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I love getting into figurative language with the kids every year!

They sometimes have a hard time with metaphors, and an even harder time explaining them in written and verbal expression.

I do some sort of spin on Mali's Metaphor Dice with the kids every year.

This year we did it a couple of times in class, but in December I offered it as extra credit. It was also a bridge to our narrative module to get them writing!

https://reach.padlet.org/lidavis/extra-credit-write-your-own-metaphor-poem-gupvj8u2e69kob3i

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This school year, I have been noticing that more teachers are trying to give their students more choice for engagement. In classrooms that I work in, I see students given opportunities to select from two ClassKick activities for completion, or being offered extensions or review if they need it. Sometimes the students are not making these choices for themselves, and we may need to prompt them a bit more, but still, it is the strategy of engagement. Middle school kids need to learn to take ownership of their learning. They also need guidance on making decisions. Choices being given to our young learners include the same text available on various reading levels, a variety of mediums, and learning tasks. I'd love to see differentiation happen more with the student product. I think as we delve deeper into mastery learning as a school, we will design more assessment options with ways for students to demonstrate their learning while doing so in their unique way and through their own learning style.

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Although I haven’t started it yet, my plan is to start to introduce students to TDAs using pictures and t-charts. We have already discussed both explicit and implicit evidence, but the students will definitely need a refresher. It seems like they can understand the idea of explicit and implicit evidence better when starting with a picture then moving to written text. Repeating this activity really helps to not only solidify the vocabulary but to help students to analyze what is happening in the story.

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When starting a new lesson, I try to gauge how much the students already know. I do not want to bore the with repetition if they already "got it." I try to start a new lesson with "What do you already know?" Usually it is a discussion, and I continue to push the depth of what they are saying by asking questions. Sometimes we create a chart, a word cloud, Padlet, annotate or on screen. I also do quick polls. -Robin McCoy

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"Variety is the spice of life." The kids seem more engaged with varying the activities. If we choose one avenue of instruction, they tend to get bored with the routine. The teachers I work with who used classkick but also padlet, blooket, videos, etc, help to keep the kids more engaged.

In my own intervention groups, I use nearpod more than classkick. Elementary teachers seemed to like nearpod more, so the kids are comfortable with that and tend to be more engaged. I also try to end each small group with progress monitoring through a game (wordwall, quizizz, or blooket.)

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I have been using individual BORs to help with their writing assignments. It works well, especially when there are 3 of us in the class to really help the students. I also created a Padlet and had them do peer editing. I was surprised how well they did with it and we focused on GLOWS and GROWS. They seems to really enjoy it.

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We use RACES (restate, answer, cite, explain, summarize) every year as a way to help students organize their writing for short response questions and TDAs. We have given it as a graphic organizer to help STs see how to use it when writing. It has been a huge help when STs are stuck with writing and using text evidence!

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I haven't done this yet, but after today I definitely will! I got a lot of debate going by having them correct a sentence with a mistake -- I think I'm going to add to engagement by offering extra credit to any student who points out my intentional or unintentional mistake -- I think they will pay more attention if a fellow student is pointing out and correcting my mistake.

Also, my big DDI goal is comma usage. I used an IXL quiz and the average score was 9/20. Tomorrow I give them another one after explicitly teaching comma rules. I'm excited to see the average increase.

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This year, I have felt more confident in utilizing break out rooms in class for a more cooperative learning approach. I especially like to do this when I have my coteacher and the literacy specialist in my room so students will always have structure and guidance from a teacher. My goal every year is increased student engagement and BORs have broken up the lesson to keep their interest because they like being in small groups with their peers. I do have a few in each class that do not participate so meeting with them 1:1 in an overflow room seems to help them come out of their shell a little bit.

I also like using Pixar short type videos to teach theme and to activate prior knowledge on a subject to break up reading in class as well. This grabs their attention right from the beginning of the lesson.

Most classes, I have STs "be the teacher" and have them present what they are noticing in a text. There is no wrong answer here. They can share anything from stylistic choices from an author to the overall theme. We recently had the students grade TDA writing in small groups in BORs which was a success! They looked at the rubric and gave rationale for their grading choice (thank you for this activity, Sam!)

