When I was in the classroom, we had to turn in a sub folder at the beginning of every year. This caused me great angst. What should I leave in it? When would I need it? I didn't want to leave busy work, but to leave something in a folder for an "emergency" was far … Continue reading Got Sub Plans?
The first time I learned about The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3, I was horrified. To confirm that the achievement gap starts well before a child can even make it to kindergarten is heartbreaking. What's more, teachers receive much of the blame for under-performing children, and not nearly enough resources to combat the … Continue reading The Power of Vocabulary
I have always found great appreciation for a thought-provoking quote. In fact, I can remember having great discussions in class about quotes from whichever novel we were reading. Sometimes I would provide the quotes, and other times I would require students to find their own meaningful quotes. What was most interesting about the process was student … Continue reading Critical Thinking: Analyzing Quotes
Understanding that students may not have the skills they are "supposed" to have to navigate grade-level text is difficult on both students and teachers. For this reason, I always spent the beginning of the school year teaching my students reading strategies and comprehension skills that we would implement for the rest of the year. Instead … Continue reading Secondary Reading Comprehension – Gradual Release
