Life is a series of stories. By definition, a story is a chain of events. In both formal and informal education, storytelling is an excellent teaching strategy. Think about it – teaching English, History, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Art and even Math can be enhanced by the use of stories. We’ve all told them, whether […]
effective teaching
Posted inFeatured, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum
Fighting the Fear of Failure
[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”] This past week, the Smithsonian Education Lab’s #mpossible Twitter chat focused on how we as educators can get students to follow their passions. While the conversation hovered around having strong educators […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Written Text or Audiotext in the Classroom? We Should Have Both
I am passing out Brave New World to the 10th graders.“Is there an audiobook for this?” a student asks.“Why not just read the book?” I respond.“I can’t read this without help,” explains the student.“I’ll see,” I sigh. I admit that in the past I had been a little frustrated at these requests. I felt as though the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Fulfilling The Interdisciplinary Dream
The education world is all about buzzwords. From early classes in all disciplines to graduate level courses in specialized topics, practitioners are constantly throwing around terms like “differentiation”, “STEM” (now STEAM), “flipped classrooms”, “high-stakes testing”, “collaborative learning”, and “MOOCs”. These catchphrases live in the hearts and minds of professionals from first-grade math and high school […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
The Conundrum of Extra Credit
Every classroom teacher has encountered the inevitable question from a student or parent, “Do you offer extra credit?” The reasons can be myriad: the student was out of school due to illness, and his/her grades suffered from it. The parents may want the student to gain additional mastery of the material. More often than not, […]
Posted inFeatured, Parents, Technology
Protecting Our Digital Kids
My mom grew up in the 1950’s. I remember her telling me a story of her and a friend seeing a word spray painted on a building. They did not understand the word, had not heard it before, and so they got a dictionary and looked it up. Their confusion continued as the literal definition […]
Posted inElementary School, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum, Kindergarten, Literacy, Uncategorized
ESL Students in the General Education Classroom
Help! I have a new student in the middle of February who doesn’t speak any English! What should I do? Sound familiar? This often happens at my school. English Language Learners (ELL), or English as a Second Language (ESL) students, are part of a very transient population. Sometimes students will even leave mid-year for a month […]
Posted inCommon Core, Current Events in Education, From the Front Lines, Instruction & Curriculum, Languages, Literacy
What Common Core ELA Is Doing For Me
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~Victor Frank I think it is exciting to see the changes coming with the Common Core State Standards Initiative, especially with regard to English Language Arts. I have been learning how these standards will impact my students; it is […]