Curriculum pacing in middle school can be the hardest part of teaching. Actually, pacing can be hard no matter what level! So when I have emails asking about how I pace my classroom with my resources on my TpT store, I get pretty excited!
I love to get questions and comments from teachers. <3Sometimes I have to stop and appreciate just how awesome is it that we can click a few keys and be in touch with hundreds- or even thousands- of people who face the same challenges we do. And we learn so much from each other!
Lately, teachers have been emailing me asking how I organize the major reading and writing units of study for my 7th grade ELA class. Many have my Teach, Practice, Test units and/or my writing units, and would like to know the suggested order in which to teach them.
The easiest way for me to share this information is by posting my curriculum pacing chart. Click below to download, and feel free to make use of it to plan your own scope and sequence. It can probably help you plan, even if you don’t use the Teach, Practice, Test units OR the writing units listed here. You can substitute whatever materials you prefer.
Making the Pacing Chart Work for You
If you are using some of the resources on the chart, I’m happy to say that they are quite flexible! Each resource comes with:
- Day-to-day lesson plans
- Suggestions for use
- Suggestions for optional changes.
I absolutely do alter the order from year to year, based on:
- District’s mandate
- Students’ needs
- My most hated nemesis- time! (Because just like you, I never seem to have enough of it.)
I also use some of the units concurrently. For example, Context Clues: Teach, Practice, Test can be covered on alternating days during any of the other units. Sometimes I cover the Teach and Practice parts of two units in quick succession and then combine the tests to incorporate both topics. This is easy to do since the tests are all editable.
Curriculum Pacing Suggestion!
The pacing I suggest here presents the order in which I try to use the resources every year. The Teach, Practice, Test topics complement our reading and writing units, so I take that into consideration when planning.
I’ve included my rationale, in order for you to see the relationship between each Teach, Practice, Test resource and some of the other areas of study in our curriculum.
Please note: I haven’t included every part of my curriculum here. I’ve only included the Teach, Practice, Test and writing units, along with some other related components.
Pacing is one of the hardest parts of teaching especially when things change from year to year. This is just one way that you can use my resources in your classroom.
I’m planning on coming back with a breakdown of each semester. I’ll also include suggested reading passages. In the meantime, I hope this helps you structure your school year!
