3 Easy Ways to Use Task Cards in Your English Class
I’ll admit it–I was super late to the task card game as an English teacher. I had never heard of task cards until I was browsing Teachers Pay Teachers and teacher blogs for ideas. Even...
Read MoreExperiences in the Classroom
Sometimes we need to see what other teachers have been through–their trials, failures, and successes–to better understand how we can improve our practice. Here I share some of my classroom experiences.
5 Engaging Back-to-School Activities for High School Students
Planning the content and assessments for your semester is one thing; planning the first week of school is entirely different. Most of the time we have standards to meet and curriculum to get through. But during the first week, we’re pressured to establish procedures, build relationships, and set the tone for the rest of the year. Choosing your back-to-school activities can be so stressful!
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Quitting Teaching: How and Why I Did It
Teaching is lit. There is no career like this one. No other career will challenge you to grow in the ways that this one does; no other career will teach you the empathy that this one can. I won’t simply walk away from teaching and never think twice; it’s impossible. But for me, personally, it is not a “forever” career, and I’m ready for the next phase of my life.
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Effective Classroom Management: A Plan College Never Taught You!
College taught me a lot about teaching. I learned about Bloom’s taxonomy and the Common Core State Standards. But the one thing that my peers and I desperately wanted to learn, but were never taught, was how to manage a classroom. Now that I have eight years of teaching experience in a Title 1 school, I want to share what college didn’t teach you about classroom management.
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How to Create the Classroom Library of Your Dreams
Everyone should have a classroom library, whether you teach English or another content area. Classroom libraries offer all kinds of benefits: increased student reading achievement, greater access to print material, greater levels of volume of student reading, and more. But starting a classroom library is a daunting task. How do you afford it? Organize it? Maintain it?
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How to Design a Novel Unit that Doesn’t Bore your Students to Death: A Guest Blog Post From Yaddy’s Room
You have a boring novel unit, now what? Connect a movie to it! Luckily for you, I’m going to save you the blood sweat, and hangovers, and give you my process. I know. I’m awesome.
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One Day of Independent Reading with High School Students
I think a lot of high school teachers figure that independent reading isn’t necessary for older students, is too “baby-ish”, or is a waste of time among a jam-packed curriculum. This blog post isn’t to explain my rationale for independent reading with high school students. Rather, I want to share what it looks like in my classroom.
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Why You Should Teach A Creative Writing Class
My Creative Writing class has become my favorite class of the day--something that completely shocks me. Here is why you, too, should consider overcoming any fears or hesitance, and jump right in to teaching a creative writing class of your very own.
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The Hate U Give: The Most Important Book I Ever Taught
We get so caught up in a curriculum, paperwork, standards, and observations that we often lose the magic of literature; The Hate U Give brought it back to my class.
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Teaching The Hate U Give: A Case Study
I didn't know anyone who had taught The Hate U Give and had no one to go to for advice. Luckily for you, brave teacher, I'm willing to share what I learned!
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