What to do when Admin Says, “Just Use the Standards”

At the beginning of each year, you look at the long list of standards you’re required to teach (and likely shed a few tears). How are you going to cover all of this? And where do you begin? You reach out to your admin or ELA coach for support, and they tell you, “Just use the standards!” Right. As if you hadn’t thought about that… That response is all too common. I want to share what to do when you’re told to simply teach the standards, and how you can create an ELA pacing guide that helps you make sense of everything you need to teach.

The Problem with “Just Use the Standards”

Unfortunately, “just use the standards” is a response I’ve heard before. When I stepped into middle school for the first time, I had no curriculum and no guidance. I’d taught elementary school prior, but middle school felt like a whole new world. And when I went searching for support, I was told to turn to the standards. Thanks, I guess?

The problem with the “just use the standards” advice is that the standards don’t give you a plan for your instruction. They’re goal posts that you’re aiming for. Standards don’t tell you what to teach day by day. And your grade-level standards don’t show you the before steps either. They tell you what the expectations are for students and where they should land.

So, how do you actually get students to that “finish line”? That’s where having an ELA pacing guide is helpful. A pacing guide helps you map out your curriculum and standards across the year. It breaks down the content and standards, day by day and week by week, so you know exactly what to teach and when.

Turning Standards into a Plan

Whether you’re panicking that you won’t be able to fit all the standards into a school year, or you want to simplify your list of standards into a plan, an ELA pacing guide is the solution. I’m going to share exactly how I created the pacing guide for my ELA curriculum, but you can also grab my middle school pacing guides for free!

#1 Cluster Standards

Before you do anything, you want to cluster your standards together. The good news is that most states and the Common Core come pre-clustered, meaning that related standards are grouped together. You want to keep those clusters together. Don’t add extra overwhelm by breaking them apart.

For example, if you look at the 6th-grade writing Common Core standards, you’ll see clusters of related standards. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.1 says, “Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.” Underneath are supporting standards that have been clustered together, like “Introduce claim(s) and organize the reasons and evidence clearly,” and “Establish and maintain a formal style.”

Not every standard has a cluster in ELA, but the Common Core still groups together standards by skill area, which can help you easily find and search for standards. These skill areas include key details and ideas, craft and structure, range of reading, and more.

#2 Lay Out Your Unit

The next step to creating your ELA pacing guide is laying out each unit. I won’t sugarcoat it, this can take a bit of time. However, I’ve made things easier for you. I created pacing guides for several common middle school ELA units, and you can grab them for free.

Let’s look at the Realistic Fiction pacing guide as an example (you can grab the pacing guide for free here). I broke down the unit into a day-by-day format. The entire unit is 18 days long, and the standards are spread out across the unit. For example, on day three, you’ll dig into point of view, which taps into these four standards: RL.1, RL.4, RL.6, and RL.10. 

I like to check off standards as I use them inside a unit. Obviously, you’ll spiral and reteach standards throughout the year, but I like to know how often I’m covering the standards and ensure I’ve hit all of them.

I also recommend focusing on reading or writing for each unit. I follow a structure called alternating units, where you switch between teaching a reading-focused unit and a writing-focused unit. This allows you to dig deeper into each standard and makes it easier to fit in all the content you need to teach (rather than trying to cram reading, writing, grammar, etc., into one class period).

#3 Create Your Pacing Guide

Once you’ve planned out your units and you know you’ve covered each standard, you can lay out your units across the year. This will act as your year-long ELA pacing guide.

Personally, I like to start with an ELA scope and sequence or curriculum plan. This is a general outline for the school year. You don’t have to get into the day-to-day specifics here. Instead, you’re just outlining a general timeframe of when you’ll teach each unit. This is also when you’ll lean into the alternating units framework.

Here’s an example from sixth grade (PS. You can download the 6th-8th grade scope and sequences for free). In this ELA scope and sequence, you can see that I started with the realistic fiction unit in August and September. Then, I’d switch to the narrative writing unit mid-September and continue through October.

After you have your scope and sequence, you can get into the nitty-gritty details. This is where you’ll refer back to your unit plans. For example, let’s say you planned an 18-day realistic fiction unit with my pacing guide. You’ll then put a date on your calendar for when you’ll start this unit, and map out each week, writing down the lesson and standards for each day.

By converting your general timeline into a specific day-by-day breakdown, you know exactly what to teach and when to teach it. There’s no more guessing on when to cover a specific standard or how you’re going to fit all your content in. You have a plan!

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

If there’s one piece of advice I could give about creating an ELA pacing guide, it’s that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are tons of pacing guides online (including the 6th-8th grade one I shared here) that you can tweak and edit to fit your needs.

You don’t have to do the planning alone, either. In The Hungry Teacher’s Hub, you get access to five full curriculum tracks, all aligned to grade-level standards. I’ve outlined the unit by day, provided a breakdown of the standards, prepped your activities, created teacher slides, and so much more. You don’t have to guess what to teach or even how to teach it.

Join the waitlist for The Hungry Teacher’s Hub, so you know when doors open!