May 15
This blog post was inspired by six hours of professional development that did nothing to help me actually teach. Betsy, from Spark Creativity, shares my frustration (along with many of you, I’m sure) and so we decided to team up to create this post. Our goal is for you to walk away with something you …
Apr 25
Desperate for something that will engage students during virtual meetings? Try a virtual classroom murder mystery! In this post I’m explaining how to adapt my murder mystery lesson to an online meeting. Click here if you haven’t yet read my post about murder mystery lessons. Okay, so let’s talk about how this very social lesson …
Feb 12
It’s a classroom murder mystery party with all the students as Romeo and Juliet characters! This idea came to me randomly one night and I stayed up all night making it happen. I knew it would be perfect for my R&J unit. Read on and I’ll share what I came up with and any snags …
Jan 28
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. …
Jan 17
If your students love Serial, wait until they hear In the Dark! Season two explores how Curtis Flowers has been tried for the same murder case six different times over a 21 year period. As the host says, it’s about “a black man from a small town in Mississippi who’s spent the past 21 years …
Dec 28
Executive functioning skills are key for our students to find success in the classroom and throughout their lives. EF skills include working memory, time management, organization, task initiation, emotional control, planning/prioritizing, and sustained persistence (note: these categories vary depending on which EF resource you are reading). Executive functioning skills don’t always fall into a curriculum, …
Dec 17
My students and I love “A Jury of Her Peers“ by Susan Glaspell. Keep reading for seven reasons you should use it in your classroom as well. ***Spoilers ahead. Read with caution*** 1. Feminist Lens Written by a woman and about women, it gives excellent insight into the social roles of men and women in …
Oct 31
Whenever my students start to get a little squirrely, I try to create a game to release some energy and to keep engagement up. Today’s game: Name That Tone! Keep reading for a step-by-step on how to create your own. Or keep scrolling for a link to my version in Google Slides. Come up with …
Sep 24
Looking to change up your communication with your students? I’ve got you covered: your Bitmoji and sincere comments on a brightly colored Post It. It takes a few minutes of prep, but the students know it comes from the heart and they appreciate the effort. So, for those who like to read and follow steps, …
Jul 19
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 …
