Lesson planning is not a ditto machine. It is impossible to take a set of lesson plans from the previous year and implement them exactly for a current group of students. Curriculum, resources and technology all change and keep lessons constantly evolving. Sometimes lessons from previous years get left in the past. Often times, however, they are simply […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inCommon Core, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Technology
Math, Patterns, and MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech
The third Monday in January is a national holiday commemorating Martin Luther King, and February is Black History Month. If you’re an educator, and you have not already seen Nancy Duarte’s visualization of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, then here it is below on YouTube (or the Vimeo link here): [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Common Core, Educational Apps, English Language Learners, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Inquiry Based Research For John Steinbeck's Novel 'The Pearl'
I want my 8th-grade students to learn more than just the standards – I want them to learn strategies to learn, and how to utilize the best tools to show their learning. I remind them that in high school, college and careers they will be responsible for making decisions about how they create projects, and […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
Ain’t No Party Like a Publishing Party
Celebrating Student Work with an Authentic Audience Last month my students finally finished their book reviews. It was our first full writing unit of the year, and at times it was difficult for them. It was a very different type of writing than anything they’d done before. When their confidence or interest flagged however, I […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum
6 Solutions for Challenging Classes
We have all had that one class. You know the one. You pray before they arrive and you pray after they leave. You have cried and cried over them and even imagined throwing things at the expensive Promethean board that cannot capture their attention. These challenging classes are the ones that we learned the most […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
Controversy: Addressing Challenging Topics in Your High School English Class
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager, was killed in the streets of Ferguson, MO. On August 11, just two days later, school was scheduled to begin. As I watched the story unfold over the weekend, I was met with an anger and frustration I had not experienced since Trayvon Martin was […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Literacy, Opinion
Making the Best Persuasive Argument Does Not Mean Writing an Essay
The Best Persuasive Argument of 2015 was not presented in the form of the standard five paragraph essay. Instead, the best persuasive argument made this year featured 1000 musicians playing the song “Learn to Fly” in a field in order to persuade the rock band Foo Fighters to play a concert in a small town in Italy. The entire project was […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Mathematics
Dear Elementary Math Teacher: I Need You to Know…..
Dear Elementary Math Teacher, Teaching math can be a rewarding experience because elementary teachers mold students’attitudes towards math that will last well beyond the elementary school years. Trust me when I say, I know sometimes it can be difficult to teach math to students who do not have the number sense or the prerequisite skills […]