Sunday Night Lesson planning blues for middle school English Language Arts classes, especially on Sunday nights, can be exhausting.
Especially if you are trying something new – a new unit, a new teaching approach, a new story or a new writing technique.
To help you out with this, here are 5 lesson planning for middle school English ideas:
1. DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL IF YOU DON’T HAVE TO WHEN LESSON PLANNING FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH
Look at your plans from the previous week, what did you get to? What did you not get to? Also, look at your plans from last year when you covered the same concepts and skills. What can you reuse with this group of students? Will these lesson plans and activities work if you just tweaked them a little? Sometimes we make more work for ourselves than we need to.
2. IT’S OKAY TO DO YOUR LESSON PLANNING ONE WEEK AT A TIME
If planning for a unit, it’s okay to plan for just one week at a time. Know what your big picture is going to be and don’t lose yourself in the details. What do you want the students to know and be able to do by the end of this week?
I always start with my state standards and break those down into skills I want my students to learn. Then I think about what lessons and activities I need in place to help my students learn the skills that will help them to master the standard.
For example, in lesson planning for middle grades English, I may want students to focus on description for the week. So, I get my materials together that help me teach that.
A great quick activity I can grab and go with are story starter activities.
This school year, I am teaching a brand new course in my school and my county, Creative Writing. I have no PLC and no text book. This is incredibly freeing, but it is also overwhelming to have to create a whole new curriculum from scratch. So, I have allowed myself the grace to plan just one week at a time, with a vision of where I want my students to be by the end of the week. I also use other curriculum programs.
For example, I have used EngageNY for lesson plans last year for To Kill a Mockingbird. Another example I’ve used this year is from edublogs.org has a blogging bootcamp, which my students are completing this week. Everything is laid out for the teacher and the student – step-by-step activities and lessons, some of which have videos. After this we are doing the March Blogging Challenge.
Another great place for lesson plans of course is Teacherspayteachers. You have to be choosy who you buy from because, just like any other marketplace, you have really well-made products and other products that are not. Some teacher creators that I have used in the past and who make excellent products are: readitwriteitlearnit, Emily makes quality products that she often demonstrates on Instagram. I do not personally know Emily, and she has no idea that I am giving her props right now. However, I am impressed by the thought processes and care she puts into her products. They are all standards based and complete. I’ve used a few things from Marie from The Caffeinated Classroom, as well, although she is high school teacher.
I also have some products for 6th grade ELA teachers, especially for the HMH Collections, Grade 6 textbook that are comprehensive, built from the common core literacy standards for 6th grade and use Interactive Notebook activities.
Additionally, I have several different writing products in my TPT store, just click here: Teach2Write TPT store.
No matter how you solve your Sunday Night Planning Blues, just know that you do not have to be perfect, and you don’t have to create something completely new. Happy Planning!