Top 5 ELA Teacher Mistakes I Am Definitely Not Making Anymore

Five ELA Teacher Mistakes I Am No Longer Making

ELA Teacher Mistake #1: Accountability Reading Book Log

From the words of my girl Taylor Swift, “Weeee are never ever getting back together!” Like most new teachers, I felt that everything we did in the classroom had to have a tangible product. Something that I could point to and say “Look, they are learning!” And that was what my reading book log were to my students. It was a way for me to check that they were actually reading. 

In my classroom, we have 10 minutes of independent reading daily. It’s how we kick off class, and I love it! But the ELA teacher mistake that I kept making was the daily book reading log. My students would need to record their pages daily and turn them into me. And it was tedious and it was lame and it was boring! Did I ever really check those logs? No! Could my students lie about their pages? Yes! So what was the point? I wanted reading to be fun in my room. With no boundaries and no requirements. And, I was doing the opposite!

Solution: Ditch the Reading Book Log

My students never have to turn in a reading book log ever again! Instead, what I do is have my students read for a goal that I set. If every one of my students reads 1600 pages by the end of the semester (16 weeks), I will bring in Chick-fil-a! So how do I record their reading? When they finish a book, they come to tell me. I added it to my Reading Challenge Google Sheet and that’s it. The Google Sheet does the math for me. Students can then (optional of course) create a pretty book spine review for me to hang in my class. 

If you want to learn more about how I do my independent reading, check out my blog post: How to Refresh Your Independent Reading Ideas That High School Students Will Love. 

And if you want to snag my book review decor, check out my Book Spine Templates. 

ELA Teacher Mistake #2: Homework

Homework is always an endless debate with teachers. And I used to think that I needed to give homework to better my students. But you know what I realized? When I leave school for the day, I am mentally done. I do not want to pick up my work at home. And while teachers are notorious for doing that. I have been working really hard to leave my work at work. And, I am living a healthier life because of it. 

And, you know what? Our students deserve that too! Just because they aren’t adults yet, doesn’t mean that they aren’t carrying stress. In fact, I would argue that my high school students have much busier schedules than I do. And, I hated hearing that a student is up until 1:00 am working on homework! There is no way that I am up at 1:00 am! So, why should we expect that from our students? 

Solution: Build in Independent Work Time

The way I fixed this ELA teacher mistake was to stop talking so much! Yep! You heard me right. I needed to stop doing all the work. Do you know how most people learn? By experiencing something themselves. Trying it out on their own. Or even better yet, teaching it to someone else. So I took myself out of the equation as much as I could. I build in work time every single day so that my students can practice what we learn immediately. When I am there to help. And, when it is fresh in their brains. I give my students enough time to complete their work every day in class. This is my no homework policy. Now, if you want to chat with your friends or get unfocused. Then, yeah, you are going to have homework. But, my students know that if they focus, they will never have any homework! 

If you want some ideas for activities that you can use in your classroom that don’t come with homework, check out my latest blog post: Top 5 ELA Activities That I Will Definitely Be Using Next Year. 

And if you want to kick off your year with some great activities, check out my Back to School Bundle.

ELA Teacher Mistake #3: Start Class Right Away

This has to be one of my favorite mistakes that I fixed. And it really came by accident. I am one of the lucky teachers who works with her bestie. And as a result of having her two doors down, we tend to hang out and greet students together between classes. Which leads to discussions. That leads to distractions. And, that leads to me being a few minutes late to class. And that is when I realized my classic ELA teacher mistake. 

I used to start class as soon as the bell rang. I would cut off all conversation and we would get started. And it felt rushed and forced. And, the room’s energy deflated. Students raced in three minutes to get from their last class. Had to go wait in line for the bathroom… And, you know what the girls’ bathroom line looks like between classes. Now, they had to scramble to get their stuff and immediately switch into ELA mode. That is hard to do. And, I realized that if I wanted a few extra minutes with my bestie, so did they. 

Solution: Give away the first 5 minutes of class

After that bell rings, do not jump right in. Give your students time. Allow them to connect with their friends. Catch their breath. Settle their stuff. Or just take a few moments to switch off their brain before focusing. If you are like me, this gives you time to chat with your teacher bestie. Or some days, I head into the classroom and make connections with my students. Either way, my students are so grateful to have that brain break. And when your students see that you respect them and give them what they need, they are going to do so much more for you! 

