Please remember… I’m little, in everything. My fingers are small, my hands are small, my legs are short and my attention span is short. I learn best by wiggling and exploring my environment. I NEED to touch everything. I NEED to move around. This is the way I was created. Please remember… My emotions are […]
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Posted inCommon Core, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School
Are You Using Interactive Student Notebooks? You Should Be!
Teaching full-time English and AVID found me drowning in papers – you know the feeling? A weekly stack of hundreds of papers to check off or grade left me frustrated, tired and unhappy most weekends. In an attempt to cut down on the overwhelming, mind-numbing amount of papers submitted to me by my middle school […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Interviews
Supplemental Education and the New SAT: Part 2
This is the second part of a two-part interview with Supplemental Education and Test Preparation expert Akil Bello. In Part 1, Akil discussed test preparation education and his work with students. In this Part 2, Akil shares his professional review of the new SAT and how classroom teachers can help their high school students be […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
When Life Happens While You Teach
We’ve all been there as educators; trying to teach, coach, supervise, or sponsor school events while life inside and outside of the school comes at you full force. Recently my daughter got married. She decided to get married in September, of all times. She is also a teacher, so I really had a hard time […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies
The Importance of Teaching Study Habits
I was listening to my college-aged son awhile back talking with his friends during a study group. One of them brought up the idea of how funny it is to be in a ‘study’ group when none of them really knew how to study. They all had a good laugh and continued chit chatting about […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy, Series
Close and Critical Reading: What’s the Point?
This is the fourth post in a series about teaching Close and Critical Reading. The first post explaining what CCR is can be found here, the second on summary is here, and the third on writer’s craft is here. The third portion of Close and Critical Reading (CCR) asks the students: Why did the author write this? […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instructional Strategies
Ask Three Before Me: Encouraging Student Voice and Independence
I’m lucky to be married to a brilliant early childhood educator. But I’m not just bragging. I share this, because her perspective on teaching really young students we have has given me a lot of insights to my own work with third graders. One thing that has stayed with me is the way my wife […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured
Don't Give Me More Work: Challenging Kids
Part of the thrill (and exhaustion) of education is having a community of different learners. Students in our classrooms have different needs. Most school communities have numerous resources, staff, time and energies spent on helping students who need extra help to reach grade level. Often, however, there are very limited resources for those students who […]