Posts Tagged ‘learning’
These Kids
From the desk of Alice… It’s the spring semester and even though the weather says it is still winter, many schools I work in have their eye on the end of the year. Specifically, the end of year assessments that are high stakes. This year, the assessments are a little fuzzy… we have the Common…
Read MoreWhole Class Novels
From the desk of Carol C… Read an education journal or a book about teaching reading comprehension (no matter the grade level), you will find a myriad of strategies to use with your students. You’ll, also, find a difference of opinion on whether to teach these strategies using the same novel for your entire class…
Read MoreAcademic Difficulty at School
From the Desk of Carol C… In the last few days I’ve read a blog article entitled “Comprehension Issue or Assignment Issue?“. It captured my attention and created questions in my mind. (Good reader!) Is this an example of parents overreacting? Are the children refusing to do homework or rushing through something they view as…
Read MoreYou Practice and You Get Better
From the desk of Hope… You Practice and You Get Better (Dedicated to all my mentors along the way in my teaching career. You know who you are.) Simple words. But words that are saturated with a life time of wisdom. You practice and you get better. When you were frustrated and and didn’t know…
Read MoreGetting a Great Start in the New Year
It’s the new year and almost third quarter. This can be the hardest time of the year for teachers and students. We’re just coming off of two big holidays, snow can disrupt any routine we have, and spring break seems far away. What can we do to decrease our chances of finding ourselves in the…
Read MoreThe Anti-Workbook Classroom
From the desk of Alice… I recently had a conversation with someone about instruction in the elementary school. In that particular school system, a program is in place that requires reading workbooks for Kindergarten students. If this happens to be the case in your school or system, I am so sorry. Having our youngest learners…
Read MoreParent Involvement in the Middle School
From the desk of Carol C… Have you ever had a conversation with your teenager that went something like this? What did you do at school today? Nothing. You must have done something. We did a bunch of stuff. It was boring. I gotta big history test tomorrow. Have you studied? Yeah, some. I’ll study…
Read MoreShouldn't They Already Know How to Read This?
From the desk of Alice… I am fortunate to be able to work in middle and high school classrooms as part of my weekly work. The classes are always full of energy and there is rarely a dull moment. When I am in these classes, my role is to support the literacy development of the…
Read MoreFinding Freedom in Poetry Writing
From the desk of Katie M… When people think of poetry they always think rhyme but that’s not always true. There are many different types of poems like free verse, cinquain, haiku, lyrical, concrete and so on. None of those besides lyric actually has to rhyme. This is important to tell your writers! I…
Read MoreLet Them Believe
From the desk of Kris… A picture is worth a thousand words…..well, okay, for a kindergartener maybe it’s not a thousand words…but it certainly can be worth many words. If you ask any kindergartener about his picture, he is sure to tell you a lengthy story! But does drawing a picture and telling a story…
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