This week as I kept typing the links to "classrooms" I have been missing my real classroom. This whole video chat stuff is good. It's better than email. It's better than digital worksheets, but it's not a classroom. A classroom is another home. I miss the space we can say is ours.
I love having kids reflect in journals on paper and take notes in notebooks; however, I've enjoyed using Google Slides as digital reader's notebooks. Read here to get a set of slides you can adapt and use for free.
Surviving Sex Ed: I have to tell you - it’s pretty hard at times to keep a straight face. This was never something I really considered as a student preparing to be in the classroom. Here are some of the things that have happened to me while teaching “sex ed” that I find ironic, hilarious, nausea inducing, and just bizarre. If you’re needing a laugh, I bet something here will make you chuckle.
Are you looking for a new book for yourself?! I always am! I love to read. Here are some of my go-to recommendations if I get chatting about books.
Often the advice to new teachers is to just survive your first year, learn more your second year, hone your craft your third year, then just get golden. Absorb all that knowledge. Keep learning, growing, expanding your resources. Build your toolbox! You’ll do great! Now, I love sorting through resources. I can flip through a... Continue Reading →
I often hear from students that their favorite thing about sixth grade is how they are more independent and have more choice. The choices that I gave students from my first few years of teaching appeared obvious to me, so it seemed like such a weird response. How was I giving them more choice than... Continue Reading →
No matter how great you are at classroom management, there will be times when you want to create individual behavior plans and when it’s necessary to the health of your classroom. Still, it should a later step in the classroom management process because it requires so much work. If you can, I encourage you to wait on an individual behavior plan until you have tried some of these ideas.
You've tried all your tricks. You're fed up with the behavior of a student. You need help. You need an individualized behavior plan. I think I can help.
Currently, my 2019-20 classroom of 27 spans K-9th grade reading levels. In this post, I share my plan for different levels of readers, structures that guide my planning, and the importance of flexibility in meeting student needs.
Charmed by Challenge 