Teachers spend so.much.time on teaching fiction reading skills & strategies.

But the reality is - most of our life is spent reading nonfiction text.  Whether it’s a dinner recipe or a manual to try to…

This ain’t your grandma’s classroom.

Years ago the textbook was all we had.  Textbooks…and workbooks that went along with the textbook. Ew.

But, we’ve come a loooong way since those days and it’s time …

Do you know what students love to do?

Talk.

Give them a hot second to chat, and pretty quickly your classroom will be filled with conversations about video games, and sports, and whatever the latest ki…

How can teachers help their students to become stronger readers?

Simple.  Give them the tools (aka reading comprehension strategies) to help them make sense of what they read.

Ok, maybe not so simple.

T…

Writing conferences used to be a nightmare in my classroom.

They usually involved me and my trusty red pen going through a students’ writing, marking it up— adding suggestion, highlighting misspelled …

There might be something missing from your readers and writers workshop.

A Chair.

Oh - not just any chair.  A ‘Share Chair.’  

If you’re not using a share chair in your classroom, you’re missing out - B…

How you end a lesson is just as important as what you do during the lesson itself.

If you’ve ever spent hours prepping and planning for a lesson in your classroom (and I know you have),  then after al…

Students can't learn in crisis mode.

Before we can teach young minds, we must first teach students to tap into their feelings and emotions.  Social-emotional health is the foundation for all learning …

Students tend to think that everything they read is important.

But - the problem with trying to remember EVERYTHING you read is that you actually end up remembering very little. Our brains can only re…

There are a lot of moving parts in the readers and writers workshop model.

It takes a lot of coordination, planning, and modeling for reading and writing magic to happen.

Reading and writing centers se…

If you've been with me for a bit, than you know I like to keep my teacher community updated on new projects that I'm working on, new podcast episodes that drop and even personal life-updates.

But, I'v…

It's undeniable.  Students love to talk.

Sometimes is hard to get them to stop talking.

But, not all “talk” is created equal.

It’s one thing to have your students discuss what they did over the weekend,…

All teachers would agree that asking questions is (usually) a good thing.

Yes, we have the those students who seem to ask endless questions, or questions that seem off topic or irrelevant, but — overa…

Imagine If you could increase student participation & build classroom community… at the same time.

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

So often, teachers focus on teaching the content that our curriculum requir…

ARE YOU ALWAYS ON THE HUNT FOR A GREAT READING RESPONSE ACTIVITY?

As an upper elementary teacher, you probably spend a good chunk of your time reading novels with your students.  Am I right?

Well, I’m …

We like what we like. 

I will ALWAYS order the same chicken dish at my favorite Indian restaurant.  It's delicious and it's not worth the risk to order something different and end up not liking it. 

Ar…

Are you guilty of spoon feeding your students ideas for what to write?

I’m right there with you! We have all done it.

We all have those students who just sit there, stare at the wall and say, “I don’…

Wouldn't it be nice if we could predict what the future holds?

…especially as we head into 2021.  Wow, that’s a loaded question! Maybe we would rather not know. (wink, wink)

Predicting in reading, how…

Let’s be real. We have all been there.

…flying by the seat of your pants from unit to unit —  Not a curriculum map in sight!

There were several years of teaching that I, for SURE, was flying by the s…

Do you ever wish you could start this whole school year over? Yes, please! 

Remember that "fresh year, fresh classroom" feeling that you had at the beginning of the school year? Your classroom was so…