Schoolmarms

Designed for educators who are teaching mindfulness to middle or high school students, these worksheets keep students focused and allow them to thoughtfully reflect on each lesson. In my own experience teaching mindfulness to high schoolers, I found that some students needed a little more structure to keep them focused on the mindfulness lessons. I designed these worksheets to keep the students engaged during the lessons, and I have found myself quite moved and inspired at the honesty in which t

Get your students thinking about their characters in preparation for their monologues! This list of 12 questions focus on the WHO WHAT WHY WHERE and HOW of their character and monologue. They are also instructed to turn in an annotated copy of their monologue on performance day. Save $$$, buy the BUNDLE! Get all nine of my Drama Class activities! Click here for more info: Drama Class! BUNDLE *************************************************************************************************

Empower your students to complete an Argumentative Essay! This lesson bundle is designed for beginning-to-intermediate students and includes colorful presentations and a student packet. Here's what's included: Writing the Introduction (with student notes) Writing the Body Paragraphs (with student notes) Writing the Conclusion (with student notes) The Argumentative Essay Student Packet (with teacher notes) ***************************************************************************************

Let’s face it, teaching the research paper can be the bane of teaching English. It is a long and complicated process, and is especially daunting for students who have low skills, a lack of maturity, and/or are English learners. I have taught in low-performing, urban high schools for many years, and have seen the gamut of research paper units and guidelines for the high school level. Though many of them are well-done and very thorough (as in 40 pages of directions and 6 weeks of class time), t

This worksheet guides the students through the steps of creating their own talk show for the stage. The worksheet includes the rules of the talk show (for example, "no shouting matches"), ideas for show topics, directions for writing a rough script, and a grading rubric. The students are also instructed to keep themselves open to improv, because you never know what's going to happen in a talk show! Save $$$, buy the BUNDLE! Get all nine of my Drama Class activities for 50% off! Click here

This lesson for middle to high school students includes a PowerPoint which briefly explains the amygdala, hippocampus, and pre-frontal cortex, as well as how the amygdala responds to danger and stress. For example, what happens in your brain when a tiger crosses your path on the sidewalk? After the presentation the students begin the worksheet by writing down what they remember about the brain and answering questions. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet wit

One day I realized that many of the students sitting in my Drama class had other talents, for example, singing, dancing, stand-up comedy, playing instruments, etc. I decided I wanted to give each and every one of them the opportunity to put their talent on stage. Thus, Talent Show was born. The students can work alone or with a group. This worksheet helps them plan their group and their act before their performance. Btw, students who claim they have no outside talents have the option of doin

This lesson begins with a 3-slide PowerPoint which gets middle and high school students thinking about the amount of time between stimulus and response. After the presentation, the worksheet: students will begin by responding to Viktor Frankl's famous quote, thinking about where their breath goes in their body (btw, the answer to #3 is "anchor"!), and writing about how they normally respond to things that make them angry. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet

This worksheet asks middle and high school students what might be the benefits of knowing where your mind is going, followed by a description of the train metaphor of mindfulness. Your thoughts are like trains--they come and go, and you don't have to jump on every one. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. The practice of the day should have the students be aware of every time their thoughts wander off, and then have them gent

This is a great activity to get new or reluctant Drama students on stage, or to let more advanced students show their creativity. Working alone or with a partner, the students will write their own advice column and then perform it. For a literature assignment, students take on the persona of a character and, as that character, ask for advice for a problem he/she is experiencing. Skills developed: writing a script, being in front of an audience, speaking clearly, emoting Save $$$, buy the B

This lesson guides middle and high school students to be mindful of their cell phone use. The worksheet guides students to explore the good and the bad of cell phones, to think about their own level of cell phone use, and includes a short explanation of dopamine and how it affects our brain. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. A script is provided for the practice. This is followed by a written reflection, and a challenge f

This worksheet, designed for middle to high school students, covers the difficult practice of acceptance--even when we don't like something. The students explore this concept through a story about two friends who are having trouble in their relationship. The students are then asked to think about a difficult situation in their life and how it would feel to accept it. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. I will generally begi

Designed for middle to high school students, this worksheet presents the poem "Guest House," by Rumi, for the students to read and reflect on before practice. The poem asks the reader to welcome every emotion that comes into our "house" because every emotion, good or bad, is a teacher. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. The teacher will lead the students in a body scan mindfulness meditation, after which they will write a r

Often we don't realize how self-critical we can be of ourselves, so this lesson encourages middle to high school students to be mindful of their self-talk. This worksheet challenges students to be aware of negative things they say to themselves and to replace those negative statements with positive statements. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. A script is included for use during the mindfulness practice. After the practi

This worksheet, designed for middle to high school students, teaches that sending kind thoughts, or heartfulness, is an important part of mindfulness. This worksheet asks students about their definition of kindness, followed by drawing a picture of the person to whom they want to send kind thoughts in today's practice. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. I will generally begin the mindfulness practice by doing a calming exe

This worksheet asks middle to high school students to reflect on what they are grateful for in their lives. They begin by responding to a quote about thankful people, followed by filling in a box with things that they are thankful for--including things they are thankful for about themselves. They are then asked to write how it feels to be thankful. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. I will generally begin the mindfulness

These visually interesting and engaging graphic organizers teach students new vocabulary with ease! Students are asked to use a combination of cognitive thinking skills as well as creative skills to assist them in committing new vocabulary to their long term memory. Chart 1.0 asks the students to write five different items: 1) the vocabulary word, 2) the vocabulary word’s definition and part of speech, 3) an example of the word, 4) the word in a sentence, and 5) a picture representing the wor

Designed for middle and high school students, this worksheet guides the students to really think about the effect that mindfulness practice is having on their brains. The students are first guided to draw a picture of what is going on in their brain before mindfulness practice begins. This is followed by mindfulness practice, which is cued on the worksheet with a “Let’s Practice” picture. I will generally do a practice that focuses on releasing thoughts and/or relaxing the body. Then after pra

I love The Crucible because of the deep essential questions that it raises about society. This assignment asks the students to pick one of six essential questions—such as “How does a collective fear affect a group of people?”--and to make a poster analyzing that essential question from the multiple perspectives of different characters, Arthur Miller, and themselves. What you get: 1. Directions--includes the six essential questions and poster format 2. Pre-made poster format--this is attached

This packet of graphic organizers is designed for beginning-to-intermediate student writers who need extra help organizing their argumentative essays. The packet guides them through brainstorming, writing an outline, and completing the rough draft. The students will do all three sections in the packet itself--no need for loose leaf paper and handouts getting lost in the shuffle! The rough draft section of the packet guides students through the specific parts of the introduction, body paragrap