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ELA Brave and True: A Blog by Marilyn Yung

Teaching ideas and resources | Writing contests specifically for middle schoolers | Essays on education

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Recent Posts

Outlines have a time and place; a personal essay isn’t one of them. December 3, 2018
Here’s what Writer’s Workshop looks like in my middle school classroom November 27, 2018
I’m still using and really, really liking Planbook November 19, 2018
NaNoWriMo, my students, and my historical nonfiction project thingy November 12, 2018
My one and only complaint with the Missouri Learning Standards November 5, 2018

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Welcome to my teaching blog!

This is where I share my experiences from my middle school ELA classroom. Share and comment so we can get to know each other!
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Marilyn

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Since I began teaching seven years ago, I’ve learned that sometimes it may be necessary to try a new technique, a new curriculum unit, or simply a new idea more than once in order to fairly assess its effectiveness. Usually, the first time I try anything, it fizzles. At the conclusion of the semester, when students were turning in their final drafts of their projects, I was glad Writer’s Workshop (WW) was finally over. I didn’t like the unstructured nature of class time that the workshop encouraged. Perhaps my classroom management skills weren’t up to par, or perhaps I’ve just relaxed a little. Perhaps it’s a bit of both, but the less structured nature doesn’t concern me like it used to because I’m sold in Writer’s Workshop now. Besides, my WW is fairly structured in its procedure to begin with. That built-in structure requires that kids stay on task. If I had decided to give up on WW after my first attempt, or even the second, I would have missed out on an activity that some students say is their favorite. Many students seem to like coming into class, having a short lesson, and then being able to work at their own pace on the projects of their choosing. | See link in bio for the rest of this post on my blog. • • • • • #writing #teach #education #middleschool #words #writersworkshop #students #choice #teachersofinstagram #responsibility #accountability #parenting #writingcommunity #teachersfollowteachers

I love to use the writing of former students as mentor texts in my middle school ELA classes! It’s helpful to students, in my opinion, to show them effective examples written by their peers. What do you think? • • • • • #education #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #english #writing #teach #middleschool #languagearts #wordsofwisdom

It seemed like a crazy request last week when my students were uploading their poems to a publisher of youth poetry. After writing poems about their favorite places... in a comfy chair in their bedroom, on a sturdy branch in an oak tree in their backyard, in a deer stand above a pasture... a box popped up on the Submit page. It read: Confirm your humanity. Didn’t they just do that, I thought? When kids write about playing with Barbie dolls, crashing a bike, sipping hot chocolate, or swooshin’ a three, aren’t they also confirming their humanity? | Click link in bio for my blog where you’ll find the rest of this post. Thanks for reading. • • • • • #teachersofinstagram #teach #teacher #teacherlife #edtech #education #humanity #technology #tech

When a student brings you a cookie at the end of a long day. Mmmmm. ❤️👏👊🏼 • • • • • #teach #teachersofinstagram #education #middleschool #cookies #sugar #teachersfollowteachers

Because they are. My students are gearing up for another awesome essay contest! It’s the Daughters of the American Revolution’s American History Essay Contest. This year’s theme: The Women’s Suffrage Campaign and Passage of the 19th Amendment. So many ways to address this theme! They can write a narrative based on an actual person from history or make up a character! It could be a man threatened by suffrage or a woman deciding to join the suffragettes. So many directions and choices this topic can take, including blending genres. It’s gonna be fun! See link in bio for my blog where you can find more info about this and other contests for middle schoolers. • • • • • #daughtersoftheamericanrevolution #teachersofinstagram #teach #ela #english #america #americanhistory #suffragette #suffrage #women #equality #middleschool

This year, I’m hanging student work on one of my whiteboards. These are some of my sixth-graders’ “Sometimes” poems. Read more about this project on my blog. See link in bio. • • • • • #poetry #writing #education #teachersofinstagram #teacher #ela #middleschool #creativity #authentic #purpose

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Books, Movies, Etc. (2)
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N A N O W R I M O !November 1st, 2018

The big day is here.

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