It’s no secret that there are more birthdays in August, September, and October than any other month. In fact, LiveScience’s 2006 study has only become more cemented by our culture and propensity for the late summer and early fall birthdays. There are many factors related to the cause of that trend, but the greatest overall […]
Ask a Teacher
Learn about how to ask a teacher about what really happens in a classroom.
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 […]
Increasing Student Engagement through Belongingness and Cognitive Rigor
As a middle school teacher, the battle to gain and then hold the attention of students in the classroom is hard won. According to Christensen, Fulmer, Kackar-Cam, Trucano, and Turner (2014), middle school is when lack of engagement increases for many students. As a consequence for this disengagement, students will begin to exhibit disruptive behaviors, […]
Advice from Adventures in Seating Plans
The seating plan is often thought of as an important element for student success. From the first day of school, the seating plan is a teacher’s strategy for learning student names, and student names can be the most important piece of information a teacher can gather the first day of school. For that reason most teachers choose to use […]
Stolen Pens and Broken Tape: How to Create Boundaries in Classrooms
One day, I walked into my classroom to discover I had less pencils than the day before. I hadn’t given any out, so this made no sense. Then I found a broken white-out tape dispenser hidden among my things. I sighed and put things in my desk that I didn’t want taken. A few days […]
What's More Important: A Degree Or Experience?
Several districts in Kansas have decided to employ non-certified teachers to place in classrooms. I am torn between thoughts on this being wrong or right. The educated teacher in me says no way! Teachers who are responsible for the education of others should be educated themselves. They should go through the ropes of being disciplined […]
20 Tips for Surviving Your First Year Teaching and Beyond
You just started teaching and you have great plans for changing the lives of the young people you will teach in the coming years. Full of energy, positive-thinking, a little fear, and a lot of determination, you will go into this school year pumped up! So what do you need to know if you’re just starting […]
Be Interactive: Twelve Tremendously Helpful Math Resources
When you’re teaching any subject, it’s good to have a few tricks in your teaching hat to get your students engaged in learning. When you’re looking for interactive resources, it’s time-consuming work. What if all of your resources were located in the same place? Well, I’m here to provide you with an index of really […]