One of my favorite things to do is read. Before bed each night, I crawl under my big cozy covers, grab whatever current novel I’m reading and disappear for at least thirty minutes into a different world. Usually I lose track of my thirty minutes and I’m shaken back into the real world by my […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Uncategorized
Questions Please! An Approach to Higher Learning
“To every answer, you can find a new questions” –Yiddish Proverb. It starts when children can talk, “Why?” Sometimes it can seem endless, “What would happen…?” But it is one of the most important tools we can use in a classroom. Teachers ask questions to engage, motivate, teach, lead, expand, understand and challenge. For such […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion, School Improvement, Uncategorized
Data-Driven Politics
One of the driving forces behind the advancement of bubble-test tyranny in our school systems today is the concept of data-driven decision-making. Back before we tested every student in every subject on almost every day of the year, cigar-chomping school administrators just pulled decisions out of their backsides and hoped they worked. They threw the […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Uncategorized
{Ask a Teacher} Help! I Need Materials for My Classroom!
Question #3 What’s a good way to find materials for my classroom? I teach high school social studies but the problem is that there are not enough books in the school for every student so I have to supplement. I mainly teach Government/American Civics. Can you find me some good sites to get activities, tests, […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
First in Math and Reflex Math: A Program Comparison
There are many mathematical software programs available to schools and students. I have been lucky enough this year to initiate some action research in my classrooms of two different software programs: First in Math and Reflex Math. First in Math (www.firstinmath.com) was developed by Robert Sun, an entrepreneur born in Shanghai and […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Social Studies
{Conference Recap} Georgia Council for the Social Studies Statewide Conference
On October 25 and 26, I had the opportunity to participate in the Georgia Council for the Social Studies statewide conference in Athens, GA. It was my first time attending a major conference like this, and I am glad I did. Not only did I get to attend various subjects on teaching methods, where social […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Grade Book: Online, Hardcopy or Both?
I started teaching at a time when it was normal for teachers to carry around a hard copy grade book everywhere they went. If we went to the copier, we took our grade book. If we went to a parent conference, we took our grade book. That grade book was our bible, our connection to which student […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Technology
Distance Learning, IPads and E-Literacy
My husband is separated from me and my daughter by 2,000 miles during my sabbatical here in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We are determined to continue our traditional family time despite the distances. How we engage in meaningful dialogues leads to less loneliness and motivation to appreciate all that we can from life in a […]