by Amanda | Sep 22, 2019 | Podcast, Secondary Teachers
Quitting programs. I’ve followed and quit so many programs in my life! Diets, work out routines, parenting guides, teaching curriculum. Programs are everywhere we turn. Dictionary.com defines “program” as: a plan of action to accomplish a specified...
by Amanda | Aug 18, 2019 | Management, Podcast, Writing Independence
I get a lot of emails every week asking a wide range of questions. One question that seems to come up over and over again is, what does workshop actually look like in a secondary classroom? Here’s the simple answer: workshop can look however you want it to look....
by Amanda | Jul 14, 2019 | Back to School, Mini Lessons, Podcast
There are so many things we need to accomplish the first week of school. We need to get to the content but we also need to teach students about how our class will run and build relationships and community too. Now you may feel a bit overwhelmed at this point. Not to...
by Amanda | May 5, 2019 | Book Review, Podcast
In this article you will get access to life changing podcasts and books for teachers! First, let’s start with a story… During the summer of 2018 I was feeling extremely overwhelmed and depressed. It was the much anticipated summer break and I was overcome...
by Amanda | Apr 13, 2019 | Management, Podcast
Kids love to talk to each other, they are human and humans are social! In a classroom of thirty plus secondary students how can we balance allowing that innate need to talk with maintaining a quiet, productive atmosphere? The answer: noise levels. If you are a middle...
by Amanda | Mar 17, 2019 | Management, Podcast, Writing Independence
Teaching writing is so hard! There are many reasons why, but one of the main reasons is distracting student behavior! With a plan in place, your ability to handle the distracting student behavior can improve. No matter what though, it is important to realize that...
by Amanda | Feb 21, 2019 | Assessment
2.7kSharesShare Tweet Pin It English teachers often default to essays, quizzes and tests as assessments. Figuring out creative ways to assess beyond this can be challenging. So, I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite blogging friends (see who...
by Amanda | Feb 10, 2019 | Beginners, Mini Lessons, Podcast
Teachers are busy and don’t have time to go looking for mini lessons. If you do have time, here are The Best Places to Find Mini Lessons Online. However, if you you don’t have time, like most teachers on planet Earth, then you’ll want to come up with...
by Amanda | Jan 26, 2019 | Make Writing Fun, Podcast, Writing Units
213SharesShare Tweet Pin It Table of contents: Give Student ChoiceMake it a ContestThrow a PartyPublish Student WritingUse Last Resort Tactics So you want to excite students about your upcoming writing unit? Before I wrote this post I asked some 7th and...
by Amanda | Jan 10, 2019 | Mentor Texts, Podcast
One of the biggest challenges many writing teachers face is finding quality mentor texts. But is it really all that big of a challenge when we look closely at what mentor texts really are? The phrase “mentor text” is pretty new. Ralph Fletcher, a guru in...
by Amanda | Dec 26, 2018 | Back to School, Holiday Writing, Make Writing Fun, Podcast
2.9kSharesShare Tweet Pin It Don’t have time to read? Listen to this post here… Coming back to school after having two weeks off (or the summer off) can be really rough for students and teachers. The last thing anyone wants to do is...
by Amanda | Dec 21, 2018 | Back to School, End of the Year, Make Writing Fun, Secondary Teachers
1.1kSHAREShare Tweet Pin It Sometimes we just need to have fun with our students and what better way than with simple classroom games? Having fun is important for many reasons some of which include: it builds community, it’s a stress reliever, it...
by Amanda | Dec 10, 2018 | Podcast, Secondary Teachers
Don’t have time to read? I received an email recently (I love receiving emails from teachers who read my blog!) asking me a really interesting question… Do you do workshop all year? I immediately yelled (in my mind) NO! In this moment, it occurred to me...
by Amanda | Nov 18, 2018 | Beginners, Featured Post, Management, Podcast, Secondary Teachers
Many secondary teachers, like you, are beginning to realize the power of running their English classes using writing workshop. Maybe you keep seeing references to it on Pinterest or in Facebook groups. Maybe a teacher friend is trying it and finding success. Or maybe...
by Amanda | Oct 28, 2018 | Assessment, Podcast, Writing Units
Don’t have time to read this article? Listen here! Grading hundreds of papers is the bane of an English teacher’s existence. Don’t get me wrong. I love being able to get a thorough look into the minds of my students and their writing abilities....