1.1: ELA Vision: Overview

The Vision for Middle School ELA

NHA’s vision for middle school ELA is anchored in four core beliefs.

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The Vision for Middle School ELA

Behind the Scenes

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• Student engagement with complex texts
• Opportunities for authentic writing
• Strong teacher modeling and guided practice
• Meaningful discussion and collaboration
• A classroom culture that values literacy

Watch the vision for MS ELA come to life in the compilation video.

Panic! At The Disco. (2018). High hopes [Song]. On Pray for the wicked. Fueled by Ramen.

Belief #2

We are what we repeatedly do.

Literacy skills are not built in a day. Students need daily, structured opportunities to read, write, and discuss so that these practices become habits. Consistency is what builds confidence and capacity.

Belief #1

We teach the reader, not the text.

Our focus is on building student skill, not just moving through material. Texts are chosen intentionally—not as content to be delivered, but as tools to teach students how to read, analyze, and think critically.

Belief #3

We must teach students to read before they can read to learn.

Students cannot be expected to learn from texts they cannot access. It’s an unfortunate fact that we have students in middle school who struggle with simple decoding. Thankfully, a lot of that is tackled in intervention and we can get down to the business of reading to learn. We provide explicit instruction in reading comprehension, modeling strategies and guiding practice so students build the skills to read independently and think critically.

Belief #4

We must inspire a love of reading in all students.

Many of our students arrive in middle school with fractured relationships with reading. Our job is to rebuild that relationship through relevant texts, authentic conversations, and joyful classroom routines.