Even though Banned Books Week has officially passed, you don’t have to restrict talking about censorship to just one week of the school year. In fact, I would encourage you to discuss censorship and why books might be challenged throughout the school year, not just for a week in September. I actually like to keep banned […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Stress and Mess: Deliberate Practice and Professional Obligation — Part I
Editor’s Note: Writers Dan McConnell and Jake Miller teamed up to take on two driving buzz words – “deliberate practice” and “professional obligation” – and explore how they’re driving teachers to stress. DAN: Teacher Stress Is Not Blessed Teacher stress is a very real problem, and without reforms where they are truly needed, that is […]
Differentiated Assessments in the Inclusion Classroom and Beyond
A great way to begin a discussion on differentiated assessments is to answer, “What does the word assessment mean to you?” This question holds a lot of meaning for a lot of different people. For some teachers, assessment means giving students quizzes and tests. For others, it means much more. In order to determine how […]
Six Reasons Why Tests Suck
I’ve probably given hundreds of tests during my career, but the truth is, if I had the choice, I would never give my ELA students tests of any kind. This is one of those things that has sort of snuck up on me over the years. For example, I used to give a test on […]
Have You Been To A #GAFE Summit?
I’ve been teaching for 26 years – English, AVID, Yearbook, Reading, History and any sort of intervention class that gets thrown my way. I’ve been through whole language and back. I’ve survived NCLB. I’ve been trained in teaching the Gifted and Talented, the At-Risk and 21st-century students. And last weekend, I went to my first […]
Unit Fractions: A Math Teacher’s Grand Slam!
As I slowly walked down the hallway to my classroom I told myself, “Last school year was a complete disaster but this year is going to be different!” If I could paint a picture of the students that I had last year, it would look like a scene from Major Payne. Every morning when I […]
I Remember When Teachers Were Allowed to Teach Their Passions
There are few things that I enjoy more than getting students to question, analyze, write about, discuss, and, ultimately, clarify their own views on complicated questions. It reminds me of my own history teachers in high school and how they communicated their passions to us students. In one class, we were supposed to study American history […]
By Not Allowing Your Children to Fail You Are Making Their Brains Smaller
Dear Parent or Guardian: This letter is to inform you that your student will likely fail soon. They might not fail a class, or even a quiz or a homework assignment, but they will fail at something. They will also make mistakes, get feedback on those mistakes, and then make some new mistakes. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ […]