Posted inFine Arts, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion

Based on a True Story: A Critical Look at Teachers in Movies

I remember having a romanticized view of teaching while I was in college.  Though I can attribute some of this to a few overly idealistic professors, I mostly blame the movies.  It was probably one week into student teaching when I came to the painful realization that I did not have the ability to magically […]

Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Social Studies

Learning With Our Inner-Gamer: Using Board Games in the Social Studies Classroom

The idea of using games in the classroom has been a popular practice for teachers across varying disciplines for years. Board games have offered meaningful ways for teachers to easily captive students in learning experiences; scenario based games have offered teachers means to encourage students to think more deeply about topics; card games have offered […]

Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Mathematics, Uncategorized

Common Core – An Initiative Gone Wrong?

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”] For the past 10 years, I have taught Pre-Algebra and Algebra at the eighth grade level.  For the last two years, I have also been teaching a section of Advanced Algebra […]

Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Social Studies

A More Perfect Union: Our Students Will Continue The Quest

This month marks 150 years since Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  This year marks 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King gave his great “I Have a Dream” speech on the Mall in Washington, D.C. that spurred the Civil Rights Movement forward.   And this week marks the second inauguration of President Barack Obama as […]

Posted inElementary School, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Kindergarten

Differentiating Instruction–Stretching All Learners

Classrooms are a mix of students.  They come to us with different experiences, background knowledge, skills, talents, attitudes and understanding.  There is no longer the proverbial “middle” to teach.  Teachers strive to reteach and reach the lowest students while excelling and pushing the highest students.  In between is a mixture of ability levels and good […]

Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Special Education, Uncategorized

5 Ways to Boost Communication in a Co-Teaching Classroom

Recently I read somewhere that said, “Communication is easy.” I would love to know the world they lived in because communication isn’t easy- at all. Talking is easy; however, communication-which means an exchange or communion with another- requires greater skill. Communication requires us to listen and to speak skillfully, not just talk mindlessly. Communication among co-teachers is […]