Teachers, I beg you to help me show them: All students deserve the benefits of a poem; You don’t have to teach English to know That students learn from the form and flow That only a poem can provide. Indeed, our creativity comes alive Whenever we’re forced to reason and rhyme; It doesn’t matter which […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Recruitment & Retention, Series, Uncategorized
Recruitment and Retention Part 3: Incentivizing the Best to Teach in High Needs Schools
[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”] A friend of mine, we will call him Mark, was considering teaching in two different charter schools this past spring. He had a clear first and second choice. However, his second […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Celebrate National Poetry Month – Summarize With a Poem
Teachers of all subjects, grades, and walks of life Don’t treat poetry like you’re holding a knife! This is Poetry month – help it to come alive By using poetry to summarize! How can you use poetry in class this month? Just a few suggestions: Have students work vocabulary words into a poem Have students […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Uncategorized
"TestingTalk" Website Where Teachers Can "Be Brave"
Education historian and activist Diane Ravitch was the keynote speaker at the 86th Saturday Reunion, March 22, 2014, at Teacher’s College in New York City. Introducing Ravitch was the high energy Lucy Calkins, Director of Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project, who took several minutes using her “teacher voice” to address the crowd with a litany of […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Technology
How I Flipped My Classroom
It was just over a year ago when I first heard the term “flipped classroom,” and I recall wondering what part of the classroom was flipped. I saw pictures of desks and books upside down, but never thought much about the concept. I never thought this theory would lead to a new approach to the […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Principals' Corner, Recruitment & Retention, Series, Uncategorized
Recruitment and Retention Part 2: To Keep the Best Educators, Focus on School Leadership First
[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”] I’m blessed to work at the Soulsville Charter School. Our parents are fantastic, our facilities first rate and our student’s motivated and hard working. Yet it would all fall apart were […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, School Improvement
Gamify your Class without Electricity
Class Dojo, Socrative, Nearpod, Zondle and Play Brighter dominate most conversations about gamification in education. This focus on technology and apps automatically alienates some teachers: “I don’t have any computers in my room, so that leaves me out!” However, it is possible to gamify your class in the absence of any technology . . . […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Instruction & Curriculum
Where Should I Sit?
[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”] I was talking with my principal Friday after school about a webinar she has to take this week. We were discussing how this is not the way either of us like […]