Middle School math can be frustrating and challenging, especially when the teacher feels that in addition to reaching their own learning milestones, they must backfill the deficits students have when they enter the classroom. As an educator I have always believed that part of my job was to take my students as far as […]
Middle School
Posted inCommon Core, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School
Are You Using Interactive Student Notebooks? You Should Be!
Teaching full-time English and AVID found me drowning in papers – you know the feeling? A weekly stack of hundreds of papers to check off or grade left me frustrated, tired and unhappy most weekends. In an attempt to cut down on the overwhelming, mind-numbing amount of papers submitted to me by my middle school […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Common Core, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School
No More Lectures – Try Back To School Stations Instead
[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”] I’m not a direct instruction kind of teacher. I’ve learned after 25 years of teaching junior high that kids need to be moving, thinking, collaborating and switching activities frequently during a […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Technology
The Classroom as a Transformative Space
Every educator I know spends time setting up their classroom designing the use of space to be aesthetically inviting, with little to no assistance, little to no training. That first connection with students is so important, the room they walk into tells them if they are safe, if they can be inquisitive or if they must […]
Posted inFeatured, High School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Mathematics, Middle School
Helping With Middle School Math Homework
This article is for both parents and teachers who deal with middle school students. In recent years there has been a great amount of change in how math is taught in school. My 30 years of teaching middle school math has shown me that these years are very important for students to have and feel successful in […]
Posted inFeatured, Middle School
Teachers: Lift Yourself Up Instead Of Beating Yourself Down
I’m moving into my 20th year of teaching. Two decades. I feel effective. I feel like I can pinpoint character traits, learning styles, academic issues and self-esteem challenges within minutes of meeting a child. I feel like my students love school, demonstrate learning and retain material within a high margin, and if you go off […]
Posted inFrom the Front Lines, High School, Middle School, Opinion
What I Wish My Students Knew…
Last year, a teacher asked her students what they wished their teacher knew and it opened the eyes of teachers are around the United States. We all keep things inside and the only way for people to understand us is to let them out and share because only then can we begin to see each […]
Posted inHigh School, Instruction & Curriculum, Instructional Strategies, Middle School, Technology
Blending Digital Time: Mobile Learning and Self Reliance
The shift in education towards mobile learning and self reliance has educators and parents grappling over the social dynamic shift in relationships between student and adult. Access to technology has transformed traditional responsibilities, and redefined cultural values which is alarming for some and liberating for others. The media tends towards a worrisome focus on the health of those with access […]