This month I was hired to do the best job imaginable, model a Readers’ Workshop. At the end of March I took a whole cart of great fiction (mostly off the Lone Star Reading List) into 6 different sixth grade classrooms, with the one goal of hooking kids on a book. I prepared a mini-lesson […]
The Necessity of Historical Pictures
A teaching moment that I will never forget is back in 2008 teaching United States History to fifth graders. We were on our second day of Roanoke. The kids were highly engaged and we were deep in discussion for two full days. By the end of the second day we were beginning to think about […]
4 Songs for Teaching Confidence and Self-Worth
I am a true believer in using music and song lyrics in the classroom. Students are naturally captivated by music, so why not go there? It’s difficult to find music students will enjoy that have clean lyrics and send a great messages, so here are four songs I used this week in classrooms to help […]
The Importance of Book Talks
Last week I was reminded of the importance of book talks. I was visiting a classroom of middle school students who struggle with reading. These students have learned to dislike reading through countless hours spent “reading” books that are well above their reading level with content they don’t care about, and completing worksheet packets. When […]