Last Saturday, I watched my eight-year-old daughter melt into a weeping pile of helplessness. It was her baptism. My husband’s side of the family is Catholic, and a few months back, she expressed a desire to be baptized. Even though I am not Catholic, I supported her decision, and we put the wheels in motion. […]
Jessica Classen
Jessica has taught Language Arts in Portland, Oregon for the past eleven years.
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Opinion
There Are Kinder Ways: Engaging Hesitant Students
Every now and again we have class periods that make us happy. The fun ones, during which everyone is engaged in the lesson, the room is filled with an infectious energy, and at the end you are sure that everyone, or at least nearly everyone, got the point. I had one of these classes recently. […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Opinion, Teacher Burnout, Uncategorized
Teacher Burnout: A Series of Fresh Starts
I hate finals. There. I said it. I really and truly hate finals. I’m pretty sure it’s my least favorite time as a teacher. Two weeks before the end of each semester, all real teaching stops, and students move into review, prep and panic mode. They stress over facts not mentioned since September and scramble […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Going Paperless, Instruction & Curriculum, Series, Technology
Adventures in Going Paperless: Making Assumptions about Digital Literacy
I am an immigrant—digitally speaking. Like many born in the late 70’s, I have fond(ish) memories of hovering over my Brother WP 1400D, busting out a 14 page essay due the next day. I used card catalogs, bound journals, and microfiche for my research. I didn’t even have an email account until college, much less […]
Posted inEducational Apps, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Series, Technology
Adventures in Going Paperless: Step Two, Navigating Digital Feedback
After realizing my endless stacks of grading were threatening to swallow my sanity, I took the leap into embracing technology. However, what I found initially was that while stacks were fewer and my desk cleaner, my anxiety levels were not lower. In my quest for a new organizational system, I moved to using Turnitin.com for […]
Posted inGoing Paperless, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Series, Technology
Adventures in Going Paperless: Step One, Taking the Leap
urnA few years ago, my best teacher friend and I decided the entire population of the world could be dived into two kinds of people: spreadsheet people and stack people. Spreadsheet people sort and file. They label and color-code. Their organizational world is akin to the beloved spreadsheet after which they are named and on […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
The Problem of the Chronically Absent Student
It’s not even a month into the school year and already it’s clear that my 7th period has a problem. Overall, they seem like a nice group of kids. They participate, they ask questions, and they are pretty easy to redirect if we get off task…but still, there is a problem. The problem is that […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Why We Write from Day 1
On the first day of each new school year, after introductions and a syllabus review, I make a promise to each of my classes. “I can promise that other than the state tests over which I have no control, you will never take a test in my class.” (Queue nods of approval and general happy […]