ELA The Miss M Way

My research and planning in preparation for a mini-unit about mythology for my sixth graders was a fun re-fresher for me.   Through my research, I was reminded that a myth is a traditional story that explains a natural or social phenomenon and presents supernatural events involving gods and heroes.   The three categories of myths include creation myths, origin myths, and hero myths.   I may be aging myself by saying this, but it had been so long since I studied mythology in school that this background information felt new (and exciting!) to me.     I must admit, I heavily relied on resources I found on the internet from other teachers to make my lessons about mythology successful.   My sincere thanks to the community of educators whose materials on the internet made my lessons possible.   I found a slideshow and a short YouTube video that I shared with my students as an introduction to mythology.   Then, I assigned my students a group acti...

Confession: My first teaching position was as a leave replacement teacher for 10 th and 12 th grade English, and I felt like I was in over my head.   Though the position was only for three months, it was the last three months of the school year.   Odds were stacked against me: I was a new teacher with NO CLUE what she was doing, plus my students (especially the 12 th graders) had motivationally checked out to be on summer break.     When planning out the remaining weeks leading up to finals, I knew my lessons for my 10 th graders would revolve around finishing our class novel, but I was at a loss about my 12 th graders.   What material could I cover with my “too cool for school” seniors that would not result in blatantly spewed profanities or (though tame yet painful) overly dramatic eyerolls?   After receiving advice from colleagues and researching lesson ideas on the abyss that is the internet, I triumphantly breathed a sigh of relief when I ...

Narrative writing, the art of written story-telling, is a fundamental writing style.   It is beneficial to have your middle school students refine this type of writing as they will be expected to have nearly mastered it in the coming years. Of course, there is a fun way to help your students hone their narrative writing technique through engaging activities.   Preteens must build off of the writing skills acquired in the early years to create engaging, detailed narratives.   Producing impressive writing will not only improve their grades on writing assignments but your students may actually develop a liking for this creative writing style.     Let’s explore the characteristics of narrative writing!   Elements of a narrative ·         A hook – Every story needs a strong beginning.   Some types of hooks include a question hook, a definition hook, an onomatopoeia hook, and an emotion hook, amongst others. ·   ...