Bests and Second Bests

November 21, 2012

Each evening many parents like to review their child’s day at school using an approach called “Bests and Worsts.” (It is also known as “Highs and Lows.”) With this idea children describe the best and worst parts of the day, whether they occur in the classroom, in the cafeteria, or on the playground. The reasoning [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

10 Books for Girls that Encourage Strength

November 16, 2012

In honor of Malala Day (You know Malala, she’s the fourteen-year-old girl who was shot in the head a little over a month ago because of her stance on girls’ education), I developed a list of books to inspire the young girls who line our lives. When the girls in our class (or our own girls) are faced with a [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Power, Fun and Freedom

November 14, 2012

Power, fun and freedom. These are three little words that can take any lesson or classroom experience from boring to engaging with just a few minor adjustments. As adults, most of us look for opportunities to have power over our choices and express our individuality. Additionally, we naturally perform tasks that are fun or interesting [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Why I don’t REQUEST Compliance

November 12, 2012
Pencil and Paper on Desk

  I don’t say, “Please,” anymore. Or not as much anyway. This school year has proven to be the most challenging for me in nineteen years, and one of the reasons is a handful of defiant, confrontational students. After sleepless nights and tears at the end of the day, I knew I would have to [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Never Forget that You Matter

November 8, 2012
Never Forget that You Matter

I have a friend who has a passion. Her passion is to share a message with the world. The message she is sharing with the world is the idea that You Matter. My friend’s name is Angela Maiers and you can read all about her You Matter Manifesto here. Angela believes very strongly in those [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Overheard in my Classroom

October 23, 2012

One sophomore girl to another: “My parents go on and on about things I’ve done wrong…but they never say anything about all the things I do right!” If you’re a parent, your first reaction to this quote is likely, “Oh, come on. They NEVER say ANYTHING about what you do right?” Your reaction may be [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Music to the Rescue

October 18, 2012

Over the past several years I have become a big believer in the power of movement, music, and storytelling strategies to improve standards-based instruction, increase student engagement and enthusiasm for learning, and energize the larger classroom environment. In fact, I am currently working on a book project entitled Rock Your Students’ World that will feature [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

National Disability Awareness Month

October 17, 2012
National Disability Awareness Month

Did you know October is National Disability Awareness Month? Need some ideas on jump start awareness about disabilities in your classroom? Try having your class watch this video. Encourage your students between the ages of 5-18 to send art work to LD Online to be featured in the LD Online Art Gallery. Check out apps [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Why Teach Mental Math?

October 10, 2012
Why Teach Mental Math?

Mental math is an important part of today’s math curriculum, especially those that are implementing the Common Core. Even if this is not the way that you learned math when you were in school, I will promise you that it is extremely effective and REALLY makes sense once you get started with it. Rather than [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Erasing the White Walls – Publishing and Presenting Student Work

October 8, 2012

She was fourteen-years old and holding her boyfriend’s hand at the water fountain. “That one’s mine,” she told him as she pointed to her Venn diagram comparing and contrasting Hinduism and Buddhism hanging on the wall.  She was pregnant. The boyfriend, already sixteen in the 8th grade was trying to hold down a restaurant job so he [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →