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 get right back to work the first day back. It’s important for us to reconnect with our students, have some fun and listen to what they’ve been up to the last few weeks/months. Here are five activities that can help you do just that!
Back to School
5 Super Fun, Simple Games to Play with Your Class…Whenever!
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 fosters respect for the teacher (students are much more likely to want to please a teacher they […]
What I’m doing the very first day of school might surprise you…and why you should try it too.
I let students socialize the first day of school. Read on to find out why… After reading this important article by Write On with Miss G (which I highly recommend you read), I thought back to my first day of school, last year. Here’s what’s written in my plan book 8/14/2017: introduce self, read My Name by […]
10 Reasons Secondary Teachers Should Try Reading & Writing Workshop
Don’t have time to read this article? Listen on iTunes instead! We all have our own curriculum, our own teaching teams, our own way of doing things but it’s summer vacation and time to ponder other options! This article is meant for secondary teachers who are on the fence about whether to try reading and […]
My Students Don’t Write During Writing
Don’t have time to read all of this?!?! Listen below:) So, some of your students aren’t writing during writing? Maybe they are just sitting there staring off into space. Or maybe they are sneaking onto their phone, they’ll probably tell you they were looking up a word on thesaurus.com. Or maybe they are whispering with […]
Launching Writing Workshop: The First 14 Days
This article outlines exactly what I did to launch both reading and writing workshop in my classroom. If you are an English teacher wanting to teach using the writing and reading workshop model, then this post is exactly what you’ve been looking for! You’ll find my exact lesson outline for 14 total school days. Students will get to know each other, you’ll build a writing community and begin teaching workshop routines in a matter of 14 days.
10 Ways to Use PowToon in the English Classroom
PowToon is a fun and fairly easy video creation tool for teachers and students. The company already has an excellent blog post about how teachers can utilize this tool in their classrooms here. This blog post is about how students can use PowToon for ten writing and reading tasks! Here is an excellent tutorial […]
The Ultimate Writing Workshop Routines Guide
Every teacher on the planet knows that the first weeks of school are all about routines, routines, routines and more routines. But, over time so many routines in our classrooms go overlooked. This guide discusses five important components of the workshop schedule and the routines you need to teach if you are planning to run […]