Many teachers consider themselves to be coaches rather than just instructors. We are not just imparting knowledge, but we are there to mentor our students and develop them into becoming better thinkers, writers, readers, doers. We don't bark orders, rather we kneel down and workshop papers and assist in labs and calculations. It is reasonable to [...]
Six-word memoirs are not a new thing. A simple Google search will bring up Smith magazine and their six-word memoir site that all began in 2006. If you search Pinterest, you'll find dozens of ways to use six-word memoirs with kids of all ages. That is all I did to piece together something that I [...]
Last week school started and a whole new group of 8th graders filled the desks in my classroom. Besides talking about the syllabus, creating a social contract, and handing out all of the many things parents have to sign, my biggest goal was to get a book in the hands of each student. [...]
Each summer I try to squeeze at least a couple professional books into my summer reading pile. This year, I knew I wanted to read Kylene Beers and Robert E Probst's new book, Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters. Teaching my 8th graders not just to read, but to love to read has been my main goal. [...]
This summer I had the privilege of sitting in on interviews for a new ELA teacher in my building. In my fourteen years in the district, this is the first time I have been able to take part in something like this, and since the hired person will be my classroom neighbor and part of [...]