[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”] Last night, teachers throughout Chicago did happy dances. We were celebrating the outcome of the mayoral election where the current mayor, Rahm Emanuel, was forced into a runoff with Jesus “Chuy” […]
Featured
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School
100 Kindergarteners: An Experiment with Our Children!
100! 100 children were placed last year in a Kindergarten class as an experiment in learning. Of course, this isn’t being tried at a private school whose students are children of our country’s top earners. It is being tried in one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Detroit. The students are all placed in the […]
Posted inFeatured, The Student Teacher Diaries
Student Teaching Diaries: What's A Teacher To Do?
This series is a reflection of our experiences during the spring semester as a mentor teacher and student intern. If you have not been reading, check out our past articles. There are many amazing things about sharing a craft I love with Lauren, my student intern. I am forced to reflect on my own practices […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Opinion
12 Ways To Reclaim Your Personal Life: Why Teaching Isn’t 24 Hours
For the average teacher – or worker for that matter – the expectations of the job are mounting. Each year we’re given more to do with the same amount of resources, namely time. There are only 24 hours in a day, and teachers should be prioritizing them. Certainly, this is not a post to advocate […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy, School Improvement, Social Studies
How Do You… DBQ?
Teaching with those three little letters can either rev up or rev down a classroom in minutes. D for Document, B for Based and Q for Question is how educators provide standards-based assessment connecting students to a broad range of primary sources and a broader range of perspectives. As a teaching tool it intends to present […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, How to Fix Education, Literacy, Opinion
Growth Mindset: The Power of "Yet"
“Yet.” A powerful three-letter word that means, “an implied time, still, even or nevertheless”. There seems to be a phenomenon going around the world that I personally find amazing! It’s reaching schools, churches, and people in general….it’s the power of the little word “yet.” In a world depleted of hope; in a world of wanting what we want, when we […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, From the Front Lines, Opinion
Setting Up a Cooperative Learning Classroom
At recess yesterday I began sketching my classroom layout for next year. Crazy, I know. I am the teacher who likes to do trial runs on pretty much everything. Owning my own school gives me the ability to do that. I use the beginning of each quarter to lay out goals and expectations for my […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Taking The Trouble Out Of Word Problems
Word problems for younger elementary grades can be challenging if kids don’t know how to break them apart. There is a meme about word problems that reads, ‘If you have 4 pencils and I have 7 apples, how many pancakes will fit on the roof? Purple because aliens don’t wear hats.’ This illustrates the probable […]