In my early years of teaching, I spent much of my time and energy focused on classroom management. Included in this was teaching students how to have a productive classroom discussion. I would plan mini-lessons about appropriate interjections, how to respond to someone who disagrees with your viewpoint (without being aggressively loud and using profanity), […]
Search results
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Chromebook Conundrum: The Pros and Cons of Going Digital
This school year is the first year my school has gone one-to-one with students and electronic devices. During the first week of school, each student was given their own Chromebook to use in school and at home. A lot of exciting changes are happening, as teachers transition their classrooms from paper and pen to completely […]
Posted inCommon Core
Empowering Students Through Choice
Last month, I wrote an article about how lack of creativity for teachers can hinder both progress and respect. The same thing can be said for our students: a lack of creativity can hinder progress, respect, and self-efficacy. Allowing more choice for our students can empower them while also promoting creativity. Scripted and finite curricula […]
Posted inBack to School
Making Sense of Special Education Paperwork: 3 Systems That Save Me Each and Every Time
I took a new position this year, one where the teaching I’ve been doing is the same, but the paperwork is not, I am a special education teacher in a resource room for kindergarten through third grade. For those of you are new to the special education area (like me) and are literally wallowing in […]
Posted inTeacher Burnout
The Off-Duty Teacher: What I Do to Feel Relaxed and Refreshed
It’s Monday afternoon, you’ve just spent the last 9+ hours on your feet teaching 130 students. You’ve barely had time for lunch and now two hours after dismissal, you’re ready to go home. However, you find that it’s hard to program your time at home because you’re still processing the events of the school day. […]
Posted inFine Arts, High School, Literacy
The Novels I Use to Teach Secondary English
The Novels I Use to Teach Secondary English There are lots of wonderful things about teaching high school English. One of those is that I get to use a lot of fun novels to help my students reach the standards they need to achieve. To make it fun, Â I tried to pick a wide variety […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Copying the Nation’s Founding Documents by Hand
There are different ways to become familiar with our nation’s founding documents: reading, memorizing, studying, reciting are a few. But in our keyboard- swipe-click-centered world, rewriting by hand is not one that immediately comes to mind. A story featured in the NYTimes The Constitution, By Hand (6/30/17) written by Morgan O’Hara explained her process for […]
Posted inBack to School
I No Longer Want to Be Professionally Developed Due to Brain Overload
I love conferences. I always have, and now that I’m working in education, I love them even more. My background is in history and archaeology, so there was always a lot of them. You would prepare research, or just go and listen to what other people in the field were doing. Plus, it was always […]