Episode 8: All That Miscellaneous ELA “Stuff”

The plates of English teachers everywhere are full. There is so much ELA stuff to deal with. Things directly related to our content area, but probably weren’t top of mind when we imagined ourselves as English teachers. Things tangentially related, but we sort of resent needing to spend “our” time on. Things that really aren’t under our direct purview at all, but we do because they involve reading or writing or become “ours” by virtue of the fact that all students enter our building.

Grammar, vocabulary, literary devices, college application essays (if you’re teaching seniors) plus our regular ELA curriculum – how are we supposed to fit it all in? It can often feel like English class is synonymous with “dumping ground” in secondary school. Regardless of the reason, all this ELA stuff means we end up being responsible for a lot.

We think we need no spoiler alert before saying, there is absolutely no way you can get everything done. It’s just not possible. But, while it’s not possible to do everything, that doesn’t mean you don’t need to do anything. In this episode of the podcast, we’re talking about how we figured out what we wanted to do, what we had time to do, what we could do well, what we needed to outsource, and what we needed to just plain give up. If you’re feeling the ELA stuff overwhelm (and let’s be honest, who isn’t), we hope listening will give you a little relief and a few ideas for your own classroom.