Teaching Tools for Every ELA Educator: Higher-Level Thinking Activities for Grades 6-12 (English Teacher Solutions for ELA Educators) Paperback – March 16, 2023

I created this book as a resource to help teachers raise their rigor in the classroom. This collection consists of higher-level thinking activities which require students to determine what strategies an author used to convey his purpose. The activities address the state standards, incorporating the TEKS and Common Core standards. Included in the book are a list of appropriate short story and poem suggestions with summaries and themes to help teachers find suitable material for the classroom. It also contains various learning tasks for analyzing reading and perfecting writing skills. The book is designed to provide easy-to-use but quality lessons for inexperienced teachers or those who don’t have time to create their own. The reading analysis activities consist of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction material. The requirements include but aren’t limited to identifying literary devices and determining their purpose, defining vocabulary words, and discussing various uses of the characters, plot, setting, and theme. There are also various small group activities and warm-ups/do nows.The writing components consist of a short constructed response strategy, steps to creating a thesis statement and writing the persuasive essay, practice on identifying organizational patterns, how to add details, mnemonic device assistance, and logical fallacy definitions and identification practice.The final section of the book is for new teachers. It offers suggestions on procedures for classroom management, setting up a classroom, how to handle assignments, how to grade, how to handle bathroom requests, and creating classroom rules.Any teacher, new or experienced, who actively uses this book and implements the activities will add rigor and relevance to lessons, address necessary state standards, and increase student confidence and autonomy. Read more