“Can I take him to the bathroom and wash his ears?” I turned to stare at the practicum student teacher who had just asked the question. Maybe it was my ears that needed to be washed. “I beg your pardon?” “His ears are filthy. Just filthy! Actually, he’s filthy in general, but his ears…” She […]
Lee-Ann Meredith
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao Tzu Lee-Ann Meredith is a second grade teacher, author, Department Chairperson and education advocate who has spent the duration of her time in public education at John B. Murphy Elementary School in inner city Chicago. Often characterized as funny, dynamic, and an independent innovator, Lee-Ann cites her idol as Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus. Fluent in a wide range in instructional strategies for the elementary level, Lee-Ann is dedicated to being an advocate for children everywhere by implementing 'cutting edge' strategies to increase student achievement. Some of the issues that she spearhead included: promoting literacy throughout the building, leading community meetings to advocate for full day kindergarten for all students and helping implement the Responsive Classroom strategies throughout the school. In addition to working closely with the curriculum, she also had the honor to supervise (and mentor into teaching positions) numerous student teachers and practicum students from various post-secondary institutions around the Chicago area such as: Erikson Institute, National Louis, DePaul. Northeaster Illinois, Roosevelt, and North Park Universities.
Posted inFeatured, Parents
Parent-Teacher Communications
[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”] As I walked out of my classroom, I saw a wiry, first grader take a couple of hops then run full tilt down the hall towards the wall 50 feet away. […]
Posted inFeatured
Piles of Supplies
The lines in Target weren’t long yesterday but they were slow. Each queue had at least one shopping cart with thirty spiral notebooks, three packages of pencils, a half dozen packs of notebook paper, a stack of solid colored folders, and boxes of crayons, pens, and markers. I am intimately familiar with these items. They […]
Posted inFeatured, Middle School
How 'Angels in My Classroom' Came to Be
Lee-Ann Meredith is the author of Angels in My Classroom: How Second Graders Saved My Life At the end of my first semester as a teacher, my 44 year old husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. As a family, we began the long journey of radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy. There were decidedly the everyday moments […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured
6 Ways to Make Your Room Work for You
Every summer teachers rethink their classrooms. I am no exception. It just can’t happen during the school year beyond rearranging desks. I have a couple of friends who are urban planners and I pretend to be them, thinking about my space as if it were a small city. After all, classroom arrangement includes more than […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured
Ten Tips to Smooth Transitions
One of the hardest things to master as a new teacher is a smooth and quiet transition from one task to another. The class can turn from calm to chaos in the blink of an eye, as soon as you make a change in what you are doing. While some children can move easily between […]
Posted inFeatured, Literacy, Opinion
15 Novels to Read Aloud
Some people think when kids can read for themselves they don’t need to be read aloud to. I could not agree less. I read novels to my second graders daily. In my classroom, there were moments when we just couldn’t settle. I would call everyone to the rug and pick up our novel. The class […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
22 Perfect Picture Books I Love to Read and Teach
[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”] The best, best, best part of any day was reading aloud to my class. I had hundreds of favorite books: poetry, fiction chapter books (a.k.a. novels), and picture books, both fiction […]