The 9 English Lessons We Love Most


True story - the nine of us teachers who write for The Secondary English Coffee Shop aren't just random English teachers. We're friends, collaborators, and virtual co-workers who help each other through this adventure called teaching.

Along the way, we've bought and used each other's lessons, projects, and resources. Today, we're going to tell you about the resources from fellow teacher-authors that we love the most!


Research Stations
"Last spring, I used Room 213's Research Stations for the first time, and they were such a hit with my class! My 9th graders really needed the extra practice with in-text citations and creating a Works Cited. They loved how each station focused on one concept and the sample texts assured that everyone was on the same page. Thanks to Room 213, I'm a stations convert, and I'm looking forward to trying out her new Shakespeare stations!" - Nouvelle ELA




Writing Lessons: Essays are like Meals
"If your students are anything like mine, they lack excitement when it comes to writing essays.  Luckily, Secondary Sara created a product that is deliciously irresistible!  Her five paragraph essay bundle breaks down each section of the essay into a meal (appetizer, main course, dessert, etc.) for an easy comparison in the eyes of our students.  As you can see in the photo, dessert represents the conclusion.  Can you imagine your students' faces if you brought in a tasty treat?! Because of Sara's product, I can confidently say that your students will master the essay writing process! Bon appetit!" -The SuperHERO Teacher


Daily Writing Prompts
I love writing prompts, but what I love even more is a quick and easy way to assess them! You'll find both in The Classroom Sparrow's Full Year of Daily Writing Prompts. She has a theme for each day of the week and each prompt has the students thinking creatively and critically. Best of all, there is a checklist for giving feedback on the bottom of each page. It doesn't get much better than that! -Room 213




Growth Mindset Posters
Presto Plans has a lot of great posters and displays, but lately I’ve been all about her growth mindset posters. There’s a great mix of 20 famous people and their inspirational quotes about perseverance, failure, and success. (My favorite part was that each one also had a mini bio of the person, in case a student didn’t recognize the person pictured.) The posters were also very easy to print and hang! Awesome whether you need a quick bulletin board OR want to use her included activities for a Quote of the Week setup. - Secondary Sara

Clip & Flip Poetic Devices

These task cards are a great way to help students practice identifying poetic devices and figurative language. Students simply clip the devices they find in the excerpt and then flip the card to self-check. Read more at the Secondary English Coffee Shop blog.
Nouvelle ELA’s Clip and Flip poetic device cards are a fun addition to any poetry unit.  Students read one of the 30 poems, attach paper clips to the devices they find, then flip the card over to see if they placed the clips correctly! What’s also great about the cards is you can laminate them and have students annotate the poem using dry erase markers.  The cards can be used in so many ways.  They work great at a poetry station, but could also be used for independent practice, or even as a bell-ringer. Thanks to Nouvelle ELA for this fun, interactive resource!  Presto Plans


Interview With Cupid


I love holiday-themed assignments, so I wanted to share one of the most memorable activities I completed around this time of year (Valentine's Day) with you! Addie Williams' Interview With Cupid is a fun, creative and thorough Valentine writing activity. Every element of the assignment is explored - best of all, students and teachers will get a kick out of reading these interviews after the final drafts have been completed! - The Classroom Sparrow


Annotating Text Made Easy

When I went back to full-time teaching last September, I was a mess. A hot mess. I needed all the help I could get, and that's why I was excited and relieved to find The Daring English Teacher's incredible resource: Annotating Text Made Easy. I used it with my Grade 11 class who were analyzing personal narratives, and they loved every aspect of it: the clear informative slideshow, the helpful practice exercise, and the useful bookmark reminders. Plus, I got a little breathing room during a hectic time; what more could you ask for from a teacher-friend? - Stacey Lloyd


Complexity Wheel for Novel Study
Like many other secondary ELA teachers, I require my students to complete an outside reading requirement each quarter. I want to students to develop a love reading, but I also need to make sure that they truly are reading. That is why I turned to The SuperHERO Teacher's Complexity Wheel Novel Study Package. This resource was the perfect combination of rigor and excitement for my students; they loved the resource's interactive features, and I loved the resource's complexity and thoroughness. I used the bell ringers to get the students thinking about their novel, and we tackled a new aspect of the complexity wheel every couple days. It's the ideal resource for a novel unit or independent reading project! - The Daring English Teacher


Figurative Language Worksheets
I could not have been happier to find Stacey Lloyd’s amazing package of Teaching Figurative Language  Techniques ~ Worksheets pack last year!  It had everything I needed to help my 9th and 10th grade students review and learn figurative language.  Each attractively designed page has a figurative language term and its definition, examples and room for students to explore how to use and incorporate the technique into their own writing.  And the best comment was from a student who told me that he was going to keep his set “to help me in English class next year”. High praise indeed! ~Addie Williams


We hope you enjoy these lessons as much as we have! 
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