Ready or not, my rural high school is preparing to deliver 1:1 iPads to our entire middle and high school populations next fall. Furtive conversations abound in halls and at lunch gatherings as we debate the possibilities and traditional needs of classroom learning. There has always been a fine line between reliance on products that facilitate […]
student engagement
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Literacy
Part II: How Does That Sound? Reading with Fluency
To teach your students to read you must know where they are. It is important to understand their current instructional reading level (accuracy and comprehension combined) as well as their fluency level. If you are unsure how to test your students and gather this data, check out my recent article “See Jane Read.” Students below […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Interactive Student Notebooks – My Mathematical Lifesaver
Taking notes has always been the downfall of many of my students. They can copy what is on the board, but sometimes it is just not organized or even legible. Many students will just jot down the numbers, not writing down any part of the discussion or copying anything given during instruction. The students that […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
NGLB – No Gifted Students Left Behind
Education has taken a major swing in the last five years with its new focus on the Response to Intervention movement. Through the RTI program, students that are in the bottom 20% of their class are to receive Tier I interventions in their regular education classroom. While many resources define this as differentiated instruction, many […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Social Studies
Demystifying the AP Exam – 4 Tips to Make Review Time Easier
It’s that time of year again! The beginning of April marks the one-month countdown until AP exams begin. AP teachers are crossing days off their calendars, hoping that all the content has been absorbed, and thinking about how to most effectively review a year of information in the span of a few weeks. Advanced Placement […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Opinion
Cooperation vs. Competition in Classrooms
by: Nina Smith We live in a culture that values winning. In the modern world, competition is infused to all areas of our lives: work, sports (of course), advertisements, entertainment, and relationships, even education – the sad example of wording an educational goal being “Race to the Top.” In competition there are always winners and […]
Posted inFeatured
When Your School Doesn't Have An Art Class
I consider myself very lucky. Growing up, I had art every week. Unfortunately, that is hardly the case anymore. Between rubrics and budget cuts, students no longer have that necessary creative outlet readily available. Art is easily added to any classroom and to any lesson as long as you have the confidence and knowledge to […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured, Instruction & Curriculum
Did You Lose More Than Daylight Savings Time?
Daylight Savings Time is a practice I don’t understand. In the spring it costs an hour. Time is precious and something I hate to waste. Every year I dread the clocks springing forward and watching precious time being taken away. I read an article recently published on Edutopia about “Beating the Clock in the Classroom” […]