Student learning is no accident!
I’m always on the lookout for a handy student group work strategy. This one, Clock Partners, is one of my favorites! Sometimes when you prepare for group work, you stay up too late the night before making sure everyone has just the right partner. Have you been there? I have! And, honestly, even if it goes well- it leaves me… Read More
Sometimes we all just need a classroom reset. Do you want your students to behave or do you want more than that? If you spend all day managing behaviors, you are EXHAUSTED by 3:00. I know!!! I’ve been there. It takes so much mental energy, so much executive functioning to anticipate every fire that might start- and to put out… Read More
You know that buzz of collaboration and learning that you hope for everyday? It happens when we play this game. Every. Single. Time. If you like Boggle, you’ll love this game. Word Wrangle is a fun classroom word game inspired by my love of Boggle and also my love of quiet. Once upon a time, I bought SIX Boggle games… Read More
You finally have your own classroom!!! No more shuffling around on a cart, lugging your whole life with you every period of the day… no more “borrowing” other teachers’ classrooms and hoping you left them as neat as you found them. Make it the classroom of your dreams!!! Now What Now, you’re ready to make this new space work for… Read More
The view from down here. “It all falls on the classroom teacher, it always does” she reminded me. This was my mother. A retired elementary school teacher, who had made it the long haul. In the classroom for her entire career, advocating for kids, mentoring new teachers- reminding me when I express frustration in the system that, I shouldn’t be… Read More
For the last two years I have been welcomed into many classrooms as a coach, or as my favorite mentor Jan so accurately describes: a thought partner. When she used that language two years ago during our first New Teacher Center Mentor Academy, I had no idea just how connected I would feel to that phrase today. I have partnered… Read More
Where have all the kindergartners gone?
hechingerreport.org
Kindergarten enrollment is down nationally, and the haphazard mix of alternatives has experts worried about who will be ready for first grade in fall 2021