The insistence on vocabulary in education is a time-tested tradition of teachers. However, as curriculum changes and adapts, so does our subject-specific student vocabulary. That said, why hasn’t teacher vocabulary altered and upgraded throughout the years? Let’s look at a few things teachers say, what we should begin saying instead, and why… 1 – Start saying […]
Posted inHigh School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Social Studies
Presenting Missing Histories
How do educators balance teaching in an area of expertise while knowing that what they know might not be enough? Media scrutiny and traditional practice of being the “sage on stage” for determining necessary content coverage for standardized tests thwarts the better practice of modeling inquiry and discovery. Teachers worried about the uniformity of content focus more […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
What President Obama Didn’t Say About Standardized Testing
On Saturday, October 24th, President Obama came out with a wholehearted message about his concern about how much schools, teachers, and students were focusing on standardized testing. He began his speech with a pop quiz, asking parents what school options they would like to provide students who had more time to learn and what they could […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, From the Front Lines
My Mission to Create Successful Students
How can teachers create more success in the classroom? Teachers everywhere clamor for the answer to this question in the face of increasingly higher demands on state assessments. In interviews with various teachers, Nieto (2003) revealed that caring will change the behavior of students. Further, Kottler, Kottler, and Zehm (2005) note that the teachers who […]
Posted inElementary School, Instruction & Curriculum, Science
Jumping into the Deep End: Creating Excitement in Learning
[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”][bctt tweet=”When did we get so busy teaching we forgot children learn? I don’t think teachers have forgotten this, but there seems to be a demand from above that is pushing this […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
When a Student Won’t Leave the Room
“Give me your phone now!” I demanded to the Lisette* as I attempted to quiet my noisy class after the first-period bell stopped ringing. Glaring at me over the rim of her glasses, Lisette* emphatically replied, “No”. Frustrated, I hit the buzzer to our discipline office. The other kids quieted down to witness the showdown- anything […]
Posted inFeatured, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
"I’m an N": Building Reading Identities in a Leveled Text Classroom
When I was young, I read voraciously. I remember my parents catching me awake after my bedtime, with a flashlight and a Matt Christopher book under the covers. As an early reader, I was obsessed with the Cam Jansen series by David A. Adler. I would take out a stack from the library and go […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion
Five Important Habits for Teachers
There are so many tasks to accomplish as a teacher – important issues, small duties, and everything in between, but there is never enough time to accomplish them all. Then there are those important habits to develop, even when we don’t feel like it. The world doesn’t stop if you do not do them, but they […]