Middle School Café – Strategies & Support for Middle School ELA Teachers
Are you a middle school ELA teacher looking for practical, proven strategies to help your students grow as confident readers and writers? Middle School Café is your go-to podcast for engaging teaching ideas, classroom-tested tools, and real talk about what works in today’s ELA classroom.
Each episode delivers actionable tips to help you close reading gaps, build student ownership, and create a classroom culture where literacy thrives. Whether you're navigating a curriculum, supporting struggling readers, or just looking for fresh ways to inspire your students, you'll find support, strategy, and a sense of community right here.
Join a community of passionate middle school ELA teachers working to build confident, engaged readers. Visit www.middleschoolcafe.com for classroom tools, podcast extras, and resources to support every student on their reading journey.
Middle School Café – Strategies & Support for Middle School ELA Teachers
Latest Episodes
Helping More Students Participate in Academic Conversations [Ep 84]
You ask a question and wait. A few hands go up right away, while everyone else seems perfectly happy to let those same students do the talking. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the class has nothing to say. Sometimes students need ...
ELA Warm-Up Activities: A Simple Routine That Supports Student Success [Ep 83]
The first few minutes of class often set the tone for everything that follows, yet warm-up activities are sometimes treated as little more than time fillers. In this episode, I share why I believe a consistent warm-up routine is one of the most...
Five Class Routines to Focus on During Back to School [Ep 82]
The first few weeks of school are the perfect time to establish classroom routines that will support learning all year long. In this episode, I share five routines I intentionally teach at the beginning of every school year: arrival, independen...
What Struggling Readers Need Most at the Beginning of the Year [Ep 81]
The first few weeks of school can set the tone for the entire year, especially for students who struggle with reading. In this episode, we look beyond classroom strategies and ask a more important question: What do struggling readers actually n...
Why Reader Identity Should Be Part of Your Back-to-School Planning [Ep 80]
The beginning of the school year is about much more than classroom routines and lesson plans. It's also when students begin forming, or reinforcing, the stories they tell themselves about who they are as readers. In this episode, we explore why...