Let’s go ahead and get real right here and now. You probably have a handful of kids in your classroom who are intrinsically motivated. We can lament all day long about yesterday’s kids and how we used to just do our homework because the teacher said so and complain about the fact that kids these […]
Instructional Strategies
Posted inInstructional Strategies, Mathematics, Special Education
Using Food to Teach Fractions: Math You Can Eat
Like most students I teach, my students all got taught multiplying fractions the classic way. You multiply the numerator by the numerator and the denominator by the denominator. You either learn the method or you don’t (just like any other procedural method you learn in math). Many kids take to concrete methods of learning better […]
Posted inFeatured, Instructional Strategies
The Great Homework Debate
How many of us remember sitting down to complete 40 math problems, write spelling words 10 times each, plus read a section of history or science and answer the questions? How many of us remember the fights and tears that this homework caused? Would you believe that this is a nightly occurrence at my house? […]
Posted inInstructional Strategies, Social Studies, Technology, Uncategorized
STEAM Inspired Spin on Social Studies
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math – the STEM subjects joined forces with Art (Design) to become STEAM, the acronym which stands for education that deliberately promotes 21st-century transformations in thinking. Social studies skills are not included as a focus and I like to think it’s because it is at the root of the original STEM.  As […]
Posted inInstructional Strategies, School Improvement, Special Education
What's the Difference? IEP vs 504 Plan
As a special education teacher, it seems that this topic comes up a lot. Inquiring minds want to know…when deciding what’s best for your child, which plan do you go with? Does it matter whether your child has an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) or a 504 Plan? And what do those words really even mean? […]
Posted inEducational Apps, Featured, Instructional Strategies
1:1 Classroom — Head Over Heels with Google Forms
I recently fell in love with a tech tool in a manner similar to the way in which I fall in love with classic titles on a bookshelf. These are titles I have read but for some reason or another the significance was lost until bam! Lightning strikes and I cannot put that book down.  This is […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Special Education
Teaching with Music: Why it Works
When I play a Flocabulary video, my students groan, but then sit back in their seats and start bobbing their heads to the beat. The mega-minds that started that website now really made a gold mine out of that company. Teaching with music? Genius! I knew when I began teaching seven years ago that my students […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
Bringing Writing Back: The SRSD Technique
A common grumble among my colleagues is teaching writing. We are well aware that American students score dismally on writing assessments, mostly because most teachers are scrambling to teach everything else on the menu. Consequently, writing has been neglected. Now that assessments are beginning to move from multiple choice to short answer and essay writing […]