Halloween in Middle School can go two ways! You can pretend it’s just another day and keep it business as usual. You have your bell ringer assignment ready to go, you keep reading the next chapter in Refugee, your students take the grammar quiz for the unit you just wrapped up. OR you create a memorable Halloween experience that your students will LOVE, and it’s completely zero-prep and standards-aligned!

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Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

• Constructive Criticism: How to Change Your Mindset and Be Open to Feedback
• Mini Literary Analysis Writing PD: H

I truly hope each week you find time to listen and to think about each idea because a lot of these simple mindset shifts can really start to positively impact your life.

How great would it be to share these topics with your own students every Monday and have a discussion about what it means to them in their lives?

What a beautiful way to build classroom community, culture, and a sense of belonging.

Very cool.

Anyhow, here's this week's Monday Mindset all about something my dad said to me on a near-daily basis as a kid.

Here's to another great week, living intentionally.

Caitlin

Today, we’re going to share 3 low-prep ideas you can use in your classroom to surprise and delight your students and make the lesson memorable. These ideas all make wonderful “into” lessons. If you are new to the podcast, an “into” lesson is part of the EB Lesson Planning Framework, which consists of into, through, and beyond lessons.

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

• Constructive Criticism: How to Change Your Mindset and Be Open to Feedback
• Mini Literary Analysis Writing PD: H

Last week, someone shared this concept with me, and it was so fascinating and inspiring that I just knew it was going to get to be our Monday Mindset for the week.

Here's to another great week, living intentionally.

Caitlin

Confession time: Do you dread teaching writing? Do you struggle to teach writing and do your students struggle to produce anything passable that doesn’t take you hours to grade? If so, consider what might be your biggest struggle with writing. Whatever the struggle, has writing become your least favorite part of teaching English because it’s just SO. MUCH. WORK?

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

• Constructive Criticism: How to Change Your Mindset and Be Open to Feedback
• Mini Literary Analysis Writing PD: H

How often do you celebrate your wins?

Do you take time out of each day to reflect and write down (or even speak out loud) the wins from that day?

Even the smallest of wins really matter in helping you build confidence, remember your why, and truly realize the great work you've done.

Listen in as I explore this concept more with you (and share a bit about what Team EB does on a weekly basis).

Here's to another great week, living intentionally.

Caitlin

In this episode, Caitlin and Holly from Research and Play discuss 3 important things we can learn from a kindergarten teacher. Holly shares great insight on setting up a collaborative classroom, implementing inquiry based learning experiences, and considering aligning curriculum and values from Pre-K or Kindergarten all the way through middle school and beyond.

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

• Constructive Criticism: How to Change Your Mindset and Be Open to Feedback
• Mini Literary Analysis Writing PD: H

As a teacher, it's very likely a large portion of your identity is "teacher" - perhaps even your entire identity.

It is so deeply embedded into the fabric of who you are that sometimes it might be difficult to separate your teacher identity from the other areas of your life.

Resulting in burnout, exhaustion, frustration, and perhaps even losing a sense of self outside of teaching.

What sparked today's Monday Mindset topic was a conversation with some of my friends who are also female business owners.

And my friends shared with me that they were feeling like their entire identity was being consumed by their business.

And that they were losing incredibly important relationships in their lives - with their partners, with their friends ... even with their children.

Because I know many teachers feel this same way about their own identities, I thought today's Monday Mindset around how creating and enacting non-negotiables in my life quite literally changed my life.

I invite you to listen in today.

And if you haven't watched one of these yet, this is the one I'd really like for you to listen to, take in, and think about.

Here's to another great week, living intentionally.

Caitlin

In this episode, Caitlin and Jessica will discuss why literature circles aren’t their favorite and what you can do to actually make them an effective tool in your classroom. They share 3 simple steps for best structuring your lit circles, all while keeping students engaged in rigorous learning and discussions!

Links mentioned in this episode:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Literature-Circles-Toolkit-8461109?utm_source=Podcast%20show%20notes&utm_campaign=Lit%20Circles%20podcast%20episode

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

• Constructive Criticism: How to Change Your Mindset and Be Open to Feedback
• Mini Literary Analysis Writing PD: H

If you had to rate yourself on a scale of 1-10, how vulnerable would you say you are?

How likely are you to open your heart to others?

How often do you let others in?

And how do you think that might be impacting your ability to build those 10 out of 10 relationships with others? (students, parents, family, colleagues, children)

I was doing a Peloton strength training class with Jess Sims this morning, and as soon as she mentioned vulnerability, I immediately wanted to share this with you.

I would love to hear back from you on this topic - feel free to hit "reply" and let me know what landed for you or any feedback that you have.

I will read and respond to every email.

Here's to another great week, living intentionally.

Caitlin