I struggled to find realistic ballots to help my students learn about the voting process during election season. After finding resource after resource that was cute, but not age-appropriate for my middle schoolers, who wanted to know what ballots really look like, I finally gave up and just made some for myself! And today, I'm sharing them with you.

“Guys, just follow the directions.” “The directions are right there.” “Just read the directions!” How many times per day do you repeat one (or all) of those phrases? It’s frustrating to repeat yourself over and over while feeling like your words are going in one ear and out the other. But instead of becoming more exasperated and repeating myself louder, I made a change that shifted the way I approach classroom directions. Now, I’m sharing that change with you.

As a result of my classroom door's proximity to the outside door, I'm the one who overhears student commentary and conversations about the fliers on the door as students walk through them. I'll spare you the quoted, brutal-honest truth straight from the mouths of the middle school collective, but let's just say that having overheard this commentary and conversation has made me determined to help every teacher (not just academic bowl coaches) inject some extra fun into their f