Creative Tips & Resources for Busy Teachers
The impact of standardized testing stress on students is enormous! The time of year is quickly approaching where students will be taking their dreaded standardized tests. Over the years I have witnessed students breaking down crying during their testing sessions. Some children have even become physically sick with worry over the results of their tests.
Successful teaching begins at home. Parents are a child’s first teachers, they know their children better than anyone else does, and they are every teacher’s strongest ally in educating their children. Parents want to be included in their child’s education, but are often unsure of what they should to do best help their children succeed.
I really love coffee. Coffee is my favorite gift and my students know it. Every year I get tons of coffee mugs and boxes of K-Cups from my students for Christmas. As I finish off the K-Cups I have a hard time tossing the boxes. I mean, they are such great boxes that I am
I must admit that I have a love-hate relationship with Word Walls. What’s not to love about how students can use the word walls to assist in writing, and practice reading high frequency words? Nothing! Except how much room they take up. I have one large bulletin board in my classroom for hanging my word wall
This may be the best kept secret on Google! Yesterday I was talking to 2 special education teacher friends of mine after a long day. Each of us has students who are great story tellers, but reluctant writers. We were discussing strategies for encouraging them to participate in Writers Workshop. I told them that I let students use the voice-to-text feature
Surviving your first year teaching can be tough. Today I thought I would share with you a few things I wish I’d known when I was in my first year teaching. Teaching is a rewarding profession, but at times it can be extremely challenging. Over the years I have enjoyed the opportunity to mentor a few new teachers
Trial by fire, that seems to be a large part of our experience as teachers. We learn by our struggle to succeed with new challenges in the classroom. Education blogs for teachers should help us to overcome our struggles, but they should help us to do so much more. Encouragement in our teaching endeavors is
It seems I am always battling my classroom schedule and trying to fit it all in. No matter how many minutes they add to our day each year (30 minutes more over the next 3 years) it just never seems to be enough. That is why I am always on the hunt for ways to
Inspiring college readiness isn’t always as easy as teaching the standards. It’s no secret that the Common Core Standards are designed to help students become “college ready” by the time the graduate high school. It is a beautiful ideal. A few years ago in my school we designated a couple days a month to be
This time of year, teachers get a wistful look in their eyes as we think back to days gone by, when social skill were as much a part of our curriculum as the 3 R’s. We know that social skills are important, and that many of our students could benefit from a bit of
