The New York Times is one of the most recognized publications in the world. It also is a treasure trove of free resources for educators. If you teach middle school or high school and have not yet checked out the New York Times resources, you are missing out on a valuable resource.
Read MoreAll teachers need to belong to ASCD (Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development). It is a community of educators who work together to improve education with administrators and teachers. While ASCD is mostly thought of as guides for people in educational leadership roles and administration, it is also very much geared toward improving classroom teachers. ASCD’s mission statement is “ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.”
Read MoreThis up and coming school year we are really going to have to pull out all the stops to get our students who currently show very little interest in reading… to give reading a try. One thing that we have found a lot of success with is having a huge selection of novels written in verse. Students will gravitate towards these novels because they seem “easier to read,” and they can feel a great sense of accomplishment when they finish the book. Here’s a little secret, while the books may seem “easier to read” they are extremely complex and often times they delve into very deep material. This deeper material may relate to some of the problems and hardships some students may be going through. Therefore students can connect with these novels on a deeper level.
Read MoreThe beginning of the new school year is quickly approaching, and it is time to bust out our Cricut Explore Air to take your classroom decor to the next level.
Read MoreA quick lesson idea we wanted to share with you all was on a way we like to gamify our reading responses. We think it is a fun and interactive way for students to analyze the book that they are reading. We hope that by giving students several options to show their understanding of the book that they are reading (independently, in book clubs, or a whole class novel) that they will shine like the diamonds they are.
Read MoreI just finished reading Teaching for Deeper Learning by Jay McTighe and Harvey F. Silver. It is a teaching book on how to teach so that students thrive and learn at a deep level. Let me tell you, the title lives up to the name. Here are some of my takeaways:
Let’s talk about compare and contrast note taking skills in this blog post. First and foremost, we as teachers know that comparing is a foundational thinking skill for students and is the foundation to learning more complex thinking such as problem solving, argumentation, and decision making. Basically, teaching students HOW to compare and contrast leads to huge gains in achievement.
Read MoreWe have tried out quite a few different types of pens in our teaching careers. Some are much better than others. Below is a list of our all time favorite pen brands that we love to use in our plan books and for writing in general.
Read MoreOne thing that we do to beautify our planners is add an assortment of stickers. It helps us to prepare for the year ahead, and it provides something pretty to look at on those days that teaching is particularly stressful or demanding. When it comes to planner stickers, not all are created equal. In the two plus decades we have been teaching, we have narrowed down our absolute favorite sticker brands and sales for our plan books.
Read MoreTeachers! The pandemic and remote teaching has taught us many things. One huge take away for us was a new found love of a web based app called Pear Deck. We absolutely loved using Pear Deck for our remote students this year, and we love it even more now that we are back in the classroom full time.
Read MoreIt is no secret that students love games. The more we can add games or game-like content into our classes, the more engaged students will become. Check out the steps below to help guide you on the path to gamifying your curriculum.
Read MoreFor those of us still teaching online, here are some quick and easy ideas to formatively assess our students’ learning.
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