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In the past, I have not always felt comfortable allowing students to annotate on the screen (because, Middle School...), but I have noticed an increase in participation since I have gotten more comfortable doing so. I never FORCE the students to come on mic, etc, because I do not want to scare anyone off, but it is nice to provide a number of ways for them to engage with the content in the way that works best for them (mic, chat, annotating, Nearpod, etc). -Tiffany B.

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Last year and this year, I have used breakout rooms more as a way for students to engage and discuss texts more comfortably. It is a great way to have them work together on an activity, and they all have access to a power point during their small group discussions. The power points are editable, so the students can provide feedback (with their names next to what they have contributed). This is a great way to have those who are not comfortable getting on mic or typing in the chat to participate. It also allows me to see what the individual students know (formative assessment).

One of the strategies that I think works best is having a conversation with students. I spend less time lecturing and more time encouraging them to share their ideas. When we are working on analyzing a text (i.e., identifying the topic and supporting details), students will annotate each part to demonstrate their understanding of the content. I very rarely give them the answer. I use this as a moment for them to also realize that they are bringing in more prior knowledge than they think.

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Usually, I teach RACES as a strategy for short-answer responses, but this year, I have incorporated annotating the writing prompts for what do we need? What is the question asking (highlighting key literary terms and/or Ela actions, such as show the theme), what we are supposed to "do" or include in our response, and what context clues show us a possible meaning for any unknown word. I also use the Ela Keystone rubric with students in PSSA practice to show the specific categories of evaluation for their writing and sample responses. Using the categories has always helped them "self-check."

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We often use interactive activities in Nearpod to help students engage with their work. For example, we have been teaching students spelling rules this week, and we have given them example paragraphs with spelling mistakes that spell-check or autocorrect might miss. This relates directly to students as they are used to typing and writing in the digital age. We discussed common mistakes that autocorrect can make while texting. We also discussed how it can be frustrating, and often times, funny. I have started allowing students to annotate on the screen to help engage them in the activities. Doing activities like this helps students relate to real-life examples. I find that applying knowledge to everyday life can be an excellent strategy for student engagement.

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Teachers are using various ways to engage students in the content through Classkick, Nearpod, Blookets, Pixar Shorts, and breakout rooms to name a few. The peer reviews for Module 3 were a great way for students to engage with each other and take ownership of their learning. It was great to really see some students take lead and support their peers as a leader. During the recent work on TDAs, the students really got engaged evaluating student samples and grading them. There were students that didn't engage a lot in prior classes, come out of their shell to critique the sample writing. They really enjoyed the activity and took it so seriously.

In some of my own ISGs, I've been promoting 'because, but so' from The Writing Revolution to help students expand their sentences and think about the text details to complete the sentence frame. I can work on comprehension and writing at once but vary the text difficulty for each group. I encourage them to use that skill in their ELA coursework.

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For me, this year has been a year of change. I've been embracing new instructional strategies. I've been throwing the spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks, so to speak.

Although I haven't used it in the past, Classkick is something that I'm going to be using year after year. I've found this to be particularly helpful with our writing assignments. Adding each writing lesson and assignment to the Classkick allows students to begin drafting their writing in one place and save it. Plus I can add comments and suggestions to their writing before they submit. Classkick also offers the ability to have students complete activities like they would in Nearpod. Classkick can also offer students a place to take notes or practice with worksheets.

Another way that we've helped students stay engaged is by changing activities often during class. From direct instruction to practice or brain breaks to gamification, switching it up throughout a class is a helpful tool that we use year after year.

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I also incorporate testing strategies such as process of elimination into my teaching whenever we encounter multiple choice questions. That was our most effective basic testing strategy for The Princeton Review, so we try to work through what answers definitely are wrong before comparing what is left to see what matches what we think is the right answer.

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I have data discussions and talk about where they are currently and where the expectations are for their age/grade.  I then have them set goals.  I teach them with frequent repeating of the same skills with mini lessons that can be embedded in a broader lesson.  I have them look at writing and we discuss as the reader how effectively the writer has communicated with us.  I am also always reminding students about the basics; what makes up a sentence, how we know a thought is completed, how not to confuse the reader.

I am also working to show kids how to break words down by their roots and bases.  What roots mean so it’s easier for them to break a word apart by syntax.

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I utilize break out rooms for individual writing support. Students tend to need more 1-1 support in writing so the break out rooms help give students that added support. I tend to use sentence starters both verbally and I write them in the chat to help give students a starting point. It seems to help give students a direction when writing.

