Poor handwriting? Difficulties with spatial awareness? It could be dysgraphia; it could be Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); or, it could be a lesser-known, but prevalent disability called Developmental Coordination Disorder. Teachers are not diagnosticians, but in order to help our students with the most effective and targeted interventions, we need to have an idea about what […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Introducing Outroduction: A saga of the living glossary
It started like any other English lesson. My fifth graders and I were listing out the features involved in journalling. Date, introduction, point of view were the first few given by students. Suddenly, a hand shot up. “Outro,” one student said confidently. I blinked. Outro? “Wait… is that even a word?” I asked. “Yes!” came […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Why Project-Based Learning Turned Me Into an Educational Theorist
Excitement! Anxiety! Hope! These were just a few of the many emotions I felt when I stood in front of a high school classroom for the first time as the teacher. I was the one writing on the chalkboard and overhead projector. I was also the only one expected to design, plan, and teach every […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Teaching Eighth Grade: When the picture before you doesn’t match the old picture in your head
“Old” in my twenty-nine years isn’t much, I’ve gathered, yet when I think about the dreams I’ve had about my classroom environment versus the classroom I stand in today, you’d think it was a vastly different time, not a little over a decade apart. It is a vastly different time, I’ve learned. Vastly. Different. With […]
Posted inTeacher Preparation
The Moment It Clicked: A Teacher Candidate’s Breakthrough with Microteaching
It was a Tuesday afternoon in my Early Literacy Methods course. My students—preservice teachers in their final year before student teaching—were running through a microteaching exercise. The task was simple: model how to help a second grader tackle an unfamiliar word in a decodable text. One candidate, Emily, froze mid-lesson. She looked at her “student” […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Heart of a School Counselor: A Tapestry of all the Feels
The first time I sat across from a student whose eyes held more storm than sky, I knew this work would demand every piece of me. As a school counselor, I entered this profession with a fire in my chest—a fierce desire to cradle the hearts of students and lift the spirits of educators. I […]
Posted inMathematics
From Truman to Trump: Lessons in statistical humility in math applications
I created a class called “Math Applications.” It is designed as a course for students that have completed their math requirements but are not interested in taking pre-calculus or above. Before I teach any principles of descriptive statistics, I show students this famous picture of Truman holding up a newspaper titled “Dewey Defeats Truman.” I […]
Posted inElementary School
Creating Fourth Grade Changemakers: Learning to lead through service
A few years ago, we made a change to the curriculum that allowed for more experiential learning. We wanted to design a thematic unit that the students were in control of, from the topic studied to the final project. From conversations with colleagues, administrators, and community members, the class changemakers project was born. The fourth-grade […]