When You Can’t Repeat the President’s Words… Last week The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump had an issue with immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries coming to the United States. You probably heard about his choice of language, so I won’t repeat it here. As usual, there was outrage and condemnation from […]
elementary
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Using Experts in My Classroom
When I think about using experts in the classroom, I think about an experience my fourth graders had last year. It was roughly a month into the school year. We had built a community of learning, but at the same time, we were still working on certain fundamentals like listening respectfully to the speaker. But […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher
Response To Intervention: One Teacher’s Story
A decade ago, I was the first classroom teacher at my elementary school to complete a round of RTI. The counselor, principal and I went into the process with confusion, determined to get a struggling third-grade student the help she needed. Since those early RTI days, I’ve provided tier II and III interventions and watched […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Looking for Joy? Find It In Your Classroom
I don’t blog as much as I would like these days, but in my first year of teaching, I kept an almost daily record of my experiences. My family and friends would read these posts, and for the most part feel very sad for me. But my uncle, a teacher, had a different reaction. I […]
Posted inBack to School
Why I Create a Class Motto
Why do I spend several lessons during my first weeks of school creating a class motto? There’s so much to do. Students need to learn rules, routines, and procedures. There’s the beginning of the year assessments. And the curriculum isn’t waiting. Still, despite these many pressures, I find it worthwhile to take two or three […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Elementary School Resources to Support #Dreamers
Last week Donald Trump made good on yet another one of his campaign threats, and effectively ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. As you’ve probably already heard, this will end the ability for almost 800,000 young people in the United States to go to work, school, and live, out from the […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
A Talk To Teachers: This School Year, Let’s “Go for Broke”
“We are in a revolutionary situation, no matter how unpopular that word has become in this country. The society in which we live is desperately menaced, not by Khrushchev, but from within. So any citizen of this country who figures himself as responsible-and particularly those of you who deal with the minds and hearts of […]
Posted inClassroom Management
Positive Reinforcement: When Do We Want It? NOW
While I realize that effective classroom management is essential to effective teaching and learning, I sometimes worry that we educators over-do it. Are we failing to inspire a basic desire to do the right thing? Do we really need to hand out prizes for making it to school every day and not acting like an […]