Everything you need to start your first year of middle school ELA in one place. We’ve combined all our posts in the New Teacher Series into this post, so you can quickly figure out what you need and where to find it!
Starting your first year as a middle school ELA teacher is exciting…and quite a bit overwhelming.
There are lesson plans to write, standards to unpack, classroom routines to establish, and a seemingly endless list of decisions to make.
But, you don’t need to fret.
Our New Teacher Series was created specifically to help first-year middle school ELA teachers navigate the biggest challenges they’ll face throughout the school year. From planning your curriculum to surviving testing season, these blog posts are filled with practical advice, helpful resources, and encouragement to help you build confidence in your classroom.
We didn’t just focus on the fun and fluff. We focused on the dirty work. The pacing guides, the standards, the planning, etc.
We’ve put our best tips and tricks for new teachers into a single series of posts, and we’ve put all the goodness of those resources into this round-up post!
If you’re wondering where to begin, start here.
This post shares some of our biggest pieces of advice for new middle school ELA teachers, including why it’s important to develop a few go-to projects, embrace collaborative learning, and invest in high-quality, standards-aligned resources instead of trying to create everything from scratch.
You’ll walk away with a better understanding of how to make the most of your planning time while creating engaging learning experiences for your students.
One of the biggest transitions after student teaching is realizing that you’re now responsible for planning an entire year of instruction.
This post walks through how to begin planning your curriculum by starting with your standards, organizing them into logical units, mapping out your pacing, and creating a plan that keeps instruction focused throughout the school year.
If curriculum planning feels overwhelming, this is a great place to begin.
The first two weeks of school establish the routines and expectations that will guide your classroom for months to come.
In this post, we discuss three major goals for those opening weeks:
Rather than trying to accomplish everything immediately, you’ll learn how to build a strong classroom foundation one step at a time.
If there’s one thing every teacher quickly learns, it’s that no week ever goes exactly as planned.
This post shares several versatile resources to help you navigate schedule changes, emergency sub plans, holiday weeks, unexpected interruptions, and days when your original lesson simply isn’t going to happen.
Having a few flexible resources ready before you need them can make teaching far less stressful throughout the year.
Blog Post #5 | Your First Testing Season: What to Expect & What to Plan For
Testing season can feel intimidating during your first year of teaching.
This post explains what new teachers should realistically expect and offers practical strategies for preparing students throughout the school year. Topics include building testing stamina, strengthening writing confidence, using paired passages, maintaining perspective during test prep, and adjusting pacing without sacrificing quality instruction.
Instead of viewing testing season as something to fear, you’ll learn how to prepare students gradually through your everyday instruction.
No first-year teacher has everything figured out, so why should you be any different?
Every lesson, every unit, and every school year helps you grow a little more as an educator.
Our hope is that this New Teacher Series helps simplify some of the biggest decisions you’ll make during your first year while giving you practical ideas you can immediately use in your classroom.
We’re excited to be part of your teaching journey, and we hope these posts help make your first year in middle school ELA a successful one!
