In the 21st century, there is a multitude of ways to communicate with parents. I know a large part of the education workforce is comprised of ‘digital immigrants’, but with a little time and motivation, all teachers can (and should) utilize technology to increase communication with parents and students. Here are my eight favorite ways [...]
This year would have been my fourteenth year in the secondary classroom, but it won’t be after this week. With a brand new crop of freshly oriented students ready for the year ahead, I will be leaving them for a full-time professorship at the college level. On one hand, it’s a great opportunity – I’ve [...]
Three weeks ago I made the difficult decision to leave my school and accept a 4th grade co-teaching position at another public school just blocks away. When I came back to teaching after a year in grad school, one thing that had changed for me was a deeper commitment to build community within and outside my [...]
Formative assessment is using purposeful observations and information about students to move their learning forward. It enables teachers and students to understand their learning and have meaningful dialogue. This has been applied in classrooms through Kahoot! quizzes, exit tickets and quick thumbs up thumbs down activities. Formative assessment, however, has more power when it is [...]
It is so important to make our students feel comfortable upon the first day of school. We need to remember the backgrounds that our students come from. And we can’t assume that just because we have kids in the middle class that they are coming from homes that have everything together. We also need to [...]