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.
Episodes
588 episodes
Episode 440: Breakthroughs in Grammar Instruction: The 3 Must-Have Elements (Part 2)
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode, Grammar shouldn’t live on a worksheet and die on a quiz. We want middle school writers who can actually use conventions, sentence structure, and punctuation to communicate clearly, with pur...
Episode 439: Monday Mindset: You Are Valuable
We start August with a Monday Mindset that pulls the focus back where it belongs, on you as a human being with limited energy. We walk through a simple but uncomfortable question: who got the best of you last year, and who got the scraps? From ...
Episode 438: Breakthroughs in Grammar Instruction: The 3 Must-Have Elements (Part 1)
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're tackling one of the most common classroom frustrations: teaching grammar in a way that actually sticks. We discuss why students often forget grammar rules when it comes time to...
Episode 437: Why Your Bell Ringers Aren't Working (And What to Do Instead)
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're talking all about bell ringers—and why so many of them end up feeling like busy work instead of meaningful learning. Curriculum writer Pat shares a simple weekly framework that...
Episode 436: Monday Mindset: It's All About Your Mood
What if the only thing standing between you and a productive week is waiting until you "feel like it"? This Monday Mindset episode is a reminder that your mood doesn't get to dictate your movement. We talk about why motivation is unrelia...
Episode 435: Get Your Students to Rock their Text-Dependent Paragraphs with this Strategy
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're talking about one of the biggest challenges in teaching literary analysis: helping students write strong evidence-based responses before they tackle a full essay. You'll learn ...
Episode 434: Increase Students Writing Scores in 30 Minutes or Less
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, we're diving into one of the biggest challenges middle school ELA teachers face: finding enough time to teach writing without spending hours grading. We'll explore why these two stru...
Episode 433: Monday Mindset: Go to a Dark Room
Your life gets loud fast: notifications, inbox urgency, endless content, and the constant pressure to keep up. Then a real moment hits and suddenly the only questions that matter rise to the surface: What am I doing with my life? What do I actu...
Episode 432: Are You Making This Mistake with Your Student Writing Samples?
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode, Your next writing unit might not be “too hard” or “too time-consuming” at all. The real problem could be the way we use model essays and the way we test our writing prompts before students ...
Episode 431: Get Your Students Actually Enjoying Writing with this FUN Activity
Another Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, Most students can pull a quote. The hard part is explaining why that quote proves anything. We’re tackling the #1 skill gap middle school ELA teachers keep naming again and again: justificatio...
Episode 430: Monday Mindset: Forget What You Think You Need
Another Monday Mindset, The fastest way to feel stuck as a middle school ELA teacher is to believe your peace depends on someone else doing their job differently. If admin were more supportive, if class sizes were smaller, if the district stopp...
Episode 429: Is the Reason Your Students Struggle With Writing Simpler Than You Think?
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, watching a class freeze at a blank page is one of the fastest ways to lose your confidence as a writing teacher and it’s also one of the most preventable. I’m breaking down the evidence-bas...
Episode 428: Re-Air: The Best of Writing Episodes: It's Time to Drop the RACE Strategy.
The RACE writing formula simply stands for “restate, answer, cite, and explain”. This is widely used by middle school ELA teachers teaching writing as it makes a great tool to help learners construct their answers in a clear, logical format. Ho...
Episode 427: Monday Mindset: Stay Brave
The moment you want to quit is often the moment you are about to grow. I’m sharing a simple phrase that has been sticking with me lately: stay brave. Not “be brave someday” or “become brave when things calm down” but stay brave right now, espec...
Episode 426: If Your Students Only Write One Essay This Year, THIS is the One!
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode, Caitlin shares why evidence-based writing is the one writing genre every middle school ELA teacher should prioritize. Discover how focusing on literary analysis can build confident writers,...
Episode 425: Monday Mindset: The Two Words That Will Save Your Energy This Year
That moment when you open a brutal parent email before sunrise, or realise your admin still doesn’t see how hard you’re working, can hijack your whole day. We’re sharing a simple mindset that cuts through the noise: “Let them.” Two words, but t...
Episode 424: How to Cut Your Planning Time in Half Without Cutting Corners
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode. I walked through four concrete ways to cut your lesson planning time in half without cutting corners. First, I talked about building a truly distraction-free planning block so you can get b...
Episode 423: Two Things to Do This Summer That Will Change Your Entire School Year
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, I tackled the three beliefs that keep middle school ELA teachers stuck: the idea that you cannot plan until you know your students, the fear that batch planning takes too much time up front...
Episode 422: Monday Mindset: Get Used to Being Uncomfortable
Our Monday Mindset Episode for today is about Discomfort is not your enemy, it’s your evidence. We open with a raw teaching memory: a first day in front of students, every word scripted, terrified of getting it wrong and being exposed. I...
Episode 421: The Real Reason You're Still at School at 6 PM (And It's Not Your To-Do List)
If you have ever looked up at the clock and realized you are still in your classroom at 6 PM, we want you to hear this clearly: the real problem is not your to-do list. It is the belief underneath it. I walk through the story so many teachers l...
Episode 420: It's Not About How Much Time You Have — It's About What You Do With It
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA Podcast episode, I stopped blaming short periods and long blocks and show how a simple daily framework makes any middle school ELA schedule feel doable. I explained why predictable starts and calm endings b...
Episode 419: Monday Mindset: Stop Waiting to Be Ready
In today's Monday Mindset episode, I talked through the mindset shift that changes the game for teachers and for anyone chasing a bigger life: Ready isn’t a feeling, it’s a Decision. I share what I told a friend who asked how I went from an ide...
Episode: 418: You Didn't Become a Teacher to Feel Like This — Here's How to Get Back to Loving It
In today's Teaching Middle School ELA podcast episode, Caitlin gets real about teacher burnout and the challenges middle school educators face every day. She challenges common myths about lesson planning, rigor, and engagement, while sha...
Episode 417: The Real Reason Your Students Aren't Retaining What You Teach (And How a Simple Framework Fixes It)
Do your students struggle to retain skills from one unit to the next? You're not alone.In this episode, I explored why standards mastery often feels out of reach for middle school ELA teachers and uncovered the planning habits that may b...
Episode 416: Monday Mindset: Life Is Too Short for the Wrong Circle
🎙️ In today's Monday Mindset episode...Who you spend time with matters more than you think. In this episode, I shared a powerful reminder that our mindset, confidence, and outlook are often shaped by the people around us—both insi...