Teacher and staff morale in schools seems to be at a dangerous low. Teachers feel under appreciated, alone, and even bullied. They are leaving the profession in droves. It's easy to blame politicians, school administration, and testing for this low morale. It's easy to complain about what the principal is not doing for teachers or what the team ... Continue Reading
Tips for Using Google Classroom
Do you use Google Classroom? Are you curious, but haven't taken the first steps to implement it? There is so much potential with this resource! Student motivation and engagement increase when you use Google Classroom as a tool for learning. I want to start by letting you know that I am not a trainer and am not certified in Google Classroom. I ... Continue Reading
Unique Thanksgiving Activities for the Classroom
Boy, do the holidays sneak up on us quickly, don't they? One minute it's August, the next it's November! Now it's already time to start planning Thanksgiving activities for the classroom. Sometimes making these plans can seem redundant or less than lively, because it's the same thing year after year. We talk about the Thanksgiving story, the ... Continue Reading
Why I Took Grammar Out of Writing Workshop
Do you teach grammar during your writing workshop time? If I were to ask you what you are teaching in writing this week, would it be a list of grammar skills such as capitalization, punctuation, and parts of speech? Grammar and writing go hand in hand, right? And that is why you are wondering why I decided to stop teaching grammar during my ... Continue Reading
5 Ways Teachers Can Manage Stress and Overwhelm
You are sitting at your desk after a LONG day of teaching, recess duty, IEP meetings, and fighting the copy machine. At least you think you are sitting at your desk. I mean, you can't see the desk since it is covered in paper, coffee mugs, teacher manuals, Flair pens, and binders. You feel so exhausted and you know that you should go home, but you ... Continue Reading
Tips for Communicating with Challenging Parents
As a classroom teacher, one of our jobs is to build a team between us, our students, the parents or caregivers, and administration. Without a doubt, the environment of a classroom will be more challenging and our job becomes tougher if the team is broken somewhere along the way. Building a relationship with your classroom parents is important. ... Continue Reading
Preparing for a Substitute Teacher
It's no lie that we as teachers, are constantly exposed to germs by our sweet angels (aka our students). No matter how much hand sanitizer or Clorox wipes you use, sooner or later those germs are going to have you feeling a little under the weather. Or you may have to make your annual doctor or dentist appointment on a school day, and let's ... Continue Reading
Resources for Practicing Multiplication
Learning multiplication can be a tough task for our students. Especially when they have different needs when it comes to learning. Also considering the fact that they learn in a variety of ways. But, never fear, help is here! I'd like to share with you a few awesome resources for helping your students not only practice multiplication facts, but ... Continue Reading
Helping Dyslexic Students
Did you know that 1 out of every 5 students has dyslexia? This statistic has always stuck with me. My class sizes ranged from 20-26 students. So, I likely had 4-5 students every year that struggled with dyslexia. Yikes! It took me some time in the classroom to build up my experience, but I figured out pretty quickly that I was doing a ... Continue Reading
Why You Need a Writing Workshop
I am very passionate about having a writing workshop in the classroom and feel it is necessary to set aside at least 30-45 minutes each day for a writing workshop. Let me explain why a writing workshop is needed in your classroom. Giving students time to write isn't the same as teaching them to write. Maybe you have a work-on-writing center. Maybe ... Continue Reading
