Finland has long been on the international radar as having the most well prepared teachers and with that high international student achievement. The question of “What are they doing in Finland?” has been on the radar for educators in the…

Welcome to the first day of school!  New students, new faces, and new families.  What an exciting day knowing your work matters and the profession you have embarked on is one that truly impacts the future.   What you do…

Goodbye Frank Shaffer circa 1985 you have been in our community long enough and your worksheets don’t grow dendrites. Teachers if I can give you any advice please don’t waste instructional time with run-offs from your favorite fill-in-the-blank workbook. I’m…

Teaching is a journey and technology holds much promise for teachers to document this journey and create a professional teaching portfolio that demonstrates your knowledge, skills and expertise. The day I lost all my teaching materials to a flood in…

Throughout the Common Core Mathematics State Standards, students should be making sense of mathematics in the real world.  In fact, the word ‘“real-world” appears across the math domains from “solve real-world problems involving multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers, e.g.,…

All students need access to core content, but all students don’t learn the same way nor do they come into the classroom with the same content knowledge, experiences and beliefs about learning.  Gifted children need to be challenged, students with…

The similarities between teacher and manager are certainly clear and therefore begs the question what kind of manager are you?  Identifying one’s strengths and weaknesses as a manager can surely support teachers in identifying areas of strength and places for growth….

Invented Spelling  to tell story about “my weekend” (translation: Go to Kk birthday party) Moving students along a continuum towards “emergent writer” takes time, practice, modeling, and most importantly MOTIVATION.   Regardless of where students are at the beginning of…

One question we ask teacher candidates for entrance in our program is “Do you think it is possible to make a student participate?” This question brings up the notion of “free will” and the role of the teacher to inspire…

By Guest Blogger: Dino Mangano History. It’s the class we love to teach, and the class many of our students dread attending. We history teachers have immersed ourselves in the content for years. We can’t get enough of conversations about…