The first weeks of school are long past, and your class has likely settled into a rhythm. This is a great time of year to reflect on how things are going. Are routines running as smoothly as you’d like? Are
For a long time, when I wanted to give students positive feedback about their work or behavior, I began with some version of, “I like the way you…”
“Jeremy, I like the way you’re working so hard on that
One student can change the feel of a whole classroom. John throws a tantrum whenever things don’t go his way. Alicia enters the room each morning with a deep scowl exuding negative energy. Allen has way too much sexual knowledge
One of our primary goals at the beginning of the school year is to get to know our students. This is important for several reasons. First, the better we know our students, and the more they know we know them,
In my first two years as a classroom teacher, I used an incentive system to try and motivate and manage students. At each cluster of four student desks, there was a plastic dish. When groups were working well, paying attention,
Mikey was a challenging fourth grader. He broke down in tears often in the beginning of the year. Reading was hard. Math was hard. Recess was hard. Everything was hard. He crumpled work papers, fought on the playground, and teased
Every now and then, I come across a letter from Uncle Curmudgeon, an old retired teacher, to his niece, Kennari, an aspiring new teacher. I’m happy to pass them along from time to time!
Dear Kennari,
Greetings. It’s another slow
Few would argue with the importance of educating the whole child. Even in today’s age of standardized testing and emphasis on academic standards, perhaps even because of this recent emphasis, educators are increasingly aware of the need to nurture students’
Last evening I dislodged myself from home and made the 30-minute drive to Exeter High School to hear a talk given by Dr. Jo Boaler, Professor of Mathematics Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Warm and witty, with
Good teaching is good teaching is good teaching, whether you're helping fourth graders learn to multiply or teaching a wide receiver a new play.