and living life one day- and book- at a time
Which is harder to teach? Middle school or high school? I’m not much of a veteran, but I started my teaching career in high school before navigating my way to the middle school waters. Both have their perks and quirks, but when it came down to it, I chose middle school. Or perhaps, middle school …
These two education books have been life changing in my classroom this year. I was introduced to the books last year when my school district decided to start using Jennifer Serravallo’s Reading Assessment Kit for Fiction. The district placed heavy emphasis on teaching reading due to the fact that so many students were struggling with …
Finding books for boys that they find interesting and that will engage them in reading can be difficult. So many times, especially in middle school, boys tend to move away from books. Last year, I challenged my students to read. They kept a reading log, and we started off with 15 minutes each class period …
Not often do we have an opportunity to just sit and reflect on why we teach or how we became a teacher, but sometimes a student will notice the things happening in the classroom and ask, “Why did you become a teacher? I could never do this!” In simple terms, I was disappointed in my …
Last week my students started reading an excerpt from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan titled “Two Kinds.” To help students understand the mother’s perspective (plus that of an upcoming short story), I wanted to do a Jigsaw Reading Activity that involved the students reading select articles on Chinese culture. The only problem with …
I’m not sure who in our county checks the calendar to decide when to have the county fair, but I sure wish that they wouldn’t schedule it during a full moon. Each year, we have the lovely experience of having fair week and a full moon happening at around the same time. I don’t know …
When it comes to writing, the challenge in the classroom can be a real struggle. This year I think that I have by far the lowest group of writers that I have ever had. These students have not had a normal school year since they were in the 3rd grade due to Covid-19, and it …
I can remember sitting in on a Professional Development session back in 2014 on “Gamifying Your Classroom,” and I walked out of there thinking, “That’ll never work!” The ugly truth is that I tuned out during the session on Classcraft because I thought that it was complicated. I was wrong! I ran across Classcraft by …
The phrase I often hear from my students is that ELA is boring. They speak English, so why should they have to learn English. The key to changing this attitude is in making ELA lessons relevant to them. Textbook vs. World: Is it relevant to them? When we teach strictly from the textbook, we lose …