Looking for a Midyear Boost? Use this ELA Guide to Strengthen Instruction

With the middle of the school year offering the opportunity to refine and build on effective practices, some ELA teachers may be asking themselves the following questions:

• Are my lessons as clear and purposeful as they could be?
• Are students really showing their thinking, or just completing tasks?
• How do I refine instruction to build on learning from the first semester?

That’s where NIET’s free ELA Companion Guide comes in.

Designed to be used alongside a full classroom lesson video, this guide helps educators pause, reflect, and sharpen instruction using a research-based classroom example of teaching and learning.

View the Companion Guide

The Companion Guide invites educators to examine their instructional approach before, during, and after a lesson, along with reflective questions and insightful prompts that connect directly to student learning. This resource helps teachers analyze how to establish a lesson objective, promote student thinking, and collect evidence of learning. Watch the full 8th-grade English lesson that accompanies this companion guide for a comprehensive perspective on an effective lesson, from conception to execution. 

Opportunities to learn from real classrooms, students, and strategies make it easier to translate ideas into one's own practice, as noted by NIET partner Stephen Prince in Cross County School District, Arkansas. As teachers prepare for the second semester, resources like those on NIET’s learning platform, EE PASS, offer meaningful, flexible opportunities to reflect, refine, and move forward with confidence.

What I appreciate most is the ability to analyze evidence side-by-side with teachers. Instead of asking teachers to take my word for it, I can show them exactly what strong instruction looks like and help them identify strategies they can apply immediately in their own classrooms.

Stephen Prince, Master Teacher and Inaugural NIET Fellow, Cross County High School

Curious about what other valuable resources EE PASS can offer your school? Contact info@niet.org to explore how the platform can strengthen your existing work and accelerate teacher and student growth.