Category: Teaching

How I Use Twitter in the Classroom

Imagine this: Your student is mindlessly scrolling Twitter, when suddenly your Tweet comes up reminding them of the test tomorrow. Now, your student is being productive and using the Quizlet link you included in the Tweet to study for the test. This is the power of Twitter in the classroom. Why Twitter? Students love social …

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Why I Put QR Codes on My Worksheets

A quick post on why I love having QR codes on worksheets. Includes a link to a quick video (under 2 minutes!) walking you through the process! This is a game-changer!

A quick extra step to put QR codes on your worksheets will save you so much time in the long run! I started putting addresses or short urls to websites I needed students to visit on my worksheets, but many students struggled entering them. They would leave out a letter or symbol which would then …

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My Favorite Podcasts for the Classroom

Change things up in the classroom with these highly engaging podcast episodes! There's a little bit of everything here: funny, scary, serious, and educational. I include links to the specific podcast episodes and tips on how to use them in the classroom. Enjoy!

Want to try podcasts in the classroom? I can help! This post lists out my favorite podcasts along with what standards and texts to pair them with. Many teachers prefer seasonal activities so I’m going to break this up by month. However, any of these can be used at any time throughout the year. *UPDATE! …

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Scary Podcasts for High School Students

For real. No cheesy music, no bad acting, and no trick endings where everyone is okay and it was all just a big misunderstanding. Seriously, your students are going to love these and they have just the right amount of horror while still being appropriate for school.

For real. No cheesy music, no bad acting, and no trick endings where everyone is okay and it was all just a big misunderstanding. Seriously, your students are going to love these and they have just the right amount of horror while still being appropriate for school. Myths and Legends I can’t say enough about …

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How to Make a Mini Bookcase for Weekly Spotlights

How to make a quick and cheap mini bookcase to do weekly book spotlights in your classroom. Blog post includes lots of ideas for different topics and spotlights to include!

Organizing your classroom library is no easy task. For example, how would you label The Book Thief? Fantasy, because the narrator is Death, or historical fiction because of the time period? If you have a section for movies that are books, it may end up there. And that’s one book. Many classroom libraries have hundreds of books; …

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Real-Life Writing: Police Reports

Help your students practice clear, concise, and organized writing by creating police reports. This real-world writing prompt helps keep students engaged and gives a specific focus to their writing. I often use this technique to have students summarize a character’s death or an important scene in a novel. Start with a Terrible Example I begin …

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How to Create a Digital Breakout for the Classroom

Breakouts are huge right now, but they are also a bit intimidating for teachers to create and implement. Just programing the locks for each kit has caused me anxiety. How would I find the time and patience to set all the locks? How would I reset everything in time for the next class? A digital …

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3 Ways to Use Fake Receipts in the ELA Classroom

Fake Character Receipt Activity. Students guess the characters and then explain why they need each item. Fun and different way to check comprehension.

Fake receipts are a great way to change up your worksheets and increase engagement. I mostly use them for creative writing and comprehension assessments, but I’m sure you’ll come up with a few ideas as well. 1. Reading Comprehension Create fake receipts for various characters and have the students guess which character they belong to. …

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Four Reasons to Teach HG2G This Year

Four great reasons to teacher The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this year! It's a few decades old but more relevant than ever given current technology and politics.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is more relevant than ever right now. Here’s four reasons to dust it off and get it back into students’ hands this year. 1. Zaphod Beeblebrox is Donald Trump Regardless of how you feel politically, we can all agree Trump sometimes acts sporadically. I Just finished reading this with …

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Strategic Thinking Via Severity Charts

According to Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, Level 3: Strategic Thinking involves problems with multiple valid answers. Severity charts are the perfect way to do just that. Students need to take into account multiple events, details, points of view, etc. in order to determine and validate their answer. Check out some of my examples below. Character Morality …

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