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Challenging Your Students on Assessments
In a few weeks, students in public schools and charter schools across New York State will take hours of state assessments in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Teachers are nervous, parents are...
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The NAEP Chicken and the Common Core Nonfiction Egg
What came first…the NAEP Chicken or the CCSS Egg? In 2009, there were revisions to the reading content in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the “largest nationally...
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Creating Excitement In The Classroom With Hyperdocs
Have you explored using hyperdocs in your classroom? I hadn’t either, until I attended the CUE Conference in Palm Springs, California. The CUE Conference is the largest (this year topped 7,000...
View ArticleStandardized Protesting
Most Americans are quite aware of their First Amendment rights, namely their freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press. One of the most often overlooked freedoms in that...
View Article5 Ways to Use Emojis in the Classroom
I realized almost immediately that I wasn’t getting through to my Kindergartners… again. I asked a class full of 5-year-olds to identify feeling words, and I got the same generic responses – happy,...
View ArticleA Teacher Requests Her Students Not To Be Tested
I have had the immense fortune of being able to be in front of children in many different capacities for 25 years. It truly humbles me to know that for 25 years, parents have trusted my...
View ArticleMovie Review: Tested
Think that there’s a lot on the line for kids taking tests? Plenty of pressure? Stress? Difficulties? Mess? Welcome to New York City Public Schools, says writer, producer, and director Curtis Chin in...
View ArticleKindergarten Readiness: 10 Things Your Child Should Know
It’s almost Kindergarten readiness screening time for my school, and it is exciting to see the new faces that will walk through our doors come September. But it can also be a very frustrating time for...
View ArticleKindergarten Readiness: 10 MORE Things Your Child Should Know
Last week, I explored the academic side of Kindergarten readiness. But school readiness is not all about regurgitating facts because some things just cannot be measured. One child’s brain development...
View ArticleEducate Yourself and Vote
I am praying for our nation. We have a circus going on being sensationalized by the media. While this is happening, in fourth grade, I teach my students about government. They are exploring a basic...
View ArticleHave You Been To A #GAFE Summit?
I’ve been teaching for 26 years – English, AVID, Yearbook, Reading, History and any sort of intervention class that gets thrown my way. I’ve been through whole language and back. I’ve survived NCLB....
View ArticleWe Need our Educators Now More than Ever
We desperately need dedicated educators willing to build a career around serving today’s learners and today’s communities-our tomorrow depends on it. Under the guise of “reform”, public education and...
View ArticleDear President Elect Trump, From Your Teachers
It is American Education week. This event is an honor given to teachers one week a year by the National Education Association since 1921. The message this year is about empowering educators,...
View ArticleConference Review: National Council for Social Studies
The National Council for Social Studies had its 96th annual conference this past week in Washington, DC. Like the NEA’s Representative Assembly, the assembly is held in the nation’s capital during...
View ArticleText Evidence in the Common Core: There Are Such Things as Facts
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were released in 2009. They are now seven years old. I will admit that I was not initially enthusiastic about the English Language Arts literacy standards. I...
View ArticlePoverty, Parents, Homework and Kitchen Tables
Poverty is more than just an excuse Policymakers and mainstream education reformers have been chronically unwilling to acknowledge education research and evidence indicating the impact of poverty on...
View ArticleHave You Tried Socratic Seminars Yet?
Have you jumped into Socratic Seminars in your classroom yet? If not, I've got a few easy tips to help you get started - including a 'real life' demo video! If you're already using Socratic Seminar,...
View ArticleConversations About Betsy DeVos
As one of the writers for The Educator’s Room, I participate with all the authors in regular conversations. We share ideas, talk about pedagogy, discuss writing topics, and sometimes even debate...
View ArticleReading Response Prompts for Nonfiction
In March, I shared how I create reading response prompts for my 8th grade ELA students. Since then, I have gotten inquiries from other content areas about what sorts of prompts are appropriate for...
View ArticleTeaching Writing With Hyperdocs
If you’re looking for a new approach to teaching writing, you’ve got to try teaching with hyperdocs. What are hyperdocs? According to their creators, Lisa Highfill, Kelly Hilton and Sarah Landis,...
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