What should a middle school ELA curriculum include?
What should a middle school ELA curriculum include?
A solid middle school ELA curriculum builds four strands across grades 6 to 8: close reading of fiction and nonfiction, writing in narrative, informative and argumentative modes, language and vocabulary, and speaking and listening. Each year should ask for more independence and more evidence. This page lays out those strands, where programs usually fall short, a sample opening sequence, and one ready-made option.
View the middle school ELA setA middle school ELA curriculum should include regular close reading of both literature and informational texts, explicit teaching of plot, character, theme, point of view and text structure, and writing in narrative, informative and argumentative modes with a real revision cycle. Add grammar and vocabulary taught inside reading and writing, plus structured discussion. Across grades 6 to 8, texts get longer, prompts get more open, and students cite evidence with less support each year.
Ready-made material
ELA Complete – Middle School, Grades 6–8
The first cover is the main resource; the others are related options. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School ELA
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for High School ELA (Grades 9–12)
Grade 6 ELA Pack | Grammar, Writing Prompts, Word Study & Reading
Teach-Life-Balance: The Complete Time-Saving Course for Teachers (incl. Planner, Guides & Templates)
Why it is hard
Where middle school ELA programs fall short
Many programs are lopsided. Some are a novel list with comprehension questions attached, so students read a lot but never learn to write about what they read. Others are a writing program with short excerpts as decoration. Both leave gaps that show up in eighth grade, when students are asked to argue a claim about a text and cite evidence for it. A second problem is repetition without growth. If sixth, seventh and eighth graders all get the same find-the-main-idea worksheet, nobody moves forward. Students need a clear progression: in grade 6 they identify a theme with a sentence frame, and by grade 8 they trace how that theme develops and explain it in a paragraph of their own. Nonfiction is often thin, too. Articles, speeches and informational texts appear once a quarter, so students never get comfortable with author's purpose or text structure. Grammar taught in isolated drills rarely shows up in their writing. Mixed-ability classes add pressure, since one text with one task leaves strong readers bored and weaker readers lost.
What works
What a well-built program contains
Use this as a checklist when you review what you already teach or compare programs side by side.
- Every unit pairs a core literary text with at least one article, speech or informational piece.
- Literary elements are taught one at a time, then combined: plot and conflict come before theme.
- Students write every week, with at least one full draft, revise and edit cycle per unit.
- Argument writing starts in sixth grade with one claim, one reason and one quoted piece of evidence.
- Grammar and vocabulary lessons use sentences from the texts students are reading that week.
- Tasks come in two or three levels so the whole class can work on the same text.
Step by step
A sample sequence for the first quarter
Here is one way to order the opening units in any middle school grade. Two to three weeks per unit is a reasonable starting point; adjust it to your calendar.
- Short stories and plotStart with two or three short stories. Teach exposition, conflict, climax and resolution, and have students map one story on a plot diagram before they write a short narrative of their own.
- Character and point of viewRead a story told in first person next to one told in third person. Students track what a character says, does and thinks, and explain how the narrator shapes what readers know.
- Informational texts and structureSwitch to articles. Teach cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem and solution. Students annotate signal words and write an informative paragraph that uses one structure on purpose.
- Theme across two textsReturn to fiction and pair two texts on a shared topic. Students state a theme as a full sentence and support it with two quotations, using a sentence frame at first if they need one.
- First argument essayUse a speech or opinion article as a model. Students take a side on a class question, plan with a claim, reason and evidence organizer, draft, get peer feedback and revise.
Ready-made option
A full middle school program, already sequenced
ELA Complete – Middle School is built around these same strands. It holds 100+ resources for Grades 6–8 in carefully sequenced units: reading comprehension and text analysis with short stories, excerpts, articles, speeches and informational texts; plot, character, setting, theme, conflict, author's purpose, point of view and text structure; narrative, informative and argumentative writing from planning to editing; and language and communication. It starts at $149.90, or $189.90 with the Teach-Life-Balance course. You can teach it as a full sequence or pull single units. If you mainly need extra grammar and writing practice for sixth grade, the Grade 6 ELA Pack ($10.99, parts bought separately $14.96) is the smaller step.
Honest limits
What you still decide yourself
The curriculum gives you units, worksheets, slides and answer keys, but it does not pick your class novel or run your independent reading program. You set the pacing, choose which units fit your grade, and add any texts your school requires. Compare the units with your state's ELA standards before you plan the year; Teach Lessons makes no alignment claim. The licence covers your own classroom, so a department that wants to share it should send Teach Lessons a short message first. If it does not fit your class, you can exchange it within 7 days for store credit of equal value. That is store credit, not cash.
Good to know
More teacher questions
How much time should go to reading versus writing?
Plan for both every week and make them feed each other. If students read a speech on Monday, they should write about it or borrow one of its moves by Friday. A week with no writing, or a week of writing with no reading behind it, is a sign the plan has drifted.
Should every student read the same novel?
A shared core text gives the class a common reference for discussion and for modeling analysis. Many classrooms add choice reading alongside it, through book clubs or independent reading time, so students practice the same skills on books at their own level. One whole-class novel per semester plus shorter shared texts is a manageable mix for most middle school schedules.
How do I teach grammar so it shows up in writing?
Teach one rule at a time, model it with a sentence from the current text, then require it in that week's writing. Ask students to highlight where they used it. Short daily practice helps with recall, but the transfer happens when the rule is part of the writing task and part of the feedback students get on it.
Does this curriculum line up with my state's ELA standards?
Teach Lessons does not claim alignment with any set of standards, so check it yourself. Take your grade's reading, writing and language standards and compare them with the unit topics: literary elements, text structure, the three writing types and the use of evidence. Your district or department decides what counts as coverage, and you may need to add pieces.
How do I handle readers far above and below grade level?
Keep the text and the question the same and change the support. Struggling readers get the passage read aloud, a glossary and sentence frames; strong readers get a second text or a more open prompt. The ELA Complete units are written for mixed-ability classrooms, which saves you building every level from scratch.
Can I use the program for sub days or review?
Yes. The units are flexible for full units, short lessons, review or substitute teaching, and they come with answer keys, so a substitute can run a lesson from the worksheet and slides. Leave a short note naming the unit and the pages to use, and the day stays on track.
Plan the year once, then teach it
Start with the strands above, then fill the gaps with units you do not have to write yourself.
View the middle school ELA set