Last week, I had an interesting conference. For the past few years, our parent-teacher conferences have been student led. Our students spend time creating a presentation for their parents, complete with evidence of their learning, examples of work they’ve done, and rules they get to set for the 20 minutes they are in charge of… Continue reading Learning from Student-Led Conferences
Category: 2019
Skill Specific Writing Conferences
In my writing classroom, conferences are the way I do most of my teaching. Sometimes they’re “formal” and more scheduled, but most often, they aren’t. Students are asking me questions, running drafts by me, and looking for clarification. These might be quick confirmations, but they can also turn in to full blown conversations or lessons.… Continue reading Skill Specific Writing Conferences
Teaching Text Evidence with Movie Trailers
Teachers all have lessons they create that they’re proud of. These lessons typically teach valuable skills in a new, innovative way. Many times, they are popular among students, too. For me, one of the lessons in my repertoire that I am most proud of (and love to teach) is on text evidence. In sixth grade,… Continue reading Teaching Text Evidence with Movie Trailers
Unconventional Teaching Practice: Grading Conferences
It’s no secret that I am a proponent of unconventional grading practices. In fact, I’ve written about the subject several times before. (Here, here, & here.) While I’ve been making the transition to a classroom that focuses less on points and percentages and hope to one day have a gradeless class, there’s been a returning… Continue reading Unconventional Teaching Practice: Grading Conferences
The Impact of Teachers Who Care
You hear a lot these days about the importance of building relationships with your students. It seems like a typical education ‘buzzword’, popping up in all the current blogs, Twitter chats, Instagram stories, and even research. While this concept is gaining popularity (or so it seems), I can tell you with 100% certainty that it… Continue reading The Impact of Teachers Who Care
The First Year
Survival. Crying in the car. Rejoicing at the most minor milestones. Finding colleagues to lean on. Making teacher friends who get it. Late night grading. Wine. Chocolate. Crawling toward the finish line into summer break. The first year teaching has been called many things. One thing I’ve never once heard it described as? Easy. We… Continue reading The First Year
Letting Go of Control in Your Classroom
When I talk to other teachers about personalized learning, I always share how difficult it was for me at the beginning (and sometimes it still is). There are always challenges with anything, especially when it’s new, and personalized learning is no different. This philosophy allows for a lot of student freedom, self-regulation, and choice, which… Continue reading Letting Go of Control in Your Classroom
Modeling Writing (and Revision) in Your Classroom
Writing is hard. The published piece at the end is a source of pride, a beautiful work, but it didn't start out that way. There was a process that went into that finished work. There was a revisiting of the message, the words themselves, that happened before it went out to the audience. That's how… Continue reading Modeling Writing (and Revision) in Your Classroom
Involving Families in the Classroom
Families are an important aspect of a child’s education. Outside of the classroom experience, they are the most influential factor in how the student approaches learning, growth, and school as a whole. Because of this families should have real involvement the classroom experience too. I’m talking more than just being a ‘room mom’ or visiting… Continue reading Involving Families in the Classroom
I am a teacher & I have anxiety
Naming something is important. As I stood in front of the sixth grade math class, my vision began to darken. My heartbeat quickened. My face began to feel numb. I was student teaching, right in the middle of a lesson, and all the signs of an impending anxiety attack were coming on. I couldn’t leave,… Continue reading I am a teacher & I have anxiety
