Middle school can be the most confusing time for students and parents in their educational career. Everything ‘known’ about school is shifting, and hormones are often kicking into gear at the same time. Students want more independence, and parents want to do the right thing. Instead of letting teens ‘sink or swim’, try a more […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured
Conquering Teacher Home Visits with Three Simple Questions
It’s been three years since I’ve started my second stint in the classroom and without a doubt my favorite new practice as a teacher is home visits. Home visits create an opportunity for home-school collaboration that is hard to find any other way. Home visits aren’t a new practice, but they’re gaining more attention, and […]
Posted inAdult Learning, Instructional Strategies, The Student Teacher Diaries
Learning To Teach: Helping Pre-Service Teachers
I am blessed to live in a small community just outside of a university town. With this comes the opportunity to have pre-service teachers in my classroom. While learning to teach, they are also my students. I have had the opportunity to work with early field students just beginning their educational work, students in their “block” classes beginning to teach […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
How to Stop Zombie Students Dead in Their Tracks
Last week, I wrote about how disengaged students are like zombies. It’s scary how quickly the epidemic of disengaged, zombie students spreads when you don’t take appropriate steps to prevent it, but thankfully there are measures you can take to bring your students back to life without creating a mob. Prevention Imagine a classroom where […]
Posted inUncategorized
[Episode 6] Creating a Healthy Work/Life Balance as a Teacher
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Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Opinion
Thoughts on Grading Part 1: To Give or Not to Give a Zero
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a district meeting, and we discussed grading, which is a sensitive subject. While we all grade differently, teach different ways and teach different grade levels (6th-12th), there is one element we all agree on- secondary students are not turning assignments in when they are due. I cannot […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics, Middle School
Math Teachers: Thinking Outside the Algorithm
Middle School math can be frustrating and challenging, especially when the teacher feels that in addition to reaching their own learning milestones, they must backfill the deficits students have when they enter the classroom. As an educator I have always believed that part of my job was to take my students as far as […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
Why I Don’t Assign Homework
Homework: The eternal struggle of student, parent, and teacher. I see it all over my Facebook feed and Twitter feed. The lament of parents bemoaning the amount, the complexity, or the sheer ridiculousness of their children’s homework. Homework seems to be the bane of everyone’s existence, doesn’t it? Teachers hate grading it; students hate doing […]