My children are the center of my world…my personal children. The three amazing and challenging creatures I gave birth to and live in my home. Often when talking with my mom and sharing stories she will say, “Oh, you were talking about your classroom, weren’t you?” There is a fine line. Our classroom kids are like our […]
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Posted inClassroom Management, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Creating Lovers of Reading: Tips for Using a Self-Selected Reading System in Your Classroom
Students come to us with reading levels all over the spectrum. As a new teacher, one of the biggest challenges in my heterogeneous classes was assigning and monitoring their reading. While challenging students with complex texts is not only important but required, it is still essential that our students read and read and read even […]
Posted inElementary School, From the Front Lines, How to Fix Education, Opinion, Uncategorized
The "No Excuses" Parent
By writing an article entitled “The Exhaustion of the American Teacher” recently, I unwittingly unleashed a torrent of competing emotions. With 81,000 Facebook “likes” and scores of supportive comments from teachers and their loved ones, the text and tenor of the piece found a receptive audience. At the same time, several of the comments—from both […]
Posted inParents
But Class is Boring! A Survival Guide for Students
As a parent, I’m sure you often hear stories of how boring their classes are in school. They are not lying school is boring -you attend a set number of classes for 180 days, with the same instructors many times covering the same content. However I’ve mastered the art of keeping teenagers engaged. So when […]
Posted inParents
Parent's Corner: Teachers Need Our Help!
As a parent, it’s easy to get frustrated with the system that educates our children. We all know that there is no money in the state to properly fund what we parents need and want for their education. The burden then falls on the teachers to try to make up the difference in the best way […]