[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”] Educational reform is on the minds of many business leaders and several leaders have weighed in with their concerns: “We know we are facing a transition, and we must take this […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Shakespeare Doesn’t Have to be Scary! Six Tips to Help you Start Teaching Shakespeare and be Glad You Did!
In my first year of teaching, I wanted to teach a Shakespeare play, but was completely intimidated by where to start. I befriended the most veteran member of our English department, an actress, director and drama teacher, who gave me fantastic tips and assured me that I would love it and that students would, too. […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Conundrum of Extra Credit
Every classroom teacher has encountered the inevitable question from a student or parent, “Do you offer extra credit?” The reasons can be myriad: the student was out of school due to illness, and his/her grades suffered from it. The parents may want the student to gain additional mastery of the material. More often than not, […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Elementary School, Featured, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Kindergarten, Literacy, New Teacher Bootcamp, Opinion
Creating Confident Readers Out of Struggling and Reluctant Readers
So, it’s directed reading time. I have my readers grouped according to ability and the groups are reading different books, which I have geared toward the students in the particular groups. I have a group who collectively love animals, so we are reading Trouble According to Humphrey. I have another group who are mostly boys […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics, Parents
A Parent’s Guide to the 1st Grade Math Common Core
So your precious Kindergarten student has successfully graduated and moving on to First Grade. They can count to 100, fluently add and subtract within 10, and even identify many geometric shapes. However, now they are in First Grade. That Kindergarten year sure did go by quickly! Here is what your now 1st grade student can […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Kindergarten, Literacy, Uncategorized
ESL Students in the General Education Classroom
Help! I have a new student in the middle of February who doesn’t speak any English! What should I do? Sound familiar? This often happens at my school. English Language Learners (ELL), or English as a Second Language (ESL) students, are part of a very transient population. Sometimes students will even leave mid-year for a month […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Languages, Literacy
What Common Core ELA Is Doing For Me
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~Victor Frank I think it is exciting to see the changes coming with the Common Core State Standards Initiative, especially with regard to English Language Arts. I have been learning how these standards will impact my students; it is […]
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 […]