Just a few days ago I found myself in Castillo de Chapultepec, on top of a large hill in Mexico City. The castle was formerly a military academy, presidential and imperial residence, and is now the site of the Museo Nacional de Historia (The National History Museum). I had come to Mexico City to escape […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Failure is not an Option: The Interactive Approach to Learning
So many articles out there lately talk about the downfalls of education and the humiliation of the public school teacher. The question is, do we have the resources out there to help those struggling students–the ones in urban areas living in poverty–to meet the same standards as their peers? If you ask my boss, the […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Elementary School, Featured, From the Front Lines, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Opinion, Parents, Uncategorized
It's Time Teachers Curb Homework
Yesterday, my wife came home with her laptop bag. Again. And it’s not her fault. After working another 9-hour day, that wasn’t enough. She had to put in a bit more time to finish off a few projects so that they were ready for the clients in the morning. My wife doesn’t regularly do this […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies
Advantages of Asynchronous Learning
The traditional model of classroom learning usually revolves around whole-class pacing. Asynchronous learning means students learn at their own individual pace – often in a learning for mastery model. In traditional classrooms, assignments are all due on the same day for all students, units are planned to last a set amount of days or weeks, […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Mathematics
Decomposing Fractions: An Alternative for Converting Improper Fractions to Mixed Numbers
I, like many elementary teachers across the nation, have found myself teaching math concepts to 4th and 5th-grade students that were once taught to middle school students. Truth be told, when I first began teaching these skills I must admit I was very skeptical about teaching multiplying fractions and whole numbers to 4th and 5th […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Using Reader’s Notebooks in Middle School
I’ve been approached by many teachers who ask me, if you don’t use reading logs to monitor how much your students are reading, what do you use? [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”][bctt tweet=”I’ve been approached by […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Math for the 21st Century Student
I’ve always believed that part of my job as a teacher was to prepare my students to be lifelong learners. Students in school today can expect to have more than one career during their working lives. This makes it imperative that they are comfortable training for a new career. For this reason, students leaving high […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion, Science, Social Studies
The Challenger Disaster: Revisiting a Lost Teacher, 30 Years Later
[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”] For many of us teachers, January 28, 1986 was a tough day. Why? We lost one of our own. Christa McAuliffe, social studies teacher at Bristol High School in New Hampshire, […]