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This year, I have decided to teach solely in Project-Based Writing. I’m defining Project-Based Writing as a series of constructed units built around authentic assessment, authentic audience, and authentic learning that incorporates the multiple writing genres. That ...

So recently my colleague, Kenna McRae, and I began using Skype between our two classrooms. Whenever I have a hair-brained idea, I know I can count on McRae to jump in and experiment with me. And I think the level ...

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, through ...

Check out my article in yesterday's Teacher Magazine outlining 5 little-thought-about strategies in teaching test prep.  Hope it helps you during your own Test Prep season. -Tweenteacher

So, CATE (the California Association of Teachers of English) just came to an end.  The hotel was lovely.  All ran smoothly.  We were greeted with smiles aplenty, and everything ran on time.  Sheridan Blau, Kelly Gallagher, Carol Booth Olson, Taylor ...

So I looked at my 8th grade students' scores after they took the MMA and sighed.  Their scores sucked.  

You know, sometimes I wonder if I'm not a huge pain in the ass to present for, especially if I love what's going on.  I'm one of those audience members who has to verbally digest and implement what I am ...

I commented recently on an article for The Core Knowledge Blog about bottom of the line grade inflation. They reported that one North Carolina district was in discussions to make 61% the lowest grade rather than 50%.  That is, in ...

  I wanted to share an activity I did the day before testing this year. I had the students do a Quickwrite into their Writer's Journals.  The sentence stem began as follows: "I am going to kick the CST's butt.  I am ...

 Well, CSTs are around the corner.  You can hear them coming from a mile away, huffing and puffing like an overweight uncle trying to keep up at a family picnic.  They burst onto the scene with great academic hysterics. We ...