Language Arts Education Articles for Teachers - Page 5

Back-to-School Night is an opportune time to make an excellent impression on parents. The amount of thought and preparation you dedicate to making this a special experience for parents can make a huge difference in how the school year unfolds. Although the planning and preparation can be stressfu...

The ability to decipher unknown words using affix and root word knowledge is a valuable literacy skill to master. As with all instruction, I follow a three-step process to introduce, practice for mastery, and assess students’ learning of a concept and/or skill. During word study instruction and p...

When working with English language learners (ELs), the four most important areas of language development are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Whether children are designated as beginning, early intermediate, intermediate, or advanced English learners, they all need to build a strong voc...

It's the end of the year and there is no way your young learners are going to sit at their desks and complete workbook pages, yet you have some final social studies and science standards that you need them to master, or review, before the end of the year. What can you do? Why not try setting your...

In the culture of today’s classroom, identifying and accommodating different learning styles is a part of creating an equal learning environment for all stakeholders, students, and teachers alike. Perhaps one of the easiest styles to identify, and yet the more challenging to please, are the kines...

Interdisciplinary teaching is more than a buzzword—it’s the optimal learning environment. This is why so many schools are focusing on an emphasis of teaching in-between disciplines, especially through project-based learning. If high schoolers don’t see the cross-curricular implications of what th...

Poetry for Young People I recently bought the book Poetry for Young People: Emily Dickinson for my 8-year-old son who was, coincidently, covering this book in his school as well. Poetry for Young People is a fabulous book because it highlights many of Dickinson’s lighter poems, detailing interes...

The Predicament Reality for teachers of newcomer English Learners (ELs) in the NCLB world, is that our students are measured by the same assessments as everyone else. My ELs take exactly the same state language arts test as gifted native speakers who could score “advanced” in September. No matte...

Observed each May, National Physical Fitness and Sports Month is an initiative to encourage and inspire people of all ages to pursue physical fitness as one component of a healthy lifestyle. The 2012 theme is “Let’s Move in School”, which is focused on raising the awareness of students’ physical ...

Opening a Shel Silverstein book unveils an invitation for the imagination.          If you are a dreamer, come in,          If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,          A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…          If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire          For we have some...

Long before e-mails zipped across the oceans in seconds, there were more traditional forms of written communication. One favorite that remains is writing postcards. With thousands of designs conveying the beauties and wonders of places near and far, postcards are excellent mediums for encouraging...

Celebrating its sweet sixteen, National Poetry Month will be observed throughout the month of April. Established by the Academy of American Poets, the annual event presents an opportunity for writers, readers, libraries, schools, publishers, literary organizations, and others to honor the importa...

All Fool’s Day, better known as April Fool’s Day, is the spring holiday that many people honor through silly pranks and hoaxes. As a middle school teacher, this is one holiday that students and teachers alike participate in. The origin of April Fool’s Day is shrouded in some mystery; however, m...

Originating from a California community’s celebration of women’s history and accomplishments, the national observance of Women’s History Month offers opportunities to honor and commemorate those women who have significantly impacted our society. The theme this year is “Women’s Education—Women’s E...

On March 26, 2012, the poetic world will celebrate Robert Frost’s 138th birthday. Frost is most known for his poetry about the rural life and landscapes of New England. He was a San Francisco native, born in 1874, but moved to Massachusetts at age eleven. At only twenty years old, Frost sold his ...