The following reflection was written in response to the recent anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack . On September 11, 2001, I was in my classroom. It was a middle-school classroom, and I was administering a standardized test...

“Why do I need to know this?” Such a commonly asked question in the classroom! Somehow, many students think that the curriculum is chosen randomly, with teachers requiring hard work that will never be used in life. And granted,...

Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. The Fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. One school in which I taught had banners with these words hanging from the ceiling in the main...

Perhaps a student has just moved into your area from another country and does not speak English. Or perhaps you are teaching in an area where English is not the first language of most of the residents. Either way, you may have a...

It is commonly used as slang to show a lack of interest or disagreement. “Whatever,” someone might mutter as he walks away from an argument. “Whatever,” a student might grumble after hearing a policy she does not like....

“Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” (John 1:49) “The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no...

How many times in the New Testament is Jesus called “Rabbi,” or Teacher? Recently I was re-reading a textbook I had used thirty years ago in a college class on a Christian philosophy of education. One section stood out to me: how...

Abibliophobia. Apricate . Zeugma . What do these words mean? And if you don’t know, how can you figure them out? These are common teaching questions in any classroom, both content classes and foreign language classes. In a study...

When English teachers get together, the topic of grading will come up—often with complaints about the time grading takes and the difficulty of grading essays fairly. While part of that is just the nature of the job, essay grading...

Once upon a time . . . and they all lived happily ever after. Creative writing that uses phrases like these shows up often in elementary writing. Once a student enters middle school, inventive writing often gets pushed aside....

My last blog article shared research and reasons why grammar should be taught in all English classes because it improves communication, helps with learning a second language, enhances analytical skills, and boosts reading...

Jana slides the rectangular word cards around on the floor, angling some and placing others in perpendicular positions. “I finished diagramming the sentence,” she said with satisfaction. Tim cuts his paper sentence in chunks with...

Justin looks over the math problem, pondering how to solve it. “If I multiply these two numbers, and then add this number, I think I can find the surface area,” he ponders. “Yes, it works!” he grins, and looks up at the teacher...

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash Dear High School Senior, You’ve made it! It is graduation time and an end to twelve or thirteen years of studying, learning, and growing up. You probably have some mixed feelings about...

This scene is familiar in the lower elementary classroom: students gather around their teacher or the librarian on a carpet, looking at the pictures, and listening to the story. Or maybe they are sitting at their desks after...