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.
Teaching Middle School ELA
Mindset Favorite: Be About It
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What if small changes could align your life with your deepest values? Today’s Monday Mindset is one of our listeners’ favorite past episodes all about moving from dreaming to purposeful action, inspired by a lesson from the CEO of a basketball camps company. I discuss breaking the cycle of endless ideas and taking real steps toward your goals—especially in teaching. Tune in for actionable strategies to create space for your passions and live in alignment with your values.
Here’s to another day of living intentionally.
Caitlin
Well, hello teachers, and welcome to your Monday Mindset podcast episode. These are short, little snippets of thoughts, reflections that I share with you on a weekly basis, that are focused around mindset things that we can do to live our best lives, to live an intentional life, and I invite you to not just listen to these for yourself and how they apply to you in your life, but consider sharing them with other people too. Consider sharing them with your students every Monday and having a conversation about it and doing a reflection together, because I think a lot of these thoughts, these topics, these questions are just a part of being human, and sometimes being human can feel lonely and to know that other people are struggling through some of the same challenges that you are and are benefiting from having these types of conversations is hugely powerful in allowing us to get to be the best version of ourselves, to take who we are and who we be and who we show up in the world as to that next level. So I really hope that you enjoy these Monday Mindsets and, if you do, let us know over on our Instagram at Evie Academics. Thanks so much for listening and let's dive into our Monday Mindset.
Speaker 1:So the other day I was listening to a short snippet from the CEO of a basketball camps company about quote-unquote being about it, and the premise was this that all too often we sit in thinking mode, we have an idea or something that we want to go do, or a dream we want to accomplish, but we don't ever act. And it got me thinking about you as a teacher. As teachers, it can be incredibly challenging to be about it because we don't have very much time in the day to dedicate to much else beyond teaching, especially with all of the extra things that you have to do as a teacher. And I wonder how life could be different if that wasn't the case. What would life look like for you if you did have time to do what you wanted to case?
Speaker 1:What would life look like for you if you did have time to do what you wanted to do? What would you be about? What actions would you take and put into place to create a different life for yourself, one that aligns with your deepest values? Because when our values, actions and results all align, that's when many of us will find true inner happiness. And I wonder, too, if you want to be about it whatever it is, what could you do this week differently, that would allow you the space to do so. Would it be rinsing and repeating a lesson, or surrendering and letting things be easy? Or prepping a week in advance to set your future self up for success? Because, as I see it, we all have options in life, even when it's hard and it really might not seem like it. So I want to invite you to think about what will you be about this week? All right, here's to another week living intentionally.