top of page

Blogposts

Giving Our Students Strategies to Expand their Vocabulary

Photo by Ena Marinkovic from Pexels Whether it is in a book that we read, news that we hear, a label that we...

Getting Our Students Outside Every Day: Part 2

If you have missed Part 1 , you may want to read that before delving into this post. Within that post, we...

Reading Café

My first-graders enjoyed hosting a Reading Café where, instead of serving food, we served stories! This was a...

Twisted Fairness

Who of us hasn’t dealt with the “it’s not fair” syndrome? I mean personally, not just hearing from students....

How the Textbook Knows

I once climbed Mt. St. Helens to the rim of its crater. The picture above, taken from the rim that day,...

June, July, August, and the Student

Image by Sharon McCutcheon via Pexels School is out. The students have closed their books and taken the last...

Summer Thoughts

I love being out of school! A more flexible schedule ranks high on my list of joys. What delight to encounter...

Getting Along

“These girls are just not getting along. I think at one point each one has felt left-out or bullied. I don’t...

About Those Raised Hands

I have to wonder at what point in history the raising of hands for permission to speak became such a...

Keeping Students Organized

Being organized is often an indicator of a student’s success in school, and it certainly does help a student...

Beating the Mid-Winter Blahs

The cold wind persistently blowing makes being outdoors miserable. The gray skies cover up the sun for days...

What is True?

Photo by d0n mil0 from Pexels Social media and news outlets seem intent on convincing us that COVID-19 is...

How Can Parents Support Teachers? 12 Things You Can Do

One of the greatest gifts I have been given is the input of other adults into my children’s lives. Many...

If God Laughs, Why Should You?

Photo by Alicia Jones on Unsplash A question I asked for a long time is, “Does God laugh?” He sings. 1 He...

Teaching History Beyond Names and Dates

Our history tests are littered with questions like this: Alexander the Great’s decisive victory at the Battle...

Seven Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Walked into the Classroom

After several years of teaching, I compiled a list of basic classroom management survival tips. They have...

Does Spelling Count?

Photo by Jakob on Unsplash Image by Lorenzo Cafaro from Pixabay “Are you grading for spelling on this?” a...

English Class (Or Any Class) Can Be Fun!

It happens all too often. People ask me what I do, and I say, “I’m a high school and college English...

“I lik you”

“When you said that, it made me feel happy,” a student shyly confided to me after I had spoken with her. I do...

Moments of Grace, Part 2

Remember Connor*, the student who gave me a beautiful package of chocolate one morning? This chocolate was...

Filter by Categories
bottom of page