Should everyone teach the Holocaust or only those who have had training? I ask this question because recently our ELA teacher went on medical leave and left as her lesson for the remainder of the year to have the sub
Read MoreAcademic Support Classes
What are the key factors to creating an affective support class? My principal approached me with teaching an academic support class for ELA in December for students who were just shy of earning proficient in ELA. I agreed to take on
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Reason #437 to love your IAs
I love my district. I really do! And as a teacher, I thrive on data, but I hate the process we have to go through in order to get the data. We used to proctor benchmark tests for math, ELA,
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Writing the New Year Together
One of my favorite “new year” writing activities to do with students was inspired by this tweet from #disrupttexts co-founder Tricia Ebarvia. We read the poems together and then I ask them to quickwrite about five things they would metaphorically
Read MoreYou can do it!
Last week I made an announcement to my class: “Soon we start district testing. You know what that means; desks in rows, dividers on your desks and updating our goals!”. Despite a few groans, I heard many cheers when the
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Creativity in the Classroom
I love my curriculum. The books we read are amazing; I love the assignments I use to teach writing. I even enjoy teaching vocabulary, grammar, and ACT prep. The kids think I am weird when I get excited about a
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The Magic of Books
Scene: My sister sent me a video of my niece this week. 15 months old, she is sitting as her mom reads one of her favorite books to her, and she parrots the words “a baby” on cue after her
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What Are You Reading?
As I write these words, Arizona officially is number 1 in the nation for the spread of COVID-19. Cases are spiking higher than we’ve seen since July. Teachers staged sick-outs this week as school boards voted to ignore state benchmarks
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Unfinished Business
For months I knew what the topic of my May blog would be. When I left my school for spring break, I left a pile of student work on my desk and an open Google doc of qualitative and quantitative
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Music, Reading, and Math Oh My!
ROAR! Students march around my classroom like proud, royal lions as Camille Saint-Saens music plays. The month of March is known to come in like a lion and out like a lamb. That’s why I always use this active listening
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