 Taking the judgement out of conversations about student behavior with a $2 click counter and an Undercover Boss. Why manage your class when you can encourage them to manage themselves instead?
 February 1, 2017 is Global School Play Day! #GSPD is a movement started by a group of educators to promote the importance of the role of unstructured play in learning.
To prepare for the event:
It's 2017... maybe it's time to rethink some of the things we have been doing for the past 40 years? 
Looking back on 2016, it is fitting that "Cultivate" was my #OneWord last year. It has been a year of tremendous growth for me both personally and professionally.
 It is amazing how something as simple as taking a few moments each day to focus on your breath can have such a profound impact on the learning environment in your classroom. Why aren't we all teaching mindfulness? Being a teenager can be such a difficult time. As a person that observes teenagers both in my personal and professional life, I have seen them struggle with out of control emotions, changing bodies that can cause physical pain or discomfort, negative self-talk, and a general inability to focus on what is important. Why not give them the tool to help them deal with these changes: mindfulness. I am a member of a blogging community, #sunchatbloggers, that supports each other in a shared blogging adventure through ideas, encouragement, and comments. We decided to write about a central topic this month, a top five list of best practices. Because we all come from such varied teaching backgrounds the lists range from tech tools, increasing student talk, building rapport, etc. I don't often write about what goes on in my History class, and tend to focus on the language arts side of teaching when it comes to my blog posts, so I decided to dedicate my top five list to all of the History teachers out there. Not only am I sharing my ideas for making History awesome, but there are at least five lessons in this post that you can add to your drive to spice up your History curriculum. Top 5 Strategies for Whipping up Engagement in History Class 1. Create Ambiance with a Field Trip and Some Mood Music 2. Mix in Some Modern Media 3. Add Pinch of Play 4. A Dash of Mystery 5. Blend with Costumes Serve up some delicious lessons that make History stick to the roof of their mouths like wonder bread.  Has your school adopted a schedule that includes an advisory period? What do you do with this time? This school year we implemented a schedule change that added a fifteen minute advisory period to the beginning of our school day. I was allowed to come up with a plan for how I would use this time. I say "allowed" because I know that in many schools, teachers are often given directives of what to do and are "allowed" to give very little input. I am fortunate that I don't work in that kind of school. I had complete freedom to create a curriculum for my advisory class and was excited about this amazing opportunity. Now what do I do with this time? I started out by making lists of things I thought would be good and things I did not think the time should or could be used for.
Building Community Through Loving KindnessIt's September, and in honor of attendance awareness month I'd like to share a story with you about being present. When we trace back the meaning of attend through Old French (atendre) to its Latin root (attendere), we can see that when we attend, we are "stretching our mind toward" something. The attendance question gets students to pay attention through inviting them to stretch their minds toward a question which has no right answer. |
AuthorI am a lifelong learner and have had the privilege of also being called a teacher for eighteen years.  Archives
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Like this blog? Are you a middle school English teacher? Check out my 20% time project. Genius Hour isn't just for students; my passion project is called "The Book Somm." It's a separate blog dedicated entirely to my love of literature. I read books and build a menu of paired texts and lessons around the YA novels that I love.
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