[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”] Reluctantly, summer ends, school begins and I am already wistful for the undefined pace of unhurried days. Summer offers us all our best educational experiences; learning to swim, ride bikes, plan […]
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Posted inBook Review, Featured, High School
A New School Year Means Getting Your Game On – A Book Review
When Teaching Gets Tough: Smart Ways to Reclaim Your Game Author: Allen N. Mendler Publisher: ASCD, 2012 [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”] Allen Mendler, the author of Connecting with Students and co-author of Discipline with Dignity […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, High School
A New School Year: Here Comes the Fear Again
I’m starting my fifth year as a high school English teacher. I have a M.Ed. in Educational Psychology, I’ve established myself as a solid member of a department that could give the X-Men a run for their money, and I’ve gained enough political clout to be relocated from a small, windowless classroom (which I affectionately […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Uncategorized
Educators Waiting for Mr. Rochester
[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”] This summer I have been visiting the family estate at Gateshead, the harsh boarding school Lowood, and the Gothic mansion called Thornfield Hall through the audio download of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre courtesy of SYNC YA. This […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, New Teacher Bootcamp
Activities for Making It through the First Week (and Beyond)
The night before the first day of school I can’t sleep. I have my outfit decided and sitting out. I have my room arranged and decorated. I have read my student list and written names on lock tags, name tags, mailboxes, and the birthday poster. This class is mine. This will be my seventeenth “first […]
Posted inBook Review, Featured
“How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom” – A Book Review
Book: How to Use Problem-Based Learning in the Classroom Author: Robert Delisle Publisher: ASCD, 1997 [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”] My classroom is an active room full of creative fourth graders. I spend the first month teaching them […]
Posted inFeatured, New Teacher Bootcamp, Special Education
Starting the New School Year Ready for Children with Disabilities
[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 first day of school is just around the corner for many. Excitement is in the air. However, many parents and students tend to become anxious. They really don’t know what […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Kindergarten, Literacy
Multilingualism and Language Acquisition in the US
[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 is very difficult to learn a second language. Part of this difficulty is that in America we begin learning that second language later in life. Language learning is not typically […]