- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- California Community Colleges
- Class Routines
- Classroom Ideas
- Conference Highlights
- Critical Thinking
- Vocabulary
CATESOL Conference Reflections: Part I
The annual CATESOL conference is a professional development event for ESL educators in California and Nevada. I attended this weekend and will summarize some tidbits I learned about critical thinking and also vocabulary strategies. Read More
Jessica AggreyDecember 9, 2018 
Error Correction Telephone
Here’s another way you can structure error correction to liven up your class and put the fun in grammar.Read More
Jessica AggreyNovember 30, 2018 
Quote Search Posters
Use this post-reading poster activity to help students dig into readings and prepare for a synthesis essay. Read More
Jessica AggreyNovember 21, 2018 
- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- California Community Colleges
- Conference Highlights
- Reading
Close Reading Folders
Get your students to work together to unpack and better understand key passages from a text you’re working on in class with this close reading group activity. Read More
Jessica AggreyNovember 19, 2018 
Participation Stations
This activity structure is a great way to get all students in your class engaged and working, even the shy ones. I piloted it in my class today, and my students enjoyed it. I used it for a post-reading activity, but it could also work well for other topics as well. Read More
Jessica AggreyNovember 15, 2018 
Grammar Baseball
Error correction activities are a useful way to help students learn to analyze language and fix common errors. Try grammar baseball to engage your class with this fun game format. Read More
Jessica AggreyNovember 1, 2018 
Review Grid
This evening at the beginning of class, I wrote a grid on the whiteboard. I asked students to write two …Read More
Jessica AggreyOctober 16, 2018 
A Lesson on Topic Sentences
If you teach a class where writing is a focus, then you’ll most likely be covering topic sentences at some point. This post has a slide presentation that can help you introduce and your students learn all about writing clear topic sentences. Read More
Jessica AggreySeptember 9, 2018 
Common Errors: Examples and Handout
Learning to self-correct is an important skill language learners must develop. Check out this list of common errors I’ve been collecting. Share it with your students to help them review the mistakes they make the most.Read More
Jessica AggreySeptember 6, 2018 
Book Group Roles
Group work is a wonderful way to get students to collaborate and learn together. The best way to assure that everyone actively participates is to assign everyone in the group a specific task to be responsible for. If you put your students into book groups, check out these roles. Read More
Jessica AggreyAugust 30, 2018 
Vocabulary Knowledge Share
Here’s an activity to help you introduce a new topic and get students to grow their vocabulary on it. It will get your students to activate their own schema about the topic and then share what they know with their classmates, helping everyone to expand their knowledge.Read More
Jessica AggreyAugust 22, 2018 
- Advanced Composition
- California Community Colleges
- Grammar
- Group Activity
- Reading
- simple past tense
- Verbs
- Writing
Writing, Grammar, and Punctuation Tie the Knot at RACE-2-WRITE
Have you been looking for a great way to help your students practice writing? Learn about the game Race-2-Write that will get your students writing while at the same time helping them become more aware of grammar with its awesome color-coding function.Read More
Jacinto GardeaAugust 21, 2018 
Save Time with a Master Google Slide Template
Do you use Google Slides to create your lesson plans? If so, you should definitely have a Google Slide document where you keep templates of slides you really like and want to use again. It will cut down on your prep time. Read More
Jessica AggreyAugust 12, 2018 
- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- Classroom Ideas
- Graphic Organizers
- Group Activity
- Lessons and Handouts
- Technology
- Video
Collaborative Knowledge Base with Google Sheets
Yesterday at my college’s convocation, we did a group discussion activity that had us using Google Sheets as a place …Read More
Jessica AggreyAugust 10, 2018 
- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Classroom Ideas
- Discussion
- Graphic Organizers
- Group Activity
- Lessons and Handouts
Poster Presentations: A Scaffold to Public Speaking
Speaking is an essential part of learning a language, and public speaking is a needed skill in school and life. Check out this poster presentation format to help scaffold academic presentations skills for your students.Read More
Jessica AggreyAugust 8, 2018 
- Acceleration
- Community Building
- Discussion
- Discussion Game
- Graphic Organizers
- Icebreaker
- Lessons and Handouts
The True/False Grid
Check out this True/False grid community building activity. It's a great way to help the class get to know you in a fun and competitive way. It also gets them talking, so that's an added bonus.Read More
Jessica AggreyAugust 1, 2018 
LMS Homepage Buttons
Are you getting read for the start of the fall semester? Use these navigation buttons to help make the homepage on your course's LMS engaging and easy to navigate. Read More
Jessica AggreyJuly 31, 2018 
- Acceleration
- Activity Ideas
- Advanced Composition
- Classroom Ideas
- Group Activity
- Reading
- Teacher Tips
Annotating Together: An Activity for Building Reading Strategies
Do you have students who are hesitant to write on a text? Use this classroom activity to help emphasize the importance of annotating while reading and help students build a repertoire of annotation strategies. Read More
Jessica AggreyJuly 13, 2018 
The Parking Lot: A Place for Untimely Questions
As teachers, we need to stay on task for the sake of the whole class while still making sure all of our students feel that they’re heard and their questions, unrelated as they may be, are important. Check out this simple, yet effective, way to put unrelated questions on hold without forgetting them. Read More
Jessica AggreyJuly 11, 2018 
- Activity Ideas
- Class Routines
- Classroom Ideas
- Community Building
- Education
- Syllabus
- Teacher Tips
- Technology
Student Feedback Form: Class Norm
Getting feedback from our students during the semester is very helpful. It also gives students a chance to express their feelings or possible concerns about a class. Check out this idea for an open form where students can submit feedback anytime they feel the need.Read More
Jessica AggreyJuly 5, 2018 
