Mixed-Up Files

making middle school ELA student-centered and organized

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by Michelle Leave a Comment

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

by Michelle Leave a Comment

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

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

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Get Organized for Standards-Based Learning

How I got organized for standards-based learning

The Common Core standards brought a paradigm shift to my middle school ELA team. We had a great set of thematic units developed over the years: engaging, rigorous, and connected to a broad variety of topics. But when we sat down to map them to the standards, we discovered that some standards were “taught” over […]

Filed Under: Classroom Organization Tagged With: classroom organization, middle school

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 Leave a Comment

Classroom Decor Tips for Middle School

Decorating your middle school classroom

Middle school students are such a unique group. One minute they act like a bunch of little kids, and the next day they are so grown up. But next week, who knows? They may be sweet children again, or they may be hormonal teens, or they may be both at the same time. Creating a […]

Filed Under: Classroom Organization Tagged With: back to school, classroom decor, classroom organization, middle school

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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