If want to see other ways that I build up my relationships with my students, check out my blog post: Spirit Week: Showing Your Students How to Take Risks

And if you want to start off the year right and build those relationships right away, check out my Back to School Bundle.

ELA Teacher Mistake #4: Demand Absolute Silence

The next ELA teacher mistake that I made was forcing a quiet classroom. As a strong Type A personality, I realize that I have a serious need for control. And part of that control is the need for absolute silence. I didn’t want distractions. I didn’t want noises that would leave everyone unfocused. What I wanted was everyone to be working quietly… Or at least pretending to be working. 

And what that created was a few issues. First, some of my students took that silence as a chance to act out. They wanted to break the silence because it made them uncomfortable. The silence was actually the distraction that they needed to fix. Now, I am not approving students acting out. But I do think creating fewer situations where that can happen is better. Secondly, the forced silence led to me constantly correcting behavior. Which was distracting and breaking the silence anyway. Third, my need for silence made me look like a disciplinarian all the time. And that is not my vibe. I can be firm when needed but I do not want to always be strict with my kiddos. 

Solution: Allow the Classroom Background Noise to Stay

While it makes me uncomfortable to let up control. This solution to my ELA teacher mistake was much needed. I allow a low-level bit of background noise at any point in my classroom. Like I said before, I give students time to work in class. If my students want to whisper to each other. Ask questions or just chat about their learning, I no longer stop that. Now, I will not allow the noise level to get above a certain point. I still want my students to focus. And, if I have a student who is bothered by any noise, I allow them to use their headphones and listen to music that will help keep them focused. Without the silence, we all seem to focus better. 

If you want some activities that students can do that work well with just a little background noise, check out my blog post: Top Three Novel Unit Activities That Will Make Your Unit Exciting. 

And if you want to bring some fun to your classroom from Day 1, check out my Back to School Bundle. I promise that you won’t have any complete silence with these activities. 

ELA Teacher Mistake #5: Force Everyone Into a Group

My last ELA teacher mistake was about making everyone work together. This mistake comes from a place of sincerity. I wanted my students to be pushed outside of their comfort zones. And that means for certain projects, everyone works in a group. And you know what that did? It created social anxiety so high for some of my students that they couldn’t function. And they shut down completely. Some were in tears. Others refused to work. And some just zoned out. 

Now, besides stressing out those students. I now had groups of students who wanted to succeed. But, they were stuck with a student who didn’t want to be there anyway. So, who was benefiting? Now, once again, I believe that we are working towards teaching students real life skills. So, yes sometimes, you need to learn to work with others. But, honestly, for most of my projects and assignments, there was not an absolute need to work with someone else.

Solution: Make 90% of Your Projects Work Alone Optional

I have switched my expectations to allow my students more choice. I am all about having choices in my classroom. If you want, you can choose to work alone on almost all my projects. I even allow students to work alone when I have my Hunger Games Team Competition. Students who want to be by themselves normally can handle the workload just fine. And now they don’t have the extra anxiety of socializing in unnecessary situations. 

Notice though that I said 90% of projects. I still have my students work in groups for a few select things such as my socratic seminars and book clubs If you want to see how I set up my book clubs, check out my blog post: How to Teach a Novel Unit That Engages High School Students. 

And if you want some Novel Unit Project Ideas to go with book clubs, check out my top-selling resource HERE. 

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Taylor Swift Lesson Plan: How to Use Taylor Swift Songs as Poetry

Well now you know all the ELA teacher mistakes that you can avoid this yer! I hope you take all of my failures. And, that you learn from them. So, that you can do better in your own classroom! And if you want that extra credit teacher bonus: check out my Back to School Bundle. Have everything you need for those first few days of school ready to go!

If you found this blog post to be really helpful and you want to see more like it, go check out the rest of my blog posts at www.theteacherrewrite.com. And on Instagram @theteacherrewrite. I focus on all the ELA resources, tips, and tricks that you need to make your life easier. Without having to rewrite your curriculum Let me do all the hard work for you! I hope to see you over there! And as always, remember to think smart, not hard. So please don’t make my 5 ELA teacher mistakes and be awesome instead!