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The importance of public speaking skills for students

Why is public speaking important for students? Teaching oral communication can improve your classroom activities and equip students with lifelong skills.

Erik Palmer
Program Consultant, Into Reading and Into Literature

WF1288378 Shaped 2020 Blog Halloween Math Activities Hero Literature

Get your ELA class into the spirit with these fun Halloween activities for middle school and high school students, and learn from a few masters of horror how to really make those spines tingle and those bones shake.

Ali Habashi
Former Shaped Editor

Brenda Iasevoli
Shaped Executive Editor

Oral reading fluency group reading hero

This article answers the question, what is oral reading fluency? It provides fluency teaching strategies after defining fluency and explaining why it’s important.

Dr. Amy Endo
Education Research Director, Supplemental & Intervention Language & Literacy

What Is Translanguaging

What is translanguaging? Learn the definition of translanguaging and strategies for translanguaging in the multilingual classroom.

Drs. Yvonne and David Freeman
Authors, On Our Way to English, Professors Emeriti, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley

Coaching3

What is student-centered coaching? To meet students’ individual needs, teachers may consider coaching that analyzes data and formulates student-centered goals.

Michelle Smith
Professional Services Consultant, HMH

Student reading

Support students with these seven tips to maximize middle school and high school reading intervention and help your students become better readers.

Shelley Branine
Instructional Coach, HMH

How to write a rap

Teach your students how to write a rap with Dr. Chris Emdin using this rap lesson plan, complete with a writing template, rubric, and teacher guide.

Shaped Staff

Hmh Elementary 2017 48114

Explore “All About Me”​ activities for elementary and middle school students. Help your students to celebrate what makes them different.

Onalee Smith
Shaped Contributor

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Help your middle schoolers sharpen their writing and critical thinking skills with activities including a poetry scavenger hunt and an opportunity for them to invent a board game.

Shaped Staff

Student reading

Sharpen your writing, language, critical thinking, and reading skills with these instructional resources for Grades 6-8, including a poetry scavenger hunt.

Shaped Staff

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High schoolers can sharpen their writing skills with activities including a reflective essay on the past school year and a playlist for a book they read.

Shaped Staff

Activityset3

Have middle schoolers identify figurative language, start a dialectical journal, and respond to daily dinner prompts.

Shaped Staff

13 Classroom New Year's Activities for Students

Ready for a fresh start in your classroom? Say goodbye to the old and hello to the new with our fun New Year's activities for students.

Brenda Iasevoli
Shaped Executive Editor

Middle school students using laptops

Discover English 3D’s impact on multilingual students in the Community Consolidated School District 15 in Chicago, Illinois.

Alicia Ivory
Shaped Editor

Shaped Staff

Activityset2

Have high schoolers analyze a poem, summarize an informational text, and write effective arguments with this week's downloadables activities.

Shaped Staff

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Have middle schoolers create a Story Spine, find inspiration in everyday objects, and write an advice column.

Shaped Staff

Activityset 5

High schoolers can sharpen their writing, language, critical thinking, and reading skills with these instructional resources.

Shaped Staff

Activityset 5

Teach students about metaphors and have them write fiction stories with these free downloadable activities for middle schoolers.

Shaped Staff