A Blog from The Wheel Edu that Featured ELA in Middle School

Here is a blog post that features ELA in Middle School from our partners and friends in Sydney, Australia at TheWheelEdu.com. I hope that you will read it, and let Suzanne and I know what you think about it!

Matthew

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Teaching with Themes in the Middle School ELA Classroom

As you know, I teach Middle School ELA. Here's a couple things about my teaching styles that you won't know about me unless you work with me.
First; I hate being told what I have to teach. Absolutely HATE it! Give me the standards you want my kids to master, and give me the dates you need checkpoints in by (ok, local and district assessments), but don't tell me what materials I have to use, or worse, what materials I CANNOT use! Now, don't misunderstand. I will be happy to plan with my team, and use the same materials as they, but don't limit us or expect us to present it the same way. We are professional, individual, teachers - so let us teach!
The other thing I hate, although not nearly as much, is the mandatory use of a textbook. I feel that it limits choice, usually, and the selections are usually ones that the students don't like. Except Edgar Allen Poe, Langston Hughes, and a VERY few others.
Fortunately, I am blessed, and I know it. My administration team …

Becoming a Teacher-Author Entrepreneur Parts 1 and 2

Why become a Teacher-Author Entrepreneur?
Have you ever worked with one of those teachers who can quickly create the most awesome lesson plans in a 40 minute period, and you just know that your kids are going to love doing this amazing thing, and you are exhausted trying to keep up with the creation process just from watching? And these same amazing people wonder why everyone else spends HOURS of personal time creating lessons at home. Yeah. They are irritating, and fantastic, and always giving. And I am NOT one of them. It takes me HOURS to put together a great lesson or even the lesson plan. I used to think of those as invested - but lost- hours, because I only had to plan it once, and then I would have a hard copy for perpetuity. But I would never get the time back, and we don't get paid extra for working in the evenings, weekends, or during our summer (is he REALLY going to say it?) vacations, hence the "lost" factor. If you also are not genetically modified to create…

How Giveaways Build a Business - A Guest Posting by Cortney Gaynes

A Note from Matthew:This post was penned by teacher-author entrepreneur Cortney Gaynes. Cortney's is an amazing story of entrepreneurial growth and success! She first came to my attention by way of our mutual friend and business partner, Gregg Williams, co-founder and CEO of Amped Up Learning. Gregg kept talking to us about the phenomenal success Cortney was having with her store on AUL, TeacherSorce. (Not a typo this time! Its a PUN!) I had to learn more, so I reached out to her. I asked her if she has a blog, and she said no, she has Palmer, her nine month old daughter, instead! I expected her success to be all social media based, which I am not the best at. According to Cortney, she places the credit on adaptability, building a lemonade stand when the world was handed a bunch of lemons in the form of Covid-19, and - at the heart of it - giveaways. Let me allow her to explain. Cortney's Biography
My name is Cortney Gaynes, and I am a third grade teacher from the suburbs of Ch…

Wandering the Halls of Academia - Teaching and Living Today

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