Writing/Literacy centers are pretty common in mainstream American classrooms but how about for ESL students? Hands-on activities are still very helpful and possible for students just beginning to learn English. I just finished introducing all the letter sounds with my students. And we are working on putting those sounds together to form 3 letter words. I do centers in my…
We all know that it’s important to assess students. Assessment shouldn’t just come at the end of the unit or topic thought. Ongoing assessment, or formative assessment, should take place throughout the unit. Each day I like to do a quick and simple assessment on my specific objective of that day. I use the results to help me plan for…
October is one of my favorite months as a teacher! There are just sooooo many different themes you can integrate with your learning objectives. A few that I have done are: Human body- bones, brain, blood, muscles etc. This is the perfect month to learn about those things and students will think its cool and gross. Bats/Spiders Harry Potter Pumpkins…
A lot of people are interested in the idea of traveling and living overseas for a period of time. I have to say, being a teacher is one of the EASIEST ways to live and work overseas! I have taught in Africa for 6 years and now I’m about to move to China to teach. So what are your options…
Why do you need to document behavior? Most school districts now require teachers to document student behavior in some way. Regardless of whether or not you’re school requires this, teachers should be documenting repeating behaviors. First of all, these documents are helpful to use when meeting with parents. It’s something physical you can show them and they can’t deny what…
I recently had someone ask me “So, how many hours a week do you work?” Boy was that hard to quantify! People who don’t have a teacher in their life often say things such as “Wow, you’re so lucky to have the whole summer off” or “Must be nice being able to go home at 3:30 or 4 everyday”. Most…
With all the organization tips, tricks and freebies out there, what is it that you actually NEED?! For those of you about to start your first year teaching or just trying to set things up so things go better than last year, I’m here to give you my top 7 must have tools to organize your class. 1. Student Mailboxes…
I was intrigued from cover to cover by Chip and Dan Heath’s book. It is fantastic! The book identifies two parts of every individual. That is the logical, analytical “Rider” and the emotional “Elephant”. You must speak to both parts of the individual if you want to bring change. The Rider brings direction and focus. Without the Rider the Elephant will…
I was delivering a training for teachers the other day and afterwards my colleague came up to me and said humorously, “There were moments when you were talking that you acted like you didn’t know the answer. The way you asked something and then waited and waited. I wanted to jump in and just say ‘tell them!’” We all start…
(This page contains affiliate links) A Makerspace is any place in which learners can share STEAM (Sciences, Technology, Engineerings, Arts and Mathematics) related concepts of interest, and then collaborate with other learners on ideas and hands-on constructed projects. Lamens terms…. a Makerspace is a place for kids to bring their imagination to life! It can be a corner of the…