Alternatives to Professional Development Workshops for Teachers

Teachers and administrators know that life is BUSY during the school year. It can be very difficult to carve out time for a whole staff professional development workshop. So what other alternatives can instructional coaches and administrators use to help their teachers grow? Individual Coaching Cycles During an individual coaching cycle a teacher is paired with a mentor (an administrator,…

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Differentiation: How to Get Started

Differentiation can be done in three main ways: You can adjust content (what you are teaching the students) You can adjust the process (how you are teaching students) You can adjust the product (what the students do, turn in or create) How can you adjust the content? This might involve different groups of students working on different skills. For the…

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student created board games

Evaluate What Students Know With Student Created Board Games

Why Use Student Created Board Games? Student-made board games are a fun way to assess students’ learning for any subject. Students create the questions, the board game, its pieces, and written directions for how to play their game. These games can then be used by other students to review and play in centers. These games could also be used as…

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water cycle student project

How To Grade Students’ Projects With Rubrics

So your students created these beautiful posters, display boards or brochures. Now, you need to give them a grade. How do you make sure you are grading students projects fairly? Often times teachers have their own bias or opinion about what they think is most important on a project. I have found that the fairest, simplest way for teachers to…

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Role Play for ESL Students

Creating authentic experiences for ESL students to practice speaking the language is a must we all know! Here is a great activity for your unit on foods. First I cut out different types of printable food. You could also use plastic food or even real food!! Then I assigned some students to be the customers, some to be waiters and…

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toddler reading a book

Ultimate Guide to Teaching Phonics

The word phonics can sometimes seem abstract or overwhelming. Parents and teachers alike often feel afraid they won’t teach reading in the “correct” order and then what they are doing won’t be effective. Here I will break down the basic steps to teach a child to read using phonics. When you teach phonics you are helping children understand the parts/sounds…

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Illiminate 90% of Discipline Problems

My Favorite Classroom Management Systems

Every teacher needs some kind of classroom management system. You might already have something in place school-wide but you need something of your own too. You might even rotate different management systems throughout the year. There have been a few years when I had a very challenging or talkative class. I found myself having to change my classroom management system…

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bored student sitting in class

Back to School Series: Make Rules and Routines Fun

It’s the beginning of a new year. Many students burst out of bed, excited for what the first day of school will hold. They are excited to see who’s in their class, find out what kind of teacher you are, and leave their parents (or babysitters) behind. Then, they enter the classroom and the typical teacher spends the first couple…

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Is This Discipline Or Just Punishment?

It’s impossible to be a teacher or administrator and not have to discipline students. What should discipline look like though? I taught for seven years in Africa. There, it’s still common practice to hit students with a stick when they are misbehaving. Is that discipline? How about having students kneel beside their desk or stand in the back of the…

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Why Is Active Learning So Important?

Active learning is when learners engage in the learning process and with learning materials rather than just sit and take in information. In many modern classrooms active learning is the norm so sometimes we forget how important it is. Here are five reasons active learning is important for your classroom: 1. Active learning creates meaning and connections. Active learning strategies…

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