Community Schools have recently caught my attention as they are coming to my home city of Philadelphia. James Kenney, the newly elected mayor is interested in converting 25 schools in the city to community schools. He is a supporter of both public education and improving all neighborhoods in the city. What Are Community Schools? By […]
Posted inHigh School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy, Mathematics
Teaching Math: Is There a Right or Wrong Way?
When I talk to math teachers I tend to forget that most math teachers see themselves as an “expert” in teaching mathematics. So, last night’s Twitter Chat was not any different. If you have ever participated in a Twitter chat you know that the chat is an hour long with about 5 to 6 questions […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Social Justice, Uncategorized
Terror, Terrorism, and the Teaching of Social Studies
“We are not used to live with such bewildering uncertainty” wrote Jessica Stern in a New York Times editorial How Terror Hardens Us on Sunday (12/6/15) after the San Bernardino, California, shootings. Stern, an adult, was writing about adults collectively when she used the pronoun”we.” That same bewildering uncertainty also confronts our children, our students in schools. That bewildering uncertainty is happening at […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, From the Front Lines, Middle School
Gun Violence: A Teacher's New Normal?
Tomorrow morning I’ll bike to school like I always do. I’ll park by my classroom, unlock the outside door, and head into the indoor hallway. I’ll hear other English teachers leading their lessons, and I’ll peek inside to see the 7th grade faces. As I near my classroom, I’ll hear the chatter from the Spanish […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
The Reading Paradigm: Quality vs. Quantity in Reading Instruction
When you first started teaching reading, did you think your students had to read all those books that come with the reading program? I did. I opened my box, pulled out the teacher’s manual, organized the basals, decodable readers, and leveled readers. We would read the story in the reading book (basal), then break off […]
Posted inElementary School, Instruction & Curriculum, Social Studies
Cafe Walk: Review of Learning
In my past 20 years as an educator teaching has changed. I love seeing the active involvement of students in their learning. Gone are the days of lecture, record, regurgitate. Students jump into learning and show what they know in a variety of ways. With that, there are a variety of ways to review what has […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Current Events in Education, Elementary School, Featured, From the Front Lines, Kindergarten, Opinion
Ready or Redshirt? When To Send Your Child To Kindergarten: An Educator's Perspective
It’s no secret that there are more birthdays in August, September, and October than any other month. In fact, LiveScience’s 2006 study has only become more cemented by our culture and propensity for the late summer and early fall birthdays. There are many factors related to the cause of that trend, but the greatest overall […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Professional Development, Technology, Uncategorized
One-to-One Presentations=”Contextus”
Last month, I travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to attend the 2015 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Convention with two fellow teachers to participate in poster sessions under the topic Digital Pedagogies and Approaches to Media. One of the poster session was titled “Every Picture Tells a Story” and offered by Catherine Flynn, the Literacy Specialist […]