Teaching Recommendations for the Second Semester

Planning for a new semester can be both exhilarating and daunting. It's a fresh start for students and teachers, and it is also a chance to level up instruction and really focus on building and improving students' skills.

 

Here is a look at our recommended lessons to teach during the second semester!

A Recommendation from Room 213: 

If you’re a secondary English teacher, then you are going to need some mini-lessons for teaching students to analyze author craft - and to use the techniques they learn about in their own writing. Jackie has got you covered with these classroom-tested lessons and activities.

A Recommendation from Danielle from Nouvelle ELA:

Need to review classroom expectations with students or introduce a new cohort to your syllabus? This Syllabus Review Game is a mini-escape room game that your students will LOVE.

 

A Recommendation from The Daring English Teacher:

The start of the second semester is a great time to teach students how to write a research paper! Think about it: you’ve had these students for half of a school year now, and you’ve been working on building their writing skills so far. This research paper writing unit includes everything secondary ELA teachers could possibly need to teach research writing: an instructional presentation, graphic organizers, MLA format information, research writing outlines, a rubric, and more!

A Recommendation from Presto Plans: 

Have you wanted to bring more high-interest nonfiction into your ELA classroom? The start of a new semester is the perfect time to incorporate the Nonfiction Article of the Week Program. The Nonfiction Article of the Week is a full-year, 40-week nonfiction program for middle and high school English language arts teachers that includes high-interest articles, instruction slides, standards-based reading responses, videos, and creative assignments. Click here to learn more!

A Recommendation from Tracee Orman: 

Poetry is one of those units that students seem to dread. But there is a way to make it fun and relatable! My Guided Reading & Writing Poetry bundle has students learning more about famous poets, reading poems, and writing fun parody poems! This will last you weeks, and your students will love it!

A Recommendation from Addie Williams:

I love to teach writing by breaking it down into manageable steps for students.  Too often, it can seem overwhelming, but with some planning and organization, students will see they can be confident writers.  Here's a WRITING BUNDLE to get you through the rest of the year (or your new semester!) to help with narrative, descriptive, creative, and expository writing.