A Full-Year Middle School ELA Curriculum for the Only ELA Teacher in the Building
ELA Complete – Middle School is a full grades 6–8 reading and writing course for the teacher who is the whole ELA department: 100+ ready resources covering fiction and nonfiction analysis, narrative, informative and argumentative writing, and language skills. Instead of writing every text-based question and essay prompt for three grade levels yourself, you start each week with the lesson and the answer key already done.
See the ELA curriculum →ELA Complete – Middle School is a no-prep curriculum for grades 6–8 with 100+ resources, from $149.90. Reading units cover short stories, excerpts, articles, speeches and informational texts, with plot, character, theme, conflict, author's purpose, point of view and text structure. Writing covers narrative, informative and argumentative pieces from planning to editing, with textual evidence. It gives the only ELA teacher in a school a sequenced year across three grades.
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
Three grades of reading and writing, and only one of you
In a small middle school, the ELA teacher often has sixth, seventh and eighth grade, sometimes in back-to-back periods. Each grade needs its own texts, its own questions and its own writing assignments, and each assignment produces a stack of essays only you will grade. With no grade-level partner, you also have no one to check whether seventh graders actually practiced citing textual evidence before eighth grade expects it. Writing instruction is where this hurts most. Planning, drafting, revising and editing take class time, and when you are alone it is tempting to assign an essay and skip the steps. Reading has its own trap: when you choose every text by hand, the year can drift toward fiction you like and away from articles, speeches and informational texts students will meet on tests and in other classes. The other content teachers in your building also lean on you, because you are the person who teaches paragraph structure. A curriculum that already sequences reading and writing across grades 6–8 replaces the planning partner you do not have.
Why it fits
How it works as your ELA department
Each feature below answers a gap that shows up when one person teaches every ELA section.
- Fiction and nonfiction texts, including speeches and articles, keep reading balanced across the whole year.
- Writing units walk through planning, drafting, revising and editing instead of assigning a finished essay cold.
- Narrative, informative and argumentative writing are all covered, so no genre falls through between grades.
- Textual evidence is taught explicitly, giving you one shared expectation from sixth through eighth grade.
- Answer keys for comprehension work cut grading time so feedback can focus on student writing.
- Differentiated worksheets help readers well below or above grade level work with the same text.
Getting started
Starting the year as a one-person ELA team
A suggested plan for the first two weeks; adjust it to your schedule and students.
- Divide genres across the three gradesDecide which grade leans harder on narrative, informative or argumentative writing this year. Writing it down gives you the vertical plan a department would usually share.
- Run a short story reading lessonStart each grade with a short story and plot, character, setting and conflict questions. It shows you reading levels quickly without a long formal test.
- Teach one evidence paragraphHave students answer one question using a quote from the text and an explanation. This single routine carries into every later essay and every grade level.
- Add a nonfiction text in week twoSwitch to an article or speech and focus on author's purpose and text structure. Students learn that analysis works the same way across fiction and nonfiction.
- Plan the first full writing cycleSchedule planning, drafting, revising and editing across several class periods. Spreading it out keeps grading manageable when every essay lands on your desk alone.
Which version
Picking the version for a solo ELA teacher
The base version at $149.90 includes all 100+ resources and covers reading, writing and language for grades 6–8. The $189.90 version adds Teach-Life-Balance, a digital course with a planner, guides and templates aimed at reducing teacher workload. It has no extra ELA content. Essay grading for three grade levels is a real time sink, so some teachers will want the planning help, but the classroom material is identical in both versions. If your school also asks you to cover a high school English section, buying both Complete Curricula with TEACHMORE15 takes 15% off.
Honest limits
Limits worth knowing before you buy
The texts are short stories, excerpts, articles, speeches and informational pieces. If your school requires specific full-length novels, you supply those and your own novel unit. The curriculum is written for U.S. middle school classrooms, but checking it against your state ELA standards and district requirements is your job. It will not grade essays for you. If another teacher in your school wants to use it, send Teach Lessons a short message first. If it is not a fit, exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value; there are no cash refunds.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is it aligned to Common Core or my state's ELA standards?
It is not endorsed, adopted or certified by any state or by the Common Core, and we make no guarantee of alignment. It is written for U.S. middle school ELA classrooms and covers reading, writing and language. As the only ELA teacher, compare its units with your state standards and district expectations before using it as your main course.
Does it include full novels?
No novel sets are included. Reading work uses short stories, excerpts, articles, speeches and informational texts. If you already teach a class novel, the analysis skills, such as theme, conflict, characterization and point of view, transfer directly to whatever book you use.
How do I handle different reading levels in one class?
The worksheets are differentiated and the curriculum is described as suitable for mixed-ability classrooms. A struggling reader and a strong one can work on the same story with different task levels, which saves you from finding two texts for every lesson.
Can I use it for all three grades at once?
Yes, that is the most common way a solo ELA teacher would use it. Units can be used in sequence or individually, so you can assign different units to each grade, or use the same text with higher expectations for eighth graders on evidence and structure.
Does it cover grammar?
Language and communication is one of the three main areas, next to reading and writing. Editing is also part of the writing process units, so grammar shows up in the context of students' own drafts as well as in separate practice.
Will a sub be able to run lessons?
The material is described as flexible for substitute teaching. A reading passage with comprehension questions and an answer key is easy for a sub to run when you are out. That helps when you are the only ELA teacher and nobody else knows where your classes are.
One ELA teacher, one sequenced year
See the full list of what is included on the product page.
See the ELA curriculum →