At the beginning of my teaching career, I worked as the 8th grade English Language Arts teacher in a K-8 parochial school. Once a month, my students would pair up with the kindergarten students to complete a creative project: paper maché globes, paper kites, Q & A interviews. On those afternoons, my noisy and awkward adolescents longingly stared at various […]
Literacy
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, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Providing An Anchor In Learning
I have a reference wall in my classroom. It includes phonics rules, checklists, our word wall and one of my newest loves, anchor charts. I introduce my anchor charts during my carpet time for several days, then when I feel like my class is comfortable with whatever concept is being taught, I hang it on […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Literacy
Prepare for Next Week's Forecast: Snowy, with a Chance of School
It’s snowing again in New England. It’s February. No surprise. In fact, snow days are not a surprise for thousands of school districts across the US. Snow days interrupt instruction. Again, No surprise. It’s a fact that schools have requirements for school instruction days and for instruction hours or seat time. So if snow days and […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Literacy, Middle School
American Teachers Work 11-14 % More, Testing Not Included
Yes, American teachers do work more hours than their international counterparts, but exactly how much more could be a matter of perception versus reality, and testing may be to blame. A recent study comparing the number of hours worked by American teachers shows the difference in instructional time is not as significant as has been publicized in the past. […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Writing Hacks for Grades 9-12
Teaching writing can be difficult, even for English teachers. Many of us set our focus on whatever test our state mandates, which causes us to neglect writing instruction for fear of “wasting” time. If our state includes a writing assessment, we will ignore cultivating a love for writing in favor of a more clinical approach. […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Literacy, Opinion
The Queasy Mix on Social Media
I uploaded videos of my mother and her sisters to YouTube. Seated together on a sunny summer afternoon, four of seven sisters, they chat about family recipes and stories of their youth. I shared the clip this past summer on the popular video platform so my cousins could also enjoy watching their mothers and aunts. Now, I […]