Parenting is the toughest job on the planet. I have read many articles, magazines, blogs and stories about parenting. It has been compared to dressing a squid, entertaining a wolverine, or feeding an army.   I am lucky to be able to use my professional knowledge to help me lead my parenting endeavors. I am far […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
They’re Not Digital Natives, They’re Digital Tourists!
To all those who claim that all students today are digital “natives,” I beg to disagree. Digital natives are defined as those people who have grown up using technology daily beginning in the 1960s, but the term is more commonly used to describe those born in the 21st Century. According to the PBS Frontline Website, Digital Natives […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Languages
Habits of Minds: Persistence—Activities for the Cold Winter
“Put the uncommon effort into the common task. Make it large by doing it in a great way,“ Orison Sweet Marden (1850-1924). As winter hits us full force, we stand in our classrooms at the top of a mountain looking down. Half way through the year we feel settled in with routine and expectation. We look […]
Posted inClassroom Management
Tips to Handle a Bad Day in the Classroom!
Everyone has those days. In our profession it is tough because you still have 20+ little eyes and ears and bodies to keep engaged and active in learning. Our attitude and the environment we set up in the classroom impacts students learning, so it is important to know who to talk to, how to manage, […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Uncategorized
4 Ways to Make Your PLC Meetings More Productive!
The quickest way to send any teacher into a frenzy is to make us sit in an ineffective PLC (professional learning community) meeting. We’d rather grade a million essays, meet with an irate parent or even hear nails scratched on our chalkboard–anything but another meeting that tells us how to use graphic organizers. After […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum
Online Teaching – the New Frontier for Educators
The nature of education is fast changing, and as a result, teaching itself has begun to take many new forms. Online schools are new avenues that more and more teachers are beginning to explore. Like any new venture, online education must learn effective ways to incorporate skilled teaching and a variety of communication forms between […]
Posted inBook Review, Uncategorized
Book Review: Neurodiversity in the Classroom
In Neurodiversity in the Classroom, best-selling author Thomas Armstrong continues to present concepts that stand to revolutionize the way students with learning disabilities are taught and thought of by educators. I am no stranger to Armstrong’s work and became a proponent of his as a young teacher when I read his work on multiple intelligences. […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Uncategorized
Kill Your Idols: A Case for Contemporary Literature
When I go out to eat, I often eavesdrop on the conversations of my fellow diners. Not long ago, I listened in on a particularly interesting discussion that involved two teachers. They were discussing a familiar quandary among English teachers: What are the virtues of teaching classical literature to a generation who just doesn’t get […]