#TestPrep

Drop that stack of essays. We have teaching to do!

If you're looking to unbury yourself from the paperwork, then this site is for you. Here, our mission is simple: Come together as a group of English teachers to come up with high impact, innovative, and empowering lessons that not only bring energy to our classrooms, but also save us a little grading and planning time. Let's do this English teacher thing together!

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4 min

On Your Feet Test Prep

Test prep can be a drag for all involved, but it doesn't have to be. Test prep can be meaningful and engaging with these on-your-feet activities to help your students master the skills needed to succeed. 1. Set up an escape room. I have a whole blog post dedicated to creating your own escape room for ELA, and the tips are the same for test prep escape rooms. Start with the skills and standards in mind, then design each task around one specific skill or standard. Get creative

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5 min

Turning Test Anxiety into Excitement

The Atlantic recently did an article about the similar arousal emotions that are experienced by people with symptoms of both anxiety and excitement. Researchers have found evidence that with many cases of anxiety, simply having people tell themselves that they are excited about an event instead of anxious can change their experience dramatically. While there are obviously serious cases of anxiety when the answer isn't quite so simple, many of our students who are approaching

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6 min

ELA Escape Room

Today my students participated in our first-ever escape room. It. was. amazing. I think it's always a good sign when students are on their feet reading, leaning over a passage, and verbally thinking through text based questions. Not only did the students have a blast, they learned more about close reading and multiple choice than I could have ever taught them in a traditional lecture-style lesson. In an escape room, students are truly doing the work of learning. They are unp

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5 min

The No Test Prep Guide to Test Prep

As a New York State educator, my students' exams are just around the corner. At the end of March, my seventh grade ELA students will spend three days reading and answering multiple choice questions, writing constructed response answers, and planning and writing two extended response essays. In my first few years of preparing kids for state exams, I did a lot more direct test preparation the month leading into the exam. Now, I do no more than two weeks of review. This year,

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