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This year I have been trying a few strategies during live instruction, and they seem to be working for my students. For starters, I have been utilizing the annotation tools in zoom more frequently. I allow my students to annotate on my screen to answer various questions throughout lessons. For example, today during class we completed a Nearpod lesson on spelling rules. Students had to edit a paragraph by adding the missing possessive apostrophes. Even though students could complete the activity on their own in Nearpod, as a class, I had students take turns identifying the errors and correcting them by using their zoom annotation tools. This is one small example, but I find the students really enjoy the collaboration. Additionally, if a student makes a mistake during an activity such as the aforementioned one, other students are eager to politely correct and explain the right answer to the whole class. This allows for learning to be more student-led. The same applies to using breakout rooms, which is another strategy I have been using more often this year. I have students join breakout rooms based on the assignment they are working on for ELA. When applicable, I encourage one student in each room to share their screen in order to lead that whole group of students through the activity they are to complete in the BOR. Sometimes more than one student wants to lead the group, so they take turns sharing their screens and helping one another. When it comes to lengthy writing assignments, they are able to do peer review and share feedback to improve their writing. Lastly, I try to make each lesson relevant to students' lives. Presently, my students are buying into all the hype surrounding Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. I incorporate examples into my lessons that bring in topics that are interesting to the students. Tomorrow we will be completing a lesson on allusions, so today at the start of each class I've been playing Taylor's Swifts "Love Story" song in order to briefly introduce/preview the topic for tomorrow. The students were able to quickly identify the allusion, making the connection to Shakespeare, so now they'll have some background knowledge going into their lesson on allusions for tomorrow. These are just a few strategies I've been successfully using in my classes.

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I have seen teachers using BORs and workdays with the more recent writing modules. This has been nice because they combine classes and break up the work. We each take a room and are available to help students where they are at.

In my own groups, I try to provide choice within my lesson. Yes, we are accomplishing my goals but I let them help decide when we do what activity. This helps them have some ownership in their lesson with me.

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This is my first year at Reach so my strategies are fluid. Often, the strategy I use for a lesson is determined by the content and the students (understanding, responses, engagement, etc.). I like collaborating with my LST and RI to plan lessons and discuss strategies for specific lessons. In my classroom, we use BORs almost daily for support, differentiation, peer reviews, partner/project work, etc. We also use Padlet for ST to share and expand ideas. We use Classkicks to chunk content. We play Blooket, WordWall, and Quizizz for memorization.

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One of the skills I've bee working on with my students is having them use a rubric and go back to view prior feedback to revise.

I had been noticing that most students were submitting identical, or at least extremely similar, work for their final drafts as they were for their finished first draft. By taking the time to go over rubrics in class and give students time to go back and check their grades and feedback for prior submissions, I've been able to get some students to have a more productive, focused approach to making meaningful revisions.

As a next step, I would love to have students actually grade their own work. It would be interesting to see how closely their self-assessments aligned with the grades I gave them.

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We are learning 3-4 Greek/Latin roots and affixes each week. I use the Poll feature in Classroom screen to create a bellringer to identify the definition of one of the words and Wordwall to practice usage. I have also used these Greek root/words to create the weekly Wordle while coteaching, and it has been fun to have the students brainstorm new words that can be made from these Greek roots.

We are also beginning to write "All About Me" books through Storyjumper, recommended by one of the gifted teachers, to practice writing and proofreading skills.

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I am a person who cannot do the same thing every day so I like to switch up my warm up activities weekly. I have tried everything from What's Going On with writing on a Padlet, to REBUS puzzles, Wordy Wednesday = word triads, Wordles, vocabulary, Latin and Greek roots, to Trivia Kahoots, Blookets, or video's identify people and places in history, literature, or science. I have found this years class really does well with writing on Padlet's. Recently I have been pushing IXL much more. I was just going through my diagnostic results and students levels are growing some my a few months others by years. As February progress's I will be starting to transition and focus on test taking skills. I will utilize our past PSSA book for worksheets in Classkick, as well as assigned skills in IXL. I will also start using Friday's for TDA's and articles of the week. Students struggle with nonfiction. I would love to be able to meet with each student and set a year end goal. I am trying to come up with a way to accomplish this. Perhaps I can make a template for an email and ask students what is one goal you wish to accomplish in 6th grade ELA. I will give suggestions of using writing skills, IXL goals, or reading skills.