Helping students set goals for their learning and behavior is a big part of my classroom. Goal setting helps students become aware of their strengths, challenges, and learning style, while teaching them accountability and perseverance. And it sends the message that we believe that they can grow! ... [ Read More ]
Resources for Practicing Technology Enhanced Items (TEI)
I remember when our state tests became computerized and we were all stressing about this brand new thing called TEI (technology-enhanced items). The first year or two was rough while we tried to figure out what TEI questions actually looked like and how we'd teach students to answer them. Fast ... [ Read More ]
6 Easy Social Studies Anchor Charts for Any Unit
Teacher truth: I have all the heart eyes for the beautiful anchor charts I've seen on social media, but in my own classroom, they were never as pretty. But guess what? It doesn't matter! It doesn't need to be fancy so long as it works for you and for your students. A functional and easy-to-make ... [ Read More ]
7 Ways to Teach Word Analysis Every Day
One of my favorite fourth grade language arts units to teach is word analysis. Why? Because word analysis skills help kids become stronger independent readers. I love showing students that they can go from relying on other people to learn what a word in a book means to being able to figure it out ... [ Read More ]
How to Add Rigor to Math Word Problems
...Wait, what? Did I read that title correctly? Yes! Usually we focus on breaking down word problems to make them more simple for students to solve. But in this blog post, I want to talk about doing the opposite. How can we make math word problems more rigorous for our students? WHY Should We Add ... [ Read More ]
