As Russell J. Skiba points out in his research on zero-tolerance policies, it’s quite difficult to find the “moment” when our schools implemented zero-tolerance policies in our school, but we can trace the impact of them to the 1994 Free Schools Act as a time when districts were quick to suspend students for fear of […]
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Posted inCurrent Events in Education, Featured, Social Justice
Empathy: The Missing Link in the Classroom
Empathy, for me, was always one of the best ways to handle classroom management and even more serious incidents. Empathy was what allowed me to never take anything a student did or said personally. Recently it seems that lack of empathy is causing actions by students that are either disruptive or perceived as disruptive to […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Increasing Student Engagement through Belongingness and Cognitive Rigor
As a middle school teacher, the battle to gain and then hold the attention of students in the classroom is hard won. According to Christensen, Fulmer, Kackar-Cam, Trucano, and Turner (2014), middle school is when lack of engagement increases for many students. As a consequence for this disengagement, students will begin to exhibit disruptive behaviors, […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Read Alouds – Not Just For Young Kids
[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”][bctt tweet=”Reading aloud is still an important part of language arts for older students as well as younger ones. “]Reading aloud to upper elementary and middle school kids allows them to hear […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion
American Dream, Education Nightmare
Last night I had a dream whereby I visited the high school that my former middle school students attend. While walking up and down the hallways, I saw images of things that greatly disturbed me. First, I saw students who sat silently in desks and took tests – in every room of the high school. […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Middle School, Opinion
Thoughts on Grading Part 1: To Give or Not to Give a Zero
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a district meeting, and we discussed grading, which is a sensitive subject. While we all grade differently, teach different ways and teach different grade levels (6th-12th), there is one element we all agree on- secondary students are not turning assignments in when they are due. I cannot […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics, Middle School
Math Teachers: Thinking Outside the Algorithm
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. Â As an educator I have always believed that part of my job was to take my students as far as […]
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 […]