Recently a veteran colleague and a teacher in training posed questions concerning classroom management and power struggles with students. Years ago the approach to dealing with students who test the boundaries of rules was quick and strict reprimand. Â Students were graded on neatness, orderly and timely manners, for being quiet unless called upon. While there […]
Social Studies
Teaching About Christopher Columbus and the Truth of History
Once again, Columbus Day has rolled around, and teachers, especially History teachers, have an opportunity to set the record straight. A great article by TER’s Mike Dunn today talks about teaching Columbus and is rich with ideas and resources. I am writing today not about how to teach it but why it is essential that we […]
Reconsidering Columbus: A Day Worthy of an Alternative
For decades, students in elementary school classes have admired portraits and sang songs telling the tale of America’s hero, Christopher Columbus. In his well-documented 1492 journey, Columbus — en route to India — stumbled upon what would become the Americas; Hispaniola to be exact. The rest of his journey is…history. Somewhere in the depths of […]
Latest and Greatest Apps: Green Screen & Open Gallery
Year 2 of 1:1 iPad classroom is in full swing. Students have their Apple I.D.s, their workhorse apps and access to the Haiku Learning Management Platform for online class resources. It has been a slow to transition back into work flow even though they are excited to game or text chat any moment a teacher leaves them with […]
Where Are You From? Connecting Students to the World
Our students often have a difficult time connecting to the big world outside their everyday lives.  I had a rich and in-depth activity that I loved to do with my students to allow them the opportunity to connect themselves to a bigger world and to each other. It often resulted in comments like these: “My […]
Paper in a Paperless classroom
You may know me as a proponent of 1:1 digital technology in the classroom. But I begin my year with two traditional forms of learning: face to face communication and lots and lots of paper. Earlier in the summer I retweeted this comment found through an #edchat: “I teach critical thinking not apps.” This is true in […]
A Call for National History Day
All teachers search for that moment when what you do in the classroom raises administrators’Â eyebrows, students’ hopes, and the goosebumps on our own skin. These pivotal moments in our interconnected lives show us – emotionally – that our job is more than just worksheets and pencil sharpeners; it’s changing lives. One of the most remarkable […]
The Traveling Teacher: Rochester, NY
[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”] First Philly. Then Denver. Then Montana. And now Rochester, NY – home to the Erie Canal, The Underground Railroad, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, and the beacon of the mid-19th century […]