Name: Melodie R. School: Orange County Public Schools (FL) Years Teaching: 5-6 years Specialty: English/ Language Arts, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies Congratulations to Melodie R., our Stellar Educator of the Week! Melodie is currently an ESE teacher, but is certified in Middle Grades Curriculum ESOL, English and Elementary Ed. She was nominated by one […]
From the Front Lines
Posted inCharter Schools, From the Front Lines, Uncategorized
Charter School Diaries #4 – Order in the Court
Working in a school, I’ve learned that there is so much more that happens during the day time than just actual instruction. The instruction of children in the center of what we do as educators, yet everything else going on that surrounds instruction sometimes gains more attention than it should. More often than not, the budget gains […]
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 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 inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Opinion
What Are We Accelerating in the Classroom?
As teachers we know how important it is to encourage reading in our classrooms, no matter what subject we teach. We equate reading success to lifelong success all around. As teachers we also know how incredibly busy our days are and how difficult it can be to meet children’s needs who either need daily remediation […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Opinion, Parents
Pay It Backwards: Reach Out to Your Former Teachers
Growing up, I remember learning about Benjamin Franklin explaining life’s assurances: “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” He was explaining to a French pen pal that the American experiment was as raw as it was unpredictable. The Constitution and our fledgling country were trees in the desert, […]
Posted inCommon Core, Featured, From the Front Lines, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Social Studies
Informational Text for Social Studies or English: “The Perils of Indifference” by Elie Wiesel
By my calculations, at the mid-point of the school year, many World History classes are studying World War II. Should these classes want to increase their use of an informational text in English or Social Studies curriculum, I suggest Elie Wiesel’s noteworthy speech The Perils of Indifference. Wiesel delivered this speech to Congress on April 12, […]
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Uncategorized
The Emperor’s New Clothes: There’s No Magic Answer in Reading
Let us face it- in education many of us are waiting for some fairy reading tales to come true. For instance, we may be hoping to meet Prince Charming and live in his magnificent castle. However, nobody wants to walk down the street without clothes, even in our nightmares. I contend that most commercial reading […]