You know what good teaching looks like when you see it. Students engaged. Concepts clicking. Your classroom humming with productive energy. But getting there feels harder than it should. You prep for hours and still watch lessons fall flat. You try new strategies but struggle to make them stick. Some days you wonder if you…
Participles are one of those grammar concepts students use all the time without realizing it. They show up in descriptions, actions, and sentence variety — especially when students are trying to make their writing sound more vivid. In this lesson, I break participles down into clear, manageable rules, show students how they actually function in…
Your students can recite facts and memorize formulas, but when you ask them to analyze a problem or evaluate different perspectives, they freeze. This gap between knowing information and using it shows up in class discussions that never dig deeper, essays that summarize without analyzing, and projects that miss the bigger picture. You know critical…
You know when students are engaged. They lean forward. Ask questions. Stay after class. But when admin asks you to prove it with data or when you need to identify which students are slipping away, suddenly that gut feeling becomes harder to quantify. Most teachers rely on participation or grades, but those metrics miss students…
Prepositional phrases are one of those grammar concepts students use all the time — without realizing it. They quietly add detail, description, and clarity to sentences by telling us where, when, how, or which one. In this lesson, I break prepositional phrases down into simple parts, show students how to spot them quickly, and give…
Today’s class blends reading, grammar, and literary thinking in a way that helps students build strong habits as readers and writers. We begin with time to immerse ourselves in our novels, then shift into a brief introduction to active vs. passive voice. Finally, we move into a theme hunt—a guided activity that teaches students how…
You know the drill. The bell rings and students trickle in at different speeds. Some plop down ready to work. Others need three reminders to grab their notebooks. A few hover by the door catching up on weekend drama. Meanwhile you are taking attendance checking email and trying to remember where you left off yesterday….
As we move deeper into our novel studies, conflicts are starting to bubble up—some quietly, some loudly, and some we’re not even sure how to label yet. Today’s lesson is designed to help students recognize the conflicts that are developing and start thinking about where those tensions might lead. It’s a simple, collaborative task that…
Some grammar rules feel like they belong in a dusty museum. But active vs. passive voice is not one of them—it’s a powerhouse tool for clarity, confidence, and strong writing. Today’s lesson helps students understand the difference between who is acting and who is being acted upon, and why that distinction matters for effective communication….
You’ve been asked to develop a new curriculum or revise an existing one. You know what students need to learn, but translating that into a structured program feels overwhelming. Where do you start? How do you ensure everything connects? What if you miss something important? The curriculum development process gives you a systematic approach to…