Empower Students Now

There are so many things we need to accomplish the first week of school. We need to get to the content but we also need to teach students about how our class will run and build relationships and community too. Now you may feel a bit overwhelmed at this point. Not to worry…in this episode you’ll find the tools you need to do all of these things in one class period and with one mini lesson!You will accomplish four things during your very first mini lesson of the school year:Students will learn the routines of your class to alleviate any anxiety they may have about being in your class and expectations you have.They will feel intrigued (maybe even excited) about you as a teacher and your class. Your class will have opportunities to begin building connections with each other and you. Students will be reading and writing on day one! https://amandawritenow.com/your-first-mini-lesson-of-the-school-year-how-workshop-is-like-playing-fortnite-battle-royale/

Teaching writing is tough and differentiating writing instruction is tougher! Student writers have so many varying needs. What do you do when Steven can crank out a well organized, thoughtful literary essay in twenty minutes and John can barely write a paragraph? What do you do when Cindy says she is confused about how to develop a claim and Sarah says she needs help organizing her essay?This situation can be super overwhelming when 30 plus students are demanding your help or maybe five students are and the other thirty are just displaying avoidance behaviors such as distracting others or maybe reading when they should be writing? In this episode I will give you some simple strategies to remediate these issues and meet the needs of ALL your students! https://amandawritenow.com/5-simple-ways-to-differentiate-writing-instruction-in-the-middle-school-classroom/

Most writing workshop teachers know what a mentor text is (examples of writing in books, short stories, articles, poems etc.). But, what about how to use a mentor text? When I scoured the internet for the answer to this pressing question I found very little. Thus...this post. I came up with a five step process for using any mentor text. I hope it inspires you to try the process yourself! https://amandawritenow.com/teach-students-how-to-use-mentor-texts/

Every writing unit should start with mentor texts. Students need many examples of the type of writing we expect them to do. In this article, I’ve compiled my favorite middle school mentor texts. Each mentor text includes grade levels, a summary of the text and skills you could teach. https://amandawritenow.com/mentor-texts-for-middle-school/

Teaching writing is so hard! There are many reasons why, but one of the main reasons is distracting student behavior! With a plan in place, your ability to handle the distracting student behavior can improve.No matter what though, it is important to realize that students are people who don’t necessarily value what you, the teacher, values. For most students, writing is just not a priority. So, it’s our job to approach students positively, to convince them of the value of writing and support them in finding ways to focus.Not every strategy works for every student. My advice is to try one strategy and if that doesn’t work, try another and then another. Remember all teaching and learning is a work in progress!https://amandawritenow.com/5-common-distracting-student-behaviors-during-writing-workshop-what-to-do-about-them/

Kids love to talk to each other, they are human and humans are social! In a classroom of thirty plus secondary students how can we balance allowing that innate need to talk with maintaining a quiet, productive atmosphere? The answer: noise levels. https://amandawritenow.com/noise-levels-in-the-workshop-classroom/

Teaching English is tough.It is so tough that often we default to what we know best…reading books and then writing essays. But, it doesn’t have to be this way! In this episode you’ll learn five obstacles English teachers face and more importantly…how to overcome them. Before I get started I just want to let you know about an awesome FREE opportunity for you this summer to go more in depth about these obstacles, it’s The Workshop Teacher School! https://amandawritenow.com/workshop-teacher-school/When you sign up you’ll get access to my freebie library and begin building connections to other like-minded teachers!

This episode is probably the most important one I've recorded thus far! If you are looking to change your life this summer, this is a must listen episode. I discuss the podcasts and books that have transformed my personal and teaching life and they could change yours too. https://amandawritenow.com/life-changing-podcasts-and-books-for-teachers/

Teaching argumentative writing CAN be engaging especially if you use video. There are so many video resources available today that can help teach students about the structure of an argumentative piece. https://amandawritenow.com/teach-argumentative-writing-through-video/

Researching online is easier than ever. But, thoughtlessness is easier than ever too! Classrooms are transforming. They are spending more and more time learning online. We need to think about, discuss and question our online habits. In this episode you’ll hear about five bad habits exhibited by many students and tips for how to begin discussing and teaching students how to correct these bad habits. https://amandawritenow.com/5-worst-research-habits-kids-have-and-how-to-fix-them/