[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”] The blizzard raging outside recalls the looping GIF of drifting snow that opens the 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times feature story, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.” As a model […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies
Let Them Make T-Charts!
Pity the copier. Stuck in the windowless corner of the teacher’s room, churning out page after page of quizzes, newsletters, and course descriptions. Probed and shoved and slammed, the oft maligned copier needs a break. What could teachers do to lessen the toll that results in the overheated roller or stapler malfunction? Stop the madness….there is no […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Middle School
Teaching in the Winter: The Best Time of Year
By Guest Writer Jeffrey Benson [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”] It’s the middle of winter in the U.S. Northeast. I wake in the dark, there’s snow and ice to scrape off my windshield, and all the […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Middle School, Social Studies, The Traveling Teacher
The New Teacher in a New Country, and Year 9 in IB Geography
By Guest Writer Melissa Kandido Melissa Kandido teaches IB Art, IB History, IB English, & IB Geography for middle and upper grades at the Windhoek International School in Windhoek, Namibia. She is sharing with us her experiences and adventures this year as an international educator and IB teacher. Joining a school community from a point […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Uncategorized
Urban Schools for Sale
There is a great deal of “education reform” going on in the United States today. In the name of reform the first targets are urban schools and districts. If you are not in one of those districts, you may have no idea of what a dangerous precedent is being set up or how it could […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Special Education
Why Special Educators and General Educators Need Each Other
Let’s address the gigantic elephant in the room. We don’t talk enough and, quite frankly, a lot of times it seems that we just don’t get along. You just want to teach and I just want to follow my IEPs. We do have something in common, though. We both want all of our students to learn […]
Posted inElementary School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, The Student Teacher Diaries
Student Teacher Diaries: The First Lesson Plan
I see lesson plans everywhere! I have always been the teacher that goes somewhere, looks at something, picks up a book and can think of ways to bring it into the classroom as a lesson. A friend once commented, “It does not matter where we go you think of a way to teach kids.” There […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Opinion
Birth-Order In Our Classrooms: How It Affects Our Students
The other day I ran across a post on social media that read: “First-born: I made the rules. Second-born: I’m the reason there are rules. Third-born: What rules?” I had to laugh because as a mom with three under five years apart, my husband and I always joke about birth order, especially since we are […]