Have you ever heard math content specialists say that elementary teachers have poor math content knowledge, but they have great instructional strategies? While this may be seen as harsh but for the most part it is true. Through not fault of their own colleges did not prepare elementary teachers to specialize in mathematics. When a […]
Tips for Student Success
Posted inAsk a Teacher, Common Core, From the Front Lines, Instructional Strategies, Literacy, Middle School
Maybe It's The Time Of Year: Taking Another Look At Confrontation In The Classroom
It was just a lesson on folktales, really. We’ve been reading a variety of stories from around the world in my 8th grade English classroom – sometimes with partners or small groups, but yesterday I asked my students to tackle reading “Davy Crockett” alone. Their essential question was familiar at this point: “What do folktales […]
Posted inAsk a Teacher, From the Front Lines
My Mission to Create Successful Students
How can teachers create more success in the classroom? Teachers everywhere clamor for the answer to this question in the face of increasingly higher demands on state assessments. In interviews with various teachers, Nieto (2003) revealed that caring will change the behavior of students. Further, Kottler, Kottler, and Zehm (2005) note that the teachers who […]
Posted inFeatured, Instructional Strategies, Literacy
"I’m an N": Building Reading Identities in a Leveled Text Classroom
When I was young, I read voraciously. I remember my parents catching me awake after my bedtime, with a flashlight and a Matt Christopher book under the covers. As an early reader, I was obsessed with the Cam Jansen series by David A. Adler. I would take out a stack from the library and go […]
Posted inClassroom Management, Featured
Why Emotions Matter in the Classroom
A teacher’s job is about more than just knowledge of content area. At times, it seems that so much of what we do every day has more to do with teaching social skills and everyday life skills than what our subject matter. Is it a waste of time to focus on the emotional well-being of the […]
Posted inFeatured, Middle School, Parents
Parent Tips: 8 Steps For Surviving Middle School
Middle school can be the most confusing time for students and parents in their educational career. Everything ‘known’ about school is shifting, and hormones are often kicking into gear at the same time. Students want more independence, and parents want to do the right thing. Instead of letting teens ‘sink or swim’, try a more […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Opinion
How to Stop Zombie Students Dead in Their Tracks
Last week, I wrote about how disengaged students are like zombies. It’s scary how quickly the epidemic of disengaged, zombie students spreads when you don’t take appropriate steps to prevent it, but thankfully there are measures you can take to bring your students back to life without creating a mob. Prevention Imagine a classroom where […]
Posted inFeatured, Instruction & Curriculum, Mathematics
Word Walls In Math? But, Why?
When I told my students that we would have a word wall in our class, they looked puzzled. “A word wall?” “I never heard of having a word wall in math class before.” “Huh?” I pointed their attention to the words we had already gone over and said that the wall would grow throughout the […]