creative Reading Response Activities for any Novel

Are you looking for ways to make your independent reading more engaging? Try these reading response activities! Using reading response activities is a great way to give students choice and help them connect to the texts they read. Middle and high school students want to share their opinions in addition to learning to analyze, and these activities can develop both skill sets. Creative Reading Response Activities for Secondary ELA What are reading response activities? Reading response activities ask students to refer to the text as they make an observation, argument, or prediction. These are useful for independent reading activities and class novels because students ground their writing with supporting details from a fiction or nonfiction text. Example reading response prompts: Reading response activities are great informal daily writing. They can be short – perhaps 4-6

Danielle Hall September 7, 2022

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Easy Prompts to Improve Writing Skills in 5 Minutes

Yes, you can improve writing skills in five minutes! I’ll share some tips and a FREE resource to get you started. How these prompts improve writing skills These journal prompts have students respond to a wide variety of topics and build confidence, endurance, creativity, and enthusiasm for daily writing. Designed to be completed in five minutes or less, these journal prompts are perfect for middle school bell ringers or exit tickets. Want to enjoy a week’s worth of these prompts for ✨FREE✨? You can access the downloadable freebie in the product preview section of the resource! The full resource includes: These low-stakes, short journal writing prompts will boost struggling writers’ stamina and confidence. Each prompt asks about personal experiences, meaning there’s no “right or wrong” answer. Middle school writing prompts with pictures Including writing prompts

Leila Hobbs August 17, 2022

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10 Inspirational Writing Quotes for High School Students

These inspirational writing quotes will help energize the young writers in your classroom, and get them excited to write! Writing Quotes for High School Students There are many ways to inspire young writers, from providing them with a diverse classroom library to letting them collaborate with their peers in a writer’s workshop. It’s also vital to let them learn from the best by introducing them to quotes about writing from the experts. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy my favorite inspirational writing quotes 🙂 “Imagination is like a muscle. I found out that the more I wrote, the bigger it got.” —Philip José Farmer So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.” -Virginia

Danielle Hall May 31, 2022

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Using Procedural Writing to Build a Healthy Classroom Community

It might seem like an unusual combo, but I love using procedural writing to build classroom community. Intrigued? Let me show you how! Teaching procedural writing is a great way to build student writing skills AND develop a strong classroom community. The “how-to” format allows students to become the experts, and you can sit back and enjoy. Note: If you’re looking for nonfiction writing activities in a different format, check out this post on teaching personal narrative writing 🙂 What is a procedural format? You can basically break procedural writing into an introduction, steps in a process, and a conclusion. It is easy to engage students in the procedural format because there are TONS of engaging examples out there: makeup tutorials, crafting TikToks, and video game walkthroughs. If your students are on the internet at

Danielle Hall May 17, 2022

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TED Talks for Young Writers

Have you ever used videos to inspire your students to write? Here are some TED talks for young writers you’ll be able to use at different moments in your curriculum. As I‘ve mentioned before on this blog, I love the Writer‘s Workshop model! Each day includes a focusing mini-lesson, time to write and ponder, and time to share or conference. Videos can be an excellent opportunity for students to choose a concept they’ll focus on in their writing that day. TED Talks for Young Writers Nnedi Okorafor – Sci-fi stories that imagine a future Africa (9:21) Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor didn’t grow up reading science fiction. As a child, she says, it didn’t appeal to her. She wasn’t able to ‘see’ herself in the characters. But now, by writing Afro-futuristic science fiction, she

Danielle Hall June 6, 2019

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