Middle School ELA Curriculum for a First-Year ELA Teacher
A first-year ELA teacher with grades 6–8 can use ELA Complete – Middle School as the backbone of the year: 100+ resources on reading fiction and nonfiction, writing narrative, informative and argumentative pieces, and language skills. The texts, questions and writing tasks are already sequenced, so your evenings go to reading student work instead of hunting for a short story that fits Thursday.
See the ELA curriculum →ELA Complete – Middle School (Grades 6–8) by Teach Lessons is a no-prep ELA curriculum with 100+ resources for $149.90, or $189.90 with the Teach-Life-Balance course. It covers reading comprehension of short stories, excerpts, articles and speeches; plot, character, theme, conflict, point of view and text structure; narrative, informative and argumentative writing from planning to editing; and using textual evidence. It gives a first-year teacher a full sequence to teach from.
The curriculum
ELA Complete – Middle School, Grades 6–8
Start with the full curriculum. The other resources below are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
The real problem
What actually swamps a first-year middle school ELA teacher
ELA is the subject where a new teacher's time disappears into grading. Every essay you assign comes back as a stack of 120 papers, and if the assignment was thrown together the night before, the essays are vague and slow to score. The planning itself has its own trap. There is no shortage of texts online, but finding a short story that suits sixth graders, writing questions that reach theme instead of plot recall, and building a writing task that grows out of that reading takes hours per lesson. Middle school readers also span a huge range. In one seventh-grade class you may have students reading well above grade level next to students who struggle with a single paragraph, and both groups need to work on the same skill. Then there is sequencing writing: students need paragraph structure before multi-paragraph essays, and they need to cite evidence before they can argue. A new teacher building week by week often skips steps and ends up reteaching.
Why it fits
How it supports a first year of middle school ELA
Reading and writing are built to connect, so the text students analyze feeds directly into what they write about.
- Short stories, excerpts, articles, speeches and informational texts are chosen and paired with questions already.
- Lessons on plot, character, setting, theme and conflict move students from summary toward real analysis.
- Author's purpose, point of view and text structure lessons cover nonfiction, not just stories.
- Writing moves from paragraph structure to full essays, with planning, drafting, revising and editing steps.
- Tasks on using textual evidence prepare students for argumentative writing before you assign a big essay.
- Differentiated worksheets let strong and struggling readers work on the same skill in one period.
Getting started
Your first two weeks with it
A suggested opening for a middle school ELA class. Adjust for your block length and any school-wide reading program.
- Begin with a short storyOpen with a short story lesson on plot and character. Students can finish the reading in class, which shows you who reads fluently and who needs support.
- Collect a baseline paragraphUse a paragraph structure task to get a writing sample from every student. Keep it short so you can read all of them that week.
- Move to a nonfiction textTeach an article or speech with the author's purpose and point of view questions. Students see early that ELA covers more than fiction. Keep the article short so the focus stays on the skill rather than the reading load.
- Practice citing evidenceUse the textual evidence tasks so students learn to point to a line in the text. This sets up every essay you assign later. Model one example aloud before students try their own.
- Set your grading rhythmDecide which tasks you grade fully and which you only check. Use answer keys for comprehension work so essays get your real attention. Write the plan down so you can stick to it when the first essays arrive.
Which version
Picking the right version
Both versions contain the same 100+ ELA resources. The $149.90 version is the curriculum alone and is enough for a full first year in grades 6–8. The $189.90 version adds Teach-Life-Balance, a digital course with a planner, guides and templates for organizing a teacher's workload. It contains no reading or writing lessons. For an ELA teacher, where essay grading eats weekends, the planner and templates may be the part that helps most with time, but the curriculum works fully without them.
Honest limits
What it leaves to you
It does not include full-length novels; the reading is built on short stories, excerpts, articles, speeches and informational texts, so a class novel is your choice and purchase. It does not grade essays for you. It is written for U.S. middle school classrooms, and you should check it against your state's ELA standards and any district-required texts or assessments. Pacing is yours. If your grade-level team wants to share it, message Teach Lessons first. If it is not a fit, you can exchange it for store credit of equal value within 7 days, not a cash refund.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is it aligned to Common Core or my state's ELA standards?
Teach Lessons does not claim it is approved, endorsed or certified as aligned to Common Core or any state standards. It is written for U.S. middle school ELA and covers reading comprehension, text analysis, writing and language. Check it against your state standards and district expectations, and note any skills or required texts you need to add.
My school uses a set class novel. Can I still use this?
Yes. You can use the curriculum as a full sequence or pull individual units. Many of the skills, such as theme, characterization and citing evidence, carry over to a novel, so you can teach a skill with a short text first and then apply it to the class book.
How does it handle students reading far below grade level?
The worksheets are differentiated and the curriculum is described as suitable for mixed-ability classrooms. Shorter texts such as excerpts and articles also make it easier for struggling readers to finish and take part in discussion. You can also pair a struggling reader with a partner for the text, then have each student answer the questions on their own worksheet.
Does it teach all three essay types?
It covers narrative, informative and argumentative writing, along with paragraph and essay structure and the full process from planning to editing. Using textual evidence is included, which is the step argumentative writing depends on. One approach is to start with narrative writing, which most students find easiest, and work toward argumentative essays later in the year.
Can I use it for 6th, 7th and 8th grade at once?
It is written for grades 6–8. With differentiated materials you can teach different grades from it, expecting more independence and longer writing from older students. The product page lists what is included. Since the units follow the same structure, students moving up a grade will recognize the format and need less time to learn routines.
Will it help with sub plans?
The description lists substitute teaching as an intended use. A short text with comprehension questions and an answer key is easy for a sub to run and easy for you to check when you return. Keep a folder of two or three of these ready from the first week so an unexpected absence does not cost you an evening of planning.
Grade essays, not lesson plans, this year
Open the product page to see the full list of reading and writing resources, then choose your version.
See the ELA curriculum →