Helping Teachers Inspire Learners
There has been a lot of talk and buzz lately about work-life balance in the teaching world. Teaching is a demanding profession and any sort of balance that one can achieve would be wonderful, don’t you think? The point in trying to balance your work and personal life is so that you don’t load up on your stress during your…
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Flexible seating has been trending for a couple of years now in education. While I have had flexible seating options in my classroom for over 20 years, I have never written about it until now. I wanted to wait for a while and let this “new” trend settle for a bit before diving in. Just what IS flexible seating? Probably the…
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Summer learning. Two words that don’t seem to go together. Most students and teachers are happy to be able to have some down time. School is a very busy place and mental fatigue is a real thing, don’t you think? It’s important for kids to go off for summer break and relax, play, and stay up a bit later. But…
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It occurred to me today that I have written about Genius Hour before in quite a bit of detail as I was learning and going through the process but I really hadn’t summed up my learning overall. Not to mention, thoughts and ideas change over time as teaching and pedagogy changes as well. You can see some of the other…
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I love to teach writing – that’s no surprise. As I reflected on the WHY, I have realized that it is bigger than just teaching the skills. It’s more about allowing students to construct their own meaning in the writing they do by building a writing mindset. When you do that, students are more engaged. Too often, writing is seen…
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I had this student in my class once years ago that struggled so much in Math. He was a year behind. I worked really hard with him and he received extra support. I had him for two years in a row as part of a looping situation. At the end of the 2 years, he was still a year behind….
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Some great ideas here to create a kind classroom.
4 Ways to Create a Kind Classroom
thinkgrowgiggle.com
Even though we have so much going on those first few weeks of school, it is the best time of the year to instill the values of kindness into your classroom community. Worried it will take too much time? Don’t be! Infusing the values of kindness into your classroom can be done in just a few easy st...A learning-disabled child may have to put more time and effort into mastering certain tasks, but is still capable of mastery. Excusing the child from frustrating tasks is a sure way of turning disability into inability.
Sitting here thinking about an English teacher l had in high school who I thought hated my guts. I felt like she was so hard on me in class, and didn’t tolerate an ounce of disrespect. She regularly made me stay after school to go over material I struggled with, and I often left those meetings with twice as much homework as everyone else. She was tough, unrelenting, and my least favorite teacher.
20 years later, I’m convinced she is the reason I love to read and write.
This memory makes me give myself grace for not always being the most loved teacher. For certain kids, I just have to be firmer with and tougher on- give less ground; push them more than they want to be pushed.
This sometimes makes me the bad guy, and I hate that. But when I think about that high school English teacher, and how much today I love to read and write, I’m reminded I’ve sometimes got to be the teacher my students need, not necessarily the one they want.
So students who think I hate them: I hope it doesn't take you 20 years to realize I don't.
This is so important for your teacher wellness. (Cult of Pedagogy)
Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers
cultofpedagogy.com
Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. But a lot of those tips won’t work if you fail to follow this one essential rule.
