Language Arts

Uplevel Grammar By Examining (And Then Creating) Another Language

After creating an above-level grammar group, I was left with the problem of creating a challenging grammar assignment. Inspired by a friend's self-created language, I encouraged my students to examine the rules of other languages. Some interesting rules they discussed included...

Writing Mother’s Day Similes

Mother's Day is coming up, and it's the perfect chance to practice figurative language. Help your students create thoughtful cards, packed with rich similes and metaphors that relate directly to their mothers.

Content Imperatives And Conflict

Conflict is an essential tool for analyzing literature, understanding history, and improving as a writer. Each year, my 6th graders discuss the types of conflict commonly found in stories and analyze writing using the content imperatives.

Think Like A Psychologist

Looking to help your students go deeper into any content area? One technique is to teach them to "Think Like A Disciplinarian." This idea, part of the Depth and Complexity Framework, teaches students to analyze ideas from the point of view of a specific profession or discipline.

The Westing Game – Book Study Ideas

Sixteen unlikely heirs? A mysterious murder? A fortune on the line? Let's dig into The Westing Game!

Don’t just list examples of writing techniques. Let’s improve Shakespeare!

I stopped and started with "What 👄 special writing techniques does the author use? List examples."

Adding The Beatles to a Lesson on Cause and Effect

For my students, simply teaching a direct instruction lesson about cause and effect is a recipe for boredom and behavior problems. My solution involved bringing in a little help from The Beatles.

Garden Path Sentences

Garden Path Sentences seem to begin one way, but quickly fall apart, forcing the reader to start over and interpret words in a new way. A simple example is: "The old man the boat."

The Tragedy of the Commons

Imagine that we all share a common resource, but no one is really in charge. How do we maintain order without an authority? This is a fantastically fuzzy situation for students to dig into.

Analyzing Suffixes Inductively

The year opens with a vocabulary skill analyzing "Suffixes: -ful, -less, -ly." I adjusted this lesson to examine how these suffixes change the part of speech of words, rather than the meaning.

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