Language Arts Education Articles for Teachers

As the end of the school year approaches, taking the time to review pupils’ success and growth is an important step in concluding the year. A crucial part of this review is coming to realize all the people it takes to build a successful school year. Whether it is parents, friends, relatives...

How much time do you spend developing new vocabulary in your students? It seems like this is a main focus in elementary school, yet it tapers off drastically in middle and high school. Although not as much emphasis is placed on building one’s vocabulary bank at this age, knowing more words ...

The last week of April is known as National TV-Turnoff Week. What does this actually mean? Over the years, this particular week has evolved into a week’s worth of awareness regarding alternative activities that create and/or maintain a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle. Such activities w...

No matter the age, experience, or skill level of the writer, getting started can sometimes be a giant obstacle to overcome. Struggling to create the beginning of a story can cause many young writers to become reluctant, or even form a grudge toward writing. Likewise, trying to find a way to encou...

The pinnacle of college basketball, March Madness is a season within itself. With brackets, statistics, and the anticipation of the championship game, the tournament can’t help but bring an annual energy to the classroom. Along with basketball tournament talk, March also is the time of year...

Although the Common Core State Standards push nonfiction to the front of education during the middle and high school years, it’s still important to promote independent reading, whether pupils choose fiction or nonfiction works. Reading provides many benefits to the growing brain; it develop...

First recognized in 1994, National Craft Month is celebrated each March. From in-store programs and promotions, to do-it-yourself classes, National Craft Month highlights the popularity of creating arts and crafts in American households. According to the Craft and Hobby Association, fifty-six per...

The Common Core State Standards Initiative has gained a lot of attention, especially in the past few months. As a teacher, you know that within the next two years, these are the standards you will be required to implement in your classroom (unless you currently reside in one of the five states wh...

My family has moved around a bit, and one of the first things I do upon settling in to a new place is get a library card. For me, that little piece of plastic is an anchor, or maybe a key, to a community. We have belonged to enormous, modern libraries with skylights and coffee bars, and we have b...

In making the transition from the state content standards to the Common Core State Standards, my colleagues and I find ourselves re-evaluating the current curriculum, which had been carefully aligned to the former content standards. Specifically, we are looking at changes in the teacher-selected ...

Let's face it, most students view the eight parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, adverbs, interjections, prepositions, and conjunctions) as less than exciting. In fact, I can remember beginning a lesson a few years ago by telling my pupils (in my most-excited voice), "Boys and gir...

There is nothing quite as wonderful as a field trip that goes off without a hitch. The kids are excited and motivated, they have just experienced something new, and you are currently considered the best teacher in the world (for that day at least). But truthfully, field trips can be frustrating, ...

Interdisciplinary instruction is crucial to academic achievement, and is receiving a lot of help from Common Core standards that emphasize teaching across content areas. If you're still not convinced, you can check out the two dozen articles we have that mention interdisciplinary planning. T...

The winter season brings about changes in weather, activities, and routines. School activities, as well as curriculum, move forward with the season. This provides an opportune time to use the winter weather as a focus for classroom lessons and activities. Specifically in the language arts classro...

In the beginning, the task of transitioning to the Common Core English Language Arts standards was a bit daunting to say the least. However, I quickly learned that equipped with the right organizational tools, the task of transition is comprehensible and manageable. Using a graphic organizer and ...

As the enormous, glowing ball descends on the people of Times Square, and confetti falls thick in New York’s frigid air, how are people in other parts of the world celebrating the coming of a new year? Namely, what are the people of India, China, Japan, and Israel doing? Reserve the compute...

Capturing the essence of the holiday season, Chris Van Allsburg’s celebrated picture book, The Polar Express, has become a contemporary holiday classic. As author and illustrator, Van Allsburg creatively relates a story about a young boy overcoming doubt to believe in the magic of Christmas...

The big transition to the Common Core State Standards is already in process, and if you’re like most teachers, you are just a little bit intimidated by the challenge of becoming familiar with the new guidelines. Let’s dive right in and get started with one of the most important writin...

What used to be a lesson for the elementary years will most certainly need to be extended into middle and high school. Learning to evaluate information will be more critical than ever as we are exposed to more of it. To start, it will be helpful for students to have a clear understanding of ...

December is Write to a Friend Month. During the time of holiday celebrations and recognizing the special people in our lives, taking advantage of the opportunity for old-fashioned correspondence can be a worthwhile tradition at home and in the classroom. Living in the technological age of social ...

It was a dark and stormy night when I realized that my writing prompts were not engaging students and achieving the results I wanted. The problem was that the half of my kids that pounced on the prompt were not the half that needed to be engaged. They were the ones who did whatever was assig...

Teaching the eight parts of speech is an essential component to any middle school language arts curriculum. Not only do pupils need to comprehend what each part of speech is, they also need to identify and correctly manipulate each one effectively in both written and spoken language experiences. ...

A primary key to unlocking a world of vocabulary is through studying Greek and Latin root words. Each year, I am amazed at how students are able to apply their newly acquired knowledge of these roots to other content areas. They discover new vocabulary over the course of the school year, and they...

As children, we find books that seem to stay with us and never leave our side. We love them like old friends. These are books that stand the test of time, the ones we pass on to our children, and read aloud to our students, knowing that at least one of them will take that same book and make it a ...

Ah, the noble pumpkin. Its wonderfully round shape, its hue that shifts from green to bright orange, and its potential as an effective and motivating teaching tool. As fall approaches, towns across the country will begin displaying and selling these lovely vegetables at very reasonable prices. Wh...

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is a book for children of all ages. However, reading the text as a child may be quite a different experience than reading it as an adult. For instance, one of the most amazing aspects of Alice in Wonderland is the relationship that Carroll crafts between ...

Subject integration allows students to use concepts and skills from multiple content areas. It can range anywhere from designing lessons, to class projects, to units of study. For example, the language arts classroom is an easily adaptable setting where learners can combine reading and writing sk...

An author once wrote, “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” A little nonsense, a dark and sinister twist, rich dialogue, and a way to capture the imagination of children all over the world, that is Roald Dahl. He was born September 13, 1916 and has penned som...

I remember being exposed to “Hansel and Gretel” as a child. I recall how I feared the cannibalistic old witch and vicariously learned the lesson to never leave my parents’ home. Using “Hansel and Gretel” and other Grimm fairy tales, we as educators, can teach ou...

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...