The school year is officially over, marking the end of my third year of teaching middle school ELA.
This year, I moved from seventh to eighth grade. This wasn't as simple as moving classrooms; my school also decided to split reading and writing into separate classes, which was a great decision because it meant that we had dedicated time for each instead of trying to fit everything into one class. I definitely saw results on the writing side of the spectrum. I was able to do more one-on-one work with students and really focus on the areas they needed improvement in.
This year also saw several schedule changes. We went from block scheduling to 55-minute classes, and our school year was shortened by twenty days. So not only did I have less daily class time to work with, I also had fewer days to teach. Thankfully, middle school ELA standards are pretty consistent across the grade levels, so there wasn't much of a learning curve to overcome. And this was my second year teaching this group of students, so that made the transition a lot easier.
Just like with the calendar year, I like to reflect on the year that's passed. I make note of the things that worked well as well as the things that did not, and I consider ways to improve on both. So let's take a look at some of the things that worked well for me this year.
Clever Fox Planner - This is hands down the best teacher planner I've used, and I will be buying another one. It is designed specifically for teachers, so you don't end up with a lot of unused pages, which is honestly my biggest pet peeve. I like that I get to set up the months and weeks myself; I had a blast putting all the stickers in at the beginning of the school year. I loved using the graph-paper pages for mapping out unit plans. I also like that it's got a place to put important dates right up front for quick reference. It's even got a built-in gradebook, which I didn't use this year, but would be really handy if you like to keep a paper record. It's got three built-in bookmarks, a communication log, a pen loop and elastic band, and a storage pocket. Not to mention it's leather-bound and has bleed and smudge-proof thick paper.
Pencil Catchall Tray - This might have been the best random item I purchased this school year. It is literally a tray that is shaped like a pencil. I sat it on the corner of my desk and used it as a designated place for my room keys, smartboard remote, and clicker -- the three things that get misplaced the most often. This was seriously a sanity saver for me this past year. I got mine from Target's seasonal back-to-school section, so it's no longer available, but I did find one on Etsy that you can personalize.
Presentation Clicker - Game. Changer. This little device lets me control my lecture notes from anywhere in the room. I've been using this for almost two years. It works with both PowerPoint and Google Slides. Unfortunately, I dropped it one too many times, and the last time it just did not recover, and I really felt its loss the last month or so of school. But I definitely feel like I got my money's worth out of it, and I will be ordering a new one for next year for sure.
Clip-On Desk Fan - I feel like I shouldn't even have to explain this one. I'm pretty sure mine came from the Dollar Store, but you can find them pretty much everywhere. This one looks exactly like what I have.
Clipfolio - I don't remember when exactly I got this, but I love it so much. It is so much more useful than a regular clipboard or a plain notebook, although I use those, too. I use this thing for meetings as well as during my lessons to have my plans handy. Mine is by Rifle Paper Company, which is one of my favorite brands.
Teacher Memo Pad - I actually talked about this in my Teacher Appreciation Gift Guide. I will be the first to admit that I used this more in the first half of the year than the second, but it was truly instrumental in keeping me organized.
Library Book Cart - This was a hand-me-down cart that I found in a storage room that no one wanted, so I turned it into my mobile class library. It helped free up space on my built-in bookcase for other things and can be moved anywhere in the room at will. Mine just has two shelves, so it's pretty small. If I were buying one for myself, this is what I would be looking at.
Small Podium - This was another hand-me-down that sat in our workroom for a year before I claimed it, and I'm so glad I adopted it. This is an excellent tool to use in one-on-one student conferences, and it provided a coveted seating option in some of my classes.
Filing Crates - I upgraded my writing folder system this year to something a little more durable. These Sterilite file crates were perfect for the job and held up much better than the mesh boxes I had been using. Mine came from Walmart for $5 each. At the time, they were available in multiple colors, but all I see now is black.
Brisk Teaching - If you don't already have this plugin, consider this your sign to download it. This extension is such a great tool for verifying that student's are writing their own essays. It shows you literally every step they took from the creation of the file on, making the fight against plagiarism and AI a little bit easier. You can upload your grading rubric and have it generate feedback based on your criteria, which makes grading more than 100 essays so much faster. You can also use it to shorten texts for differentiation and/or create questions from a text.
Tolentino Teaching - This has been such an amazing resource for me this year. Brian has a ton of free resources for ELA teachers. I especially love his writing prompts and challenges; they get students thinking creatively and promote productive struggle. Most of his resources also include optional videos.
Reading & Writing Haven - This site has a ton of resources for ELA teachers. This past year I used a bunch of her grammar resources since I was given time to actually teach grammar in a meaningful way, but she's got great tips for pretty much all areas of ELA.
EReading Worksheets - This site has a ton of reading-related resources from worksheets to lessons and even online games. I've used so many of their worksheets for skills practice and writing practice using a specific grammar concept. These worksheets are unique and usually interesting. There is also different difficulty levels of most of them so it's easy to differentiate.
Canva - This is how I create graphics for my lecture slides as well as any inserts for students' notebooks. I've even used it to create class newsletters to share with parents and for digital projects in some classes. The free educator account gives me access to their entire library of images and templates.
Classroom Screen - I've been using this since my first year. This is how I post my daily agenda, standards, learning goals, and important reminders. It usually is frozen on my smart board for most of the class period. By the second week of school, most students know to look there for what they should be doing. It's got other cool features like a noise level monitor and timer. I also use the random grouping feature pretty regularly.
Online-Stopwatch - I use this every single day. Bell work, group or independent work time, tests or quizzes. It was especially beneficial this past year in which my classes were significantly shorter, and I needed to set more concrete limits to ensure we were using our time in the best way. There are lots of different timers to choose between -- my students like the racing ones the best, but you have to be careful with that since they might pay more attention to the timer than what they're supposed to be working on.
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