Without change, we exist in a stagnant environment. Learning is about persistence, failure, and change. Each summer there are buzz words that emerge and ideas for teachers to think about. However, not everything fits into a neat little package. There is not one boxed program, method, or idea that will work in every classroom. Teaching […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Effects of Smartphones On School Aged Children
I left teaching this year after seventeen years in the classroom. It was a typical midlife crisis, and my job was only a small part of why I wanted to get away from it all to do something completely different. And yet, the students that I taught last year and this year were someone different […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Are You Using Interactive Student Notebooks? You Should Be!
Teaching full-time English and AVID found me drowning in papers – you know the feeling? A weekly stack of hundreds of papers to check off or grade left me frustrated, tired and unhappy most weekends. In an attempt to cut down on the overwhelming, mind-numbing amount of papers submitted to me by my middle school […]
Posted inBook Review
Book Review: Teach Like A Champion 2.0
The book Teach Like A Champion is one that many educators have read, or, at the very least, heard of. This especially rings true for our classroom leaders who teach in urban schools. The first edition launched in 2010 by Doug Lemov, a teacher and administrator for the Uncommon Schools initiative, this book chronicles Lemov’s attempts to […]
Posted inTeacher Burnout
Catty Communication- More Effective Peer to Peer Relations
My blood was boiling… my fists were balled up… my gut wanted to yell, “Let’s take this behind the barn!!!” She was in my face, screaming. We were standing in the front office with students, parents, and other teachers trying not to stare, without much success. I stood there because I wanted to hear her […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Accountability Conversation
I am interested in educators taking back the conversation regarding education. Of course, we need to always be “developing” (sorry about the HEDI reference), and the vast majority of us always are partly by nature of the lifelong learner, but also because of what our nation is doing to it’s most vulnerable. We, teachers, aren’t […]
Posted inElementary School
Classroom Organization: When “Q” was the Only Beautiful Thing in the Room
It is summer, and most elementary classroom walls have been laid bare for repainting or for cleaning. Their empty exposure reminds me of a classroom from an earlier age, from my own elementary school. At the risk of dating myself, from grade 3 on up I could count on one singular decorative element….the cursive alphabet that hung over the […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Top 5 Things Every Teacher Should Do Before School Starts
Have the teacher dreams started? Does your heart pound when you see the school supply section at Target? While you’re relaxing on the beach, have you defaulted to lesson planning over novels? To help calm your nerves, I’ve compiled notes about five top things every teacher should do before school starts – and guarantee you’ll […]