When I started my teaching career in 1987, I was fortunate to begin in a school that implemented classroom libraries for English/language arts instruction. And despite knowing with my whole self that what I was doing each day was best for students, I definitely floundered when trying to implement and execute.
I focused on one component […]
Pen in hand, paper on the table in front of me. The words, “Dear Sir or Madam,” scrawled loosely across the top. And nothing else. I wracked my brain for the lessons learned almost a decade before in high school about formal letters or business letters, but I struggled to apply these lessons to what […]
I believe Catherine, Called Birdy (Grades 5-9, Level X, Lexile 1170) by Karen Cushman first exposed me to a certain brand of literary wit that I have come to love—the feminist kind. I distinctly remember feeling more sophisticated after reading this book. I chuckled at the wry humor and enjoyed figuring out the medieval vernacular. […]
When I was in grade school, I was lucky enough to spend a week at the most magical place on earth. We loaded up the family car and headed south, not to Disney World, but to someplace even better: Space Camp. I spent the week taking a simulated trip to Mars, imagining myself on the moon in a […]
The anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight offers an opportunity to encourage students to dream big and explore the concepts of courage and bravery. I use Robert Burleigh’s Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh (Grades K-3, Level R, Lexile AD570) to share a lesson on Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight with my students. This picture […]
Yom HaShoah (May 4, 2016) marks the date of the Warsaw Uprising as Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom HaShoah invites us to remember the victims of the Holocaust not just for the inhumane way they suffered and died, but for the heroic way they endured, resisted and sometimes survived—for how they lived. On this day, we […]
When I first began my career, many moons ago, I was teaching second grade. Like most new teachers, I was full of energy, trying out new techniques and strategies every week. My earliest memory of Marilyn Burns, the mathematics guru extraordinaire, was when I got my hands on The I Hate Mathematics! Book. I’m a […]
What I love about whole class reading instruction is that it provides all students with a shared experience and shared book. Teachers have the opportunity to model skills and create a dynamic level of enthusiasm and engagement with the entire class.
We have to remember, however, that whole class instruction does not simply mean providing students […]
On February 18, 1930, more than ten years after a ninth planet was proposed, astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered Pluto. When I found out that February 18th is Pluto Day, I immediately became overzealous thinking about the implications for the classroom. Using Google, I set out to find the current status timeline of Pluto. Is […]
I’ve never really understood why literature and history are taught in isolation. As a student years ago, I feel that I would have been able to grasp more than dates and names in history class if I could have read about how the events affected the people and the culture of the given time period. […]
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