Mixed-Up Files

making middle school ELA student-centered and organized

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by Michelle Leave a Comment

Print Your Own Poster from a PDF File

How to print your own classroom posters

So you found a perfect quote to inspire your students and want to display it on your classroom wall? You print it on your color printer, maybe even mount it on colored card stock and laminate it. It looks great from your teacher desk where you sit and admire your handiwork. But there’s a problem. […]

Filed Under: Classroom Organization, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: classroom decor, DIY, posters, technology tips

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What do your learning objectives say to your students?

Student-friendly learning objectives

What exactly does “student-friendly language” mean? In my district, teachers are required to post learning objectives in student-friendly language. (Did that come from the Charlotte Danielson Framework? Probably. 🤨) In reality, that mainly meant adding the phrase “I can” in front of a standard and writing it on the board. I have to admit that […]

Filed Under: Classroom Organization, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: back to school, standards-based

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Teaching Novels vs. Teaching Standards

Teaching Texts vs. Teaching Standards

I hear so many teachers asking for help with teaching novels. I am starting [fill-in-the-blank with any title] next week and need ideas for how to make it engaging to my students! My student isn’t allowed to read [fill-in-the-blank] and I need an alternate text for her to read–and how do I even manage that?! Part […]

Filed Under: Professional Practices, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: back to school, literature, standards-based

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Comma Rules to Teach in Secondary English

Comma Rules to teach in secondary English

Remember that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean when the ugly old pirate Captain Barbarossa says the pirate’s code is “more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules”? Well, that’s the truth about comma rules. Most of what we consider rules of comma usage are actually guidelines from one style guidebook or another. That’s one […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: comma rules, grammar, middle school, writing

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Teach SAFE-Q for Specific Details in Writing

Do you want your students to write prize-winning essays? Or to earn top scores on your standardized writing test? How would you like a quick memory trick that is guaranteed to improve your students’ writing? You already know the key components of writing are content, style, and mechanics. Too often, we English teachers focus our […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: graphic organizers, middle school, writing, writing center

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The Best Field Trip Ever

Best ever field trip and why

When was the last time you took a field trip that changed kids’ lives? Or at least changed their attitudes? Our weekend at Heifer Ranch’s Global Village was the most transformational trip I’ve taken in over twenty years of teaching. Because I believe so strongly in the mission of Heifer International, I am participating in […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: field trip

by Michelle 3 Comments

Growth Mindset and the Standards

How I changed my classroom with growth mindset and the standards.

Standards-Based Best Practices As many school districts across the country did, my administration jumped on the Charlotte Danielson bandwagon. Among other requirements, each class had to begin with a statement of the learning objective, which also had to be posted on the wall. Curriculum supervisors conducted walk-throughs in which they asked students to explain the […]

Filed Under: Classroom Organization, Teaching Strategies Tagged With: growth mindset, middle school, standards-based

by Michelle 2 Comments

How I Teach Academic Vocabulary

How I Teach with Academic Vocabulary

When my principal announced several years ago that our new focus was academic vocabulary, I may have rolled my eyes. Ugh! One more thing added to our list to do, right? Well, I was wrong. Implementing academic vocabulary instruction made a huge difference in my classroom. I saw (and heard) students begin using the language […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: eighth grade, graphic organizers, middle school, seventh grade, sixth grade, vocabulary, word wall

by Michelle 1 Comment

Why We Reteach Parts of Speech Every Year

Why do we reteach the parts of speech every single year?

Every year, it happens without fail. Some adorable little newly-minted seventh-grader will look up at me with big innocent eyes and ask, “What’s a verb, again?” Then I quietly walk over to the closet and bang my head on the door. Actually, it’s not so quiet–there may be a noise like moaning and gnashing of […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: eighth grade, grammar, middle school, parts of speech, seventh grade, sixth grade

by Michelle 1 Comment

Setting Up Your Interactive Notebook

Setting Up Your Interactive Notebook - mixed-upfiles.com

I fell in love with the idea of an interactive notebook the very first time I heard about it. Putting that strategy into practice in my middle school classroom was another story, though. After several false starts and lots of minor adjustments I finally found a process that worked for me and my students. I […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: back to school, interactive notebooks

by Michelle 1 Comment

Interactive Notebook Tricks to Teach Your Students

Teach these 6 tricks to simplify your interactive notebooks

Believe it or not, some middle-school students will show up in your classroom next year without basic cutting and gluing skills. That makes the whole idea of using interactive notebooks so much more daunting. After all, it is concern about classroom management issues or “wasted” time that holds many teachers back from trying this strategy. […]

Filed Under: Teaching Strategies Tagged With: interactive notebooks, middle school

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Meet Michelle

Hi, there! I’m Michelle, the teacher-author behind Mixed-Up Files.

I love all things middle school, gifted ed, and ELA. When I’m not writing curriculum resources, you can find me puttering in my garden, hiking to a waterfall, or cheering at a college softball game.

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My Blog Topics

back to school classroom decor classroom organization comma rules DIY eighth grade field trip grammar graphic organizers growth mindset interactive notebooks literature middle school parts of speech posters seventh grade sixth grade standards-based teacher toolbox technology tips vocabulary word wall writing writing center

About Mixed-Up Files

After teaching grades 5-8 for 23 years, I retired from the classroom to work full time writing curriculum resources.

Mixed-Up Files is my way of staying connected with the middle school grades that I love!

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