It won’t be long until the signs that summer is over start appearing. Although we love our summers, there’s something nice about hitting the reset button and starting fresh with a new school year, isn’t there? To help you get started on the right track, I wanted to take a moment to let you in […]

The new school year is approaching and with it a whole new group of students.  So much of our year, it seems, is spent building up connections and getting used to the unique dynamic of one particular group. But then each year, we have to start over from scratch. To soften the blow of starting […]

We’ve all had our share of teacher headaches from trying to tame a rowdy class, but nothing makes a class go by slower than unwanted silence. You ask a well-thought-out question you think is sure to spark some interesting discussion. And what do you get? Crickets… I’ve been there, trust me. Those moments of class […]

When I teach close reading to middle and high school students, I try to keep in mind the ways I actually use this skill in my own life. Close reading for students typically means they are sitting at a desk and annotating along the margins. When I sit down to read something with the intention […]

For some, the idea of creative writing assignments in ELA is exciting. You might have students in your classroom who are regularly honing their writing skills at home, on their own time. On the other hand, you may have some students who haven’t done much creative writing at all. In fact, they might look at […]

This time of the year has us thinking about two things in particular: summer and what you’ll be teaching next school year. The end of one school year always seems to flow right into the beginning of the next one. This is not just because the summers fly by (although that’s also true). It’s because […]

You don’t have to give gifts to your students. You really don’t. There are a variety of ways that you can show your students that you appreciate them without having to spend a single dollar. I’ll bet you’re already making your students feel special in your day-to-day interactions with them. Maybe in ways that you […]