No one wants to get in a teaching rut. That leads to a bored teacher and bored students which turns into not-so-engaged students which decreases their chances for learning and retaining information. So one thing I try to do is use different strategies/techniques/activities each time we get to a […]
When I was introduced to list-group-label in my education classes, I mentally scoffed at it. I didn’t see the value in it, I thought it was painlessly simplistic, and that it couldn’t possibly offer any real value to students. Well, I officially take all that back. I’ve used […]
I tend to treat the first day back after Christmas break like the first day of school. For one thing, if I’m teaching semester long classes, I will I have whole new groups of students so for them it really IS their first day with me and we […]
Every year teachers learn new tips and tricks, have personal “lesson learned” experiences, or teach a new grade level or content area and have to learn new teaching techniques or subjects. I’ve joined a blog hop with other secondary teachers to share what we’ve learned in 2015 and what […]
Every year without fail, by the second week of school I’m referring to my students as “my kids” to my friends and family. It almost happens without my realizing it, because to me it’s totally natural. I never really gave much thought to it, then I started seeing […]
An unexpected perk of teaching home schooled kids is that I can have them do holiday activities next week! I have never been able to do so before because as a high school teacher we had so many boxes to check in December in terms of content, prepping for finals, […]
If you are a secondary ELA or Social Studies teacher, you should check out the C.L.A.S.S. Newsletter! It’s full of great articles, ideas, and freebies for secondary ELA and Social Studies Teachers! In this December issue, you’ll find “A Teacher’s Winter Holiday Jingle,” learn about using vision boards, […]
As a high school teacher I never had parent teacher conferences. I was never remotely jealous of my elementary school teacher friends that did have them. Yes of course I communicated with parents (about both the positive and negative with their child) but I never had the multi-hour […]
Well there was a huge learning curve for me this semester but I feel like I’ve kept my head above water. I feel like I have a good grasp on what type of work challenges my kids, what is a good match for them, and what is an […]
This is our last week before Thanksgiving Break so I figured I’d try something new with my students. One of the really nice things about this home school setting is that I more or less have a lot of liberty in choosing (experimenting really) with the activities the […]
