On a sleepy Monday morning, I pause at my desk to quickly input attendance. After two clicks, I slowly walk toward the room while peeking at different students’ journal responses. The class, collectively hunched over their desks and silently crafting their response, doesn’t notice as I weave through the groups to where Eric sits. He […]
Teaching
Here’s an effective way to get organized and tackle that pile of grading
Raise your hand if you have a pile of assignments that still need grading. Raise your hand if that pile is giving you anxiety. Perfect, let’s tackle this head on. Commit to being organized I’m sure you’ve learned or know about time management, but are you actually implementing it? We get so caught up in […]
How to grade LESS while improving student outcomes
Whenever someone learn that I’m a teacher, I get asked about the endless stream of grading. I also get looks of pity whenever I tell someone what grade level I teach (Oh wow!), and then the subject (Oh you poor thing!). It’s common knowledge that when you sign up to be a teacher (especially an […]
Your feedback to your students isn’t working…here’s how to fix it.
Have you ever labored over grading assignments, and find that your students keep making the same mistakes every time, even after you reteach it? Do you take the time to write thoughtful feedback, only to learn that your students never read any of it? Are you able to identify where students are struggling, but feel […]
The biggest mistake new teachers can make
You may have noticed from my previous posts that I’m a fairly reflective teacher I’ll admit when I make a mistake in teaching I like to pass on the wisdom gleaned from those mistakes. I especially feel a sense of duty to share everything I’ve learned these past 16 with new teachers. I mean, let’s […]
The ONE THING teachers can do (but refuse to) that will instantly improve their teaching
If you’re a teacher, then you’re probably familiar with the idea of teaching being compared to acting. On any given day, teachers may be tired, depressed, anxious, or generally unhappy, but when the students walk in, they have to be “on.” You might hear the teacher’s voice and energy go up, a smile plastered on […]
5 things I wish I knew when I started teaching
Every seasoned teacher will tell a new one that the first year is the hardest, and understandably so. First-year teachers face an insurmountable challenge of trying to balance classroom culture, classroom management, teaching to the standards, assessment, professional development, staff responsibilities, and home life, to name a few. However, part of surviving that first year […]
How to transform your students from online gawkers to bloggers
Are you currently a blogger? I know that there are many teacher bloggers out there, and I’m proud to say that I subscribe to several for inspiration and ideas. While I haven’t always been a blogger, I’ve been dabbling in it off and for the past 2-3 years. I’m definitely more consistent now, and have […]
