Teaching Middle School ELA - TopPodcast.com

View Top 200 Chart

Back to Rankings Page

Teaching Middle School ELA — Courses
Teaching Middle School ELA

Welcome to the Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast, where we help English Language Arts teachers create dynamic, engaging lessons while balancing the everyday responsibilities of teaching middle school.

I’m Caitlin Mitchell, a longtime ELA educator and curriculum creator, and I know firsthand how challenging it can be to manage grading, planning, and student needs—while still trying to have a life outside the classroom. That’s why every Tuesday and Thursday, I bring you practical strategies, curriculum inspiration, and innovative teaching ideas to help you feel confident, prepared, and energized.

Whether you’re looking to revamp your writing instruction, streamline your planning process, or engage even the most reluctant readers and writers, you’ll find actionable support here. You’ll also hear real classroom stories, fresh lesson ideas, and occasional interviews with other passionate educators.

If you teach reading and writing to middle schoolers and want to stay inspired and up-to-date with best practices in ELA education, you’re in the right place. Tune in every week and let’s transform your teaching—together.

Latest Episodes:

EB Teachers' Club Case Study with Monica Jayasinghe - 050 Feb 06, 2020

Show notes

In today's episode, I'm interviewing one of our EB Teachers' Club members, Monica Jayasinghe. Monica is a 6th grade ELA and Social Studies teacher in Watts, California, which is located in Los Angeles.

Hear what Monica has to say about her experience as an EB Teacher:

"When I come home, I don’t have to stress about what I’m going to do tomorrow and are they [my students] going to like it, and am I going to hit all my standards, because I KNOW these units are going to work! The first bundle that I opened ... Oh my gosh! It was everything I could have asked for, and right away, I felt really good about my decision. Engagement and rigor could be the tag lines for the club ... My principal walks in, and I just look like I’m a genius! These are topics [my students] are interested in, and I’m interested in. It’s fun for me to see each month ... Ooh, what’s the next bundle? I feel like I’m opening a gift!"

If you're ready to learn more about the EB Teachers' Club, add your name to our waitlist and grab a free murder mystery, whodunnit activity to use right away with your students!

ebacademics.com/detective

Other episodes you might enjoy:

How to Shave Off Time Spent Lesson Planning - 049 Feb 03, 2020

Show notes

Can you name a single teacher who doesn’t wish they could spend less time planning?

Yeah… I didn’t think so. Honestly, who wants to be spending their free time working when they could be enjoying their hobbies, family, or friends? No one!

I get it, and I am all about working smarter, not harder. So today, I want to share a strategy with you that TOTALLY shifted the way I think about managing my time. Truly, it has been a game-changer for me, and I know it will help you, too.

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/membership

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Are You Someone's Ms. Neilan? - 048 Jan 28, 2020

Show notes

Today I want to talk a little about my story and why engaging lessons are at the forefront of everything I do in EB Academics. Along with one of our team members, Kara, I create a lot of the content, or monthly lesson plans for our teachers in the EB Teachers’ Club. It’s super important to me that the lessons are rigorous and standards-aligned and yet are so much fun for the students that they are practically jumping out of their seats to see what they’ll be learning next.

All of which brings me to my story that I want to share with you today and where this passion for creating engaging lessons came from. So let’s go all the way back to my time as a student ...

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/detective

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Why Rigorous Lessons Are Not Enough - 047 Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

If our students are not engaged in their learning, then we’ve lost them already. They’ve tuned out and they’re thinking about all the other pressing concerns preteens and teenagers face. So all of your incredible academic goals for them are going to be really hard to accomplish.

I know that’s not how any of us imagined our classroom when we decided to become teachers. We became teachers to be creative, have fun with kids, and change lives. But too many teachers are drowning - we hear it all the time, and we totally get it.

So, what can you do about it? Well, we have to start creating not just rigorous lessons, but engaging lessons. This episode makes the case for just that.

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/waitlist

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Let's Have More Fun in the Classroom, Shall We?! - 046 Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

Okay, let me ask you, have you ever wanted to have just more fun in your ELA classroom, but thought to yourself, “Well, I’m not creative enough to come up with a fun lesson. Or, "I don’t have the time for creating all the materials for an engaging lesson.” You know, those thoughts that hold us back?

But still, deep down you know you want to have more fun in your classroom with your students and with your lessons.

Well, one of the biggest objections we see many middle school ELA teachers making is thinking it’s too much work to make their lessons fun and make sure students are learning.

In today's episode, we discuss this limiting belief and what we can do about it.

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/detective

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Is It Good Teaching Practice to Use Sentence Starters? - 045 Jan 07, 2020

Show notes

As a long-time writing teacher and instructional coach, I’ve learned about this great debate among ELA educators: to provide sentence starters or to not provide sentence starters. I’ve been shocked to hear that many teachers are very resistant to using sentence starters because they have the belief that sentence starters make students’ writing “too easy, too formulaic, or too boring.”

But I have one question for you. What’s the alternative?

This episode dives deep into the benefits of using sentences starters and might even challenge some of your current beliefs surrounding them.

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/jugglingjustification

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Your Limiting Beliefs Are Holding You Back - 044 Dec 31, 2019

Show notes

As we round out 2019, let's talk about how our limiting beliefs are holding us back from being the best version of ourselves, and ultimately, the best teacher for our students.

This episode is short, but powerful, and we urge you to spend some time thinking about what we've brought up and the questions that we leave you with. How can you show up in 2020 that will have the biggest impact in your classroom?

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/livetraining
ebacademics.com/course

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Two Big Decisions I Wish I Had Made Sooner and Why You Should Make Them Now - 043 Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

As teachers, of course, we’re constantly adjusting our lessons and even our curriculum. There’s a last minute assembly we have to attend, so our Socratic seminar for Wednesday is rescheduled or the short story we chose for our kids totally backfired and there was little engagement, so we’re scratching it for next year. We’ve grown used to this aspect of our profession. But, what about the things that we need to change that we may not even realize need changing? Whoa, there! There are things I need to change that maybe I don’t even know I should change? Let that soak in for a second …

What if you had an aha moment, a lightbulbs flashing, confetti dropping moment when you realized there were some changes that could be made that would make your writing curriculum better and produce stronger, more confident student writers, all while making your job a whole lot easier? And you might not even be aware of it right now!!

Well, after spending quite some time reflecting, I’ve identified two big decisions I wish I had made sooner because once I made them, my teaching felt more streamlined and less choppy. I felt more confident with my instruction and saw BIGGER and BIGGER results. I’m going to break down those decisions for you and why they were so transformative!

We'd also love to invite you to join us in our Free Live Training, "4 Proven Strategies for Teaching Writing Like a Pro!" where we will be walking you through many important aspects of the EBW Approach and how you can become a kick-a** writing teacher so that the best writers come from YOUR classroom! Reserve your free spot here: ebacademics.com/livetraining

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/livetraining

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

BONUS Episode: From Elementary to Middle School Writing - 042 Dec 19, 2019

Show notes

In today's bonus episode Tara, one of the teachers in our Online Professional Development Course Writing Instruction: A Proven Approach, outlines what it was like for her moving from elementary school to middle school English Language Arts and writing. Her journey is one so many teachers can relate to, as many of us are asked to change grade levels throughout the course of our careers. Tara shares why she chose to dive right into the EBW Approach and what it has been doing for her students and their writing!

We'd also love to invite you to join us in our Free Live Training, "4 Proven Strategies for Teaching Writing Like a Pro!" where we will be walking you through many important aspects of the EBW Approach and how you can become a kick-a** writing teacher as well. Reserve your free spot here: ebacademics.com/livetraining

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/livetraining

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

How TAG and the EBW Approach Changed Everything for One Teacher - 041 Dec 17, 2019

Show notes

In today's episode Sarah, one of our students in our Online Professional Development Course, Writing Instruction: A Proven Approach, outlines the many successes she's seen in her classroom as a result of using the EBW Framework and the entire EBW Approach. Sarah mentions one of the biggest game-changers for her, TAG, and why she can't imagine teaching this first sentence of an essay any other way.

We'd love to invite you to join us in our Free Live Training, "4 Proven Strategies for Teaching Writing Like a Pro!" where we will be walking you through many important aspects of the EBW Approach and how you can become a kick-a** writing teacher as well. Reserve your free spot here: ebacademics.com/livetraining

Links mentioned in this episode:

ebacademics.com/livetraining
Teaching TAG Podcast Episode
ebacademics.com/jugglingjustification

Are you enjoying the podcast?
Tag us @ebacademics and let us know which episode you're listening to!

Make sure to Subscribe and leave us a Review!

Your review helps us reach even more middle school ELA teachers just like you! It would mean so much to us. To leave a review in iTunes, click HERE and scroll down to Rating and Reviews. Click on "Write a Review" and let us know how this podcast is helping you in your ELA classroom!

Other episodes you might enjoy:

Related Podcasts