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Carmel McDonald

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    Middle School ELA: Words of Doom

    "The “Words of Doom” were an addition to our spelling instruction in middle school ELA. They could easily be adjusted or modified for upper elementary classrooms.

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    Behavioral Immaturity in the Middle School Classroom

    You feel it, I feel it, we all feel it: group dynamics are different now. I started this article with a rather long lament about it. We don’t have as...

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    Developing Stamina in our Readers and Writers

    How do I get my kids in reading and writing shape, so they can move forward? Here are 6 questions I am asking myself as I attempt to help students...

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    Middle School ELA: Capitals Club

    Although our middle school ELA students should have been capitalizing words like "I" since they were in early elementary school, many either just...

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    Interactive Plot Map

    Carmel McDonald walks you through how she walks her middle school ELA students through narrative structure with an interactive plot map. Download her...

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    10 Questions to Ask Yourself as You Set Up Your Classroom This Year

    We needed that summer break. We deserved that summer break. As my students would say, no cap!

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    My Red Pen Is Dusty, and I’m Glad

    Over the course of my career as a middle school ELA teacher, I’ve graded more writing pieces than I can count. I’ve graded late into the night, on...

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