Teaching Middle School ELA

What if the only thing standing between you and a productive week is waiting until you "feel like it"? This Monday Mindset episode is a reminder that your mood doesn't get to dictate your movement. We talk about why motivation is unreliable, how action creates momentum, and share a simple challenge to help you stop procrastinating and start making progress—just five minutes at a time.

Here's to a week of living intentionally.

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're talking about one of the biggest challenges in teaching literary analysis: helping students write strong evidence-based responses before they tackle a full essay. You'll learn how a simple mini Response to Literature routine can strengthen students' claims, evidence, and justification throughout an entire novel unit—making the final essay feel much more manageable. If you're looking for a practical way to improve both reading comprehension and writing, this episode is for you. 

Looking for ready-to-use resources? Check these out:

📖 The Case of the Stolen Pearls Reading Unit
https://www.ebteacher.com/pearls

✍️ FREE August Writing Workshop
https://www.ebteacher.com/writing-workshop

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're diving into one of the biggest challenges middle school ELA teachers face: finding enough time to teach writing without spending hours grading. We'll explore why these two struggles are actually connected and share two practical strategies to help students become stronger writers while making your writing instruction more consistent, efficient, and easier to manage. If you're ready to spend less time reteaching and more time seeing real growth, this episode is for you. 

Want to take the next step? Join our FREE Writing Workshop this August and discover a proven writing framework you can start using in your classroom right away:

👉 https://www.ebteacher.com/writing-workshop

Your life gets loud fast: notifications, inbox urgency, endless content, and the constant pressure to keep up. Then a real moment hits and suddenly the only questions that matter rise to the surface: What am I doing with my life? What do I actually want? Am I living the way I want to be living? Today’s Monday Mindset is a quiet, honest pause for middle school ELA teachers who feel pulled in every direction and want their time and attention back.

Here's to another week of living intentionally. If this hit home, subscribe, share it with a teacher friend, and leave a review so more educators can find the quiet, too.

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode, Your next writing unit might not be “too hard” or “too time-consuming” at all. The real problem could be the way we use model essays and the way we test our writing prompts before students ever touch the page.

We start with a candid question many middle school ELA teachers are afraid to answer: do you dread teaching writing? If you’ve ever felt your stomach drop when a writing unit shows up in the plan book, you’re not alone. Between 47-minute class periods, huge stacks of essays, and students who struggle to write a clear paragraph, it can feel like you’re working twice as hard for the same results.

If you want to go deeper, join our FREE 3 - Day writing workshop from July 21st to the 23rd at https://www.ebteacher.com/writing-workshop. Listen now, then subscribe, share with an ELA teacher friend, and leave a review so more teachers can take back their time.

Another Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, Most students can pull a quote. The hard part is explaining why that quote proves anything. We’re tackling the #1 skill gap middle school ELA teachers keep naming again and again: justification (also known as analysis or explanation) and we’re doing it with one of my favorite high-energy writing activities.

Grab the free download at ebteacher.com/pearls and join our FREE 3-day writing workshop at ebteacher.com/writing-workshop. If this helps your students, subscribe, share the episode with another ELA teacher, and leave a quick review.

Another Monday Mindset, The fastest way to feel stuck as a middle school ELA teacher is to believe your peace depends on someone else doing their job differently. If admin were more supportive, if class sizes were smaller, if the district stopped changing everything, then you’d finally feel steady. I get it, and I’ve lived it, but that belief quietly gives away your power.

If this lands, subscribe so you don’t miss future Monday Mindset resets, share it with a teacher friend, and leave a quick review so more ELA teachers can find the support.

In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, watching a class freeze at a blank page is one of the fastest ways to lose your confidence as a writing teacher and it’s also one of the most preventable. I’m breaking down the evidence-based writing approach (EBW) and why it works as a thinking framework, not just an essay format, so you can stop reteaching the same skills from scratch every time you assign a response. 

If you want to go deeper, I’m hosting a free live writing workshop starting July 21 where I’ll walk you through the framework and how to integrate it across your ELA block. 

Join our FREE 3-Day Writing Workshop here: https://www.ebteacher.com/writing-workshop

Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to our podcast? If you’re not, we want to encourage you to do that today. We don’t want you to miss a single episode. We add a brand-new episode every week, and if you’re not subscribed, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in Apple Podcast!

Now if you’re feeling extra awesome today, we would be super grateful if you left us a review over on Apple Podcast, too. Those reviews help other people find our podcast, and they’re also so much fun for us to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let us know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! 

The RACE writing formula simply stands for “restate, answer, cite, and explain”. This is widely used by middle school ELA teachers teaching writing as it makes a great tool to help learners construct their answers in a clear, logical format. However, this formula proves to be challenging when students need to move into essay writing.

If you’re one of the middle school ELA teachers who’s seeking help with teaching writing, but are required to use the RACE writing formula or a mashed up version of it, then listen in as Caitlin and Jessica share what we call the Evidence-Based Writing Approach that they developed to address the gaps in using the RACE writing formula.

You can learn more about introducing a more advanced framework in podcast Episode 159: The 2 Game-Changing Sentences That Will Instantly Improve Your Students’ Essays.

Join our FREE Writing Workshop this July: https://www.ebteacher.com/writing-workshop

Subscribe & Review in Apple Podcast
Are you subscribed to our podcast? If you’re not, we want to encourage you to do that today. We don’t want you to miss a single episode. We add a brand-new episode every week, and if you’re not subscribed, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on those. Click here to subscribe in iTunes!

Now if you’re feeling extra awesome today, we would be super grateful if you left us a review over on Apple Podcast, too. Those reviews help other people find our podcast, and they’re also so much fun for us to go in and read. Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let us know what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!

The moment you want to quit is often the moment you are about to grow. I’m sharing a simple phrase that has been sticking with me lately: stay brave. Not “be brave someday” or “become brave when things calm down” but stay brave right now, especially when you feel pulled back toward the familiar way of doing things because it feels safer.

You’ll also hear a practical way to handle rough days when a lesson bombs and students are checked out. Instead of spiralling, we try a “so what?” reframe and focus on what you can actually do next. If you’re ready to strengthen student writing and your own confidence, join our FREE Writing Workshop this July: https://www.ebteacher.com/writing-workshop

Subscribe, share this with an ELA teacher who needs a lift, and leave a review so more teachers can find the support.