Have you heard about the Positivity Project, sometimes referred to as “P2?” Maybe you have seen the hashtag: #OtherPeopleMatter? Or possibly you have seen an adult or child wearing a green shirt or hat with the positivity project logo? The Positivity Project, started by two West Point-trained military veterans, was not initially about schools, but […]
Search results
Posted inChild Development
“Teacher’s Kid Gets Suspended!”
“Teacher’s kid gets suspended.” Headline news in a small town. I drove down that country road fast. The principal informed me that I needed to get to school immediately. It was the end of a good teaching day, and I was happy to be returning home in time to get my kids to practice on […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with Book Talks
Over the past five years, I have built my classroom library from just 104 books to over 1100 high-interest young adult literature spanning from realistic fiction to nonfiction to fantasy & sci-fi to historical fiction. While I routinely do Book Talks each week–among other things–to get kids interested and engaged with my classroom library, I […]
Posted inLiteracy
3 Reasons to Burn Reading Logs
On Twitter recently, I came across a post by Nicholas Emmanuele about reading logs. He posted: I’ve seen the distaste for #reading logs recently. Can someone define them for me? Is it the reading duration? The regularity? The deadlines? The assignments attached to them? I’m genuinely curious what counts as a reading log and what […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Eighth Grade – The Movie Every Teacher of Adolescents Needs To See
Warning: This article does contain spoilers for the movie, Eighth Grade The movie, Eighth grade, is the most realistic portrayal of a socially awkward middle school girl I’ve ever seen. The movie follows Kayla (played by Elsie Fisher) through the last few weeks of her 8th grade school year as she prepares to start high […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Reading and Writing Volume Counts
Volume is its own goal. The more we read and write, the better we read and write. That doesn’t mean volume alone leads to excellence. It doesn’t. But progress without volume is almost impossible. Last winter, I was privileged to attend the regional ELA teacher’s conference in Missouri called Write to Learn. Two of the […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
Equity in Action: Mitigating Unconscious Bias In the Classroom
In this heightened political atmosphere, our society seems to be replete with instances where white people are being caught on social media being or acting in an overtly racist manner. It seems our Facebook or Twitter feeds will have on a daily basis some video of a white person treating an African-American, Hispanic, or member […]
Posted inHow to Fix Education
In Defense of Standardized Testing: A Reflection
Standardized testing: just the thought of these assessments strikes terror in the hearts of teachers. If only our students cared as much about how they score on state-mandated tests. Most of the educational literature reflects a negative view of standardized testing, but they serve an important purpose in American education: to indicate teacher effectiveness through […]