Viewing: Language Arts
PBL Secret Sauce #3: Aligning the Standards to Your PBL Unit
Here’s my new screencast showing two ways I ensure that any unit I design or adapt is aligned to our required standards. In a nutshell: Plan around a particular standard and design with that standard(s) in mind from the
A Book Review From My Students: Mia Lee is Wheeling Through Middle School
PBL is about meaningful learning, and sometimes that means keeping my antennae up to identify possible ways to bring that authenticity to my students. Sometimes, however, an opportunity falls into my lap. Such is the case with this book review
PBL Secret Sauce #1: The Entry Level Event
I know that when teachers learn about Project Based Learning, many times they walk away with the rationale, the research, and the overview of what a unit might look like. But sometimes teachers still have questions about the day-to-day implementation.
Prepping for Open House Right From the Start: The Classroom as a Portfolio
So it’s the beginning of the year. You’ve probably spent a few out-of-contract days setting up your classroom to look ready for the masses. You’ve hung brightly colored bulletin boards and surrounded them with stapled up content-related borders. The same
End-Of-Year Reflection: The Epic Poem Haiku
As we’re ending the school year, I know that the tween brains in my classroom are all silently deciding what information will be transferred to long-term memory and what will forever be taken out with the trash. To hopefully avoid
Abstract Concept to Concrete Awareness: 3DPrinting to Teach Growth Mindset
One of the things I like about 3d Printing in middle school is that it makes the abstract more concrete. Middle schoolers need that because of where their brain is at developmentally. They straddle the threshold from concrete thinking to
The Internet Research Game & 3D Printing: No Whammies!
So in an attempt to broaden the use of the 3D printers in my room, beyond that of my Maker-themed ELA class, I thought I’d leverage the curiosity for the devices as an incentive for my additional classes. That way,
7 Steps to Help Students Succeed on Assessments
This year, I was given a class of LTELs (long-term English Language Learners) and recently exited SPED students with the goal of focusing my lesson implementation on engagement and more social-emotional learning. So we’re leading up to our first grade-level
Gotta Catch ‘Em All: Using Pokemon Go in my 3D Printing/ELA Class
I’ve written before about the power of using pop culture in the classroom, and this fall will be no different in Room 1. Admittedly, I can’t say I’m a huge Pokemon fan. It’s one of the cartoons I limit in my
Lessons to Share: 3D Printing and Design to Learn Reading & Writing
So I just finished my first week with my Make Writing class. This class, as I’ve written about in the past, is intended to help those long-term EL students who have become disengaged with school and with learning. These kids
Pencils to 3D-Printers: A New Kind of Language Arts Class
“The printers have been ordered. Fingers crossed. Here we go…..” This was the email I received two weeks ago from my principal who is working with me to develop a whole new kind of Language Arts class. The plan
Eeny, Meeny, Mino, Moe: Which 3D Printer Should We Own?
A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the start of my journey to create a Language Arts and ELD class that leveraged 3D printing as a means to initiate a more purposeful curriculum for reading and writing. I will be
5 Nonfiction Articles + Novels Series: Middle School Edition (Jan.)
Mutually Beneficial Animal Relationships (Photos) Written by: Huffington Post Staff Published On: The Huffington Post “The ostrich isn’t very good at smelling, while the zebra can smell pretty well. The zebra though, doesn’t have good eyesight, but the ostrich does.
Making, Writing, & Leaving My Wheelhouse: How This Relates to ELD Students (UPDATED)
I first began blogging to reflect on what I was learning during my summer with the Writing Project. After each day, I returned home, head spinning, needing to simply process. Finally, my husband said, “Why don’t you try starting one
Going Paperless: The Digital Binder
I wanted to share a bit of what I’m doing in my various classrooms as a means to go paperless. To me, the need to go paperless is about two things: 1. The reams of paper that are used in
New Shakespeare Collaborative Project: Anyone Interested?
Rarely do I hit up my readers for help, but I’m looking for classrooms to participate in, what I believe to be, a cool interdisciplinary Project Based Learning opportunity that combines Shakespeare and the digital era. I was talking to
40 Strategies for Teaching ELD Students
I love the teachers in my Language Arts department. Ever since I became department chair, they have been willing to go on so many curricular adventures with me. If I ask to try a collaborative website, they are game. If
Student-Designed Schools
This year, my 8th graders all produced a multi-genre project during 4th Quarter that focused on possible careers of their choice. But I went a step further with my 8th grade Honors class. They not only had to research a
Teaching Secrets: Finding a Job That You Love
Know a teacher who got a pink slip? Maybe my newest post at Teacher Magazine can help. Click here for the article. It’s Step 1 of my Top Secret New Teacher Handbook. Hope it creates some shortcuts, a machete even,
The Importance of The Classroom Library
I believe a classroom library is the heartbeat of a teacher’s environment. It is the window into their own personality, and it reflects the importance of literacy in the classroom. I believe every teacher, no matter the subject taught, should
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