This post may contain affiliate links. Oh, those dreaded half-days. How can we make them worthwhile and engaging? The month of November in my school district is a teachers’ worst nightmare as far as planning lessons. First of all, there is Veteran’s Day. Certainly a worthwhile holiday, but the first of many “off” days. Our county always schedules a Staff…
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Knowing how to introduce CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) writing in science classes has become more important than ever. Of course, we all want our students to be good science writers. The NGSS and CCLS have made it imperative that we directly teach this skill and that we continue it all year long. Introduce CER as a Stand-Alone Lesson I’ve tried…
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Engage Your Students With Interesting Informational Text Articles I love using informational text articles in my classes. I rarely ever use a textbook, even though I have them. There are just so many interesting images and animations online that I much prefer to use technology in my instruction. Finding interesting articles at the right reading level isn’t always easy though….
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Have You Ever Used Cornell Notes With Your Students? Getting my students to take notes … GOOD notes … was a struggle sometimes. Cornell notes were a huge help for them in terms of reading comprehension. In fact, they made such an impact that I made a template that I could use whenever I needed it. I’m giving it away…
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In my last post, I talked about Nearpod and how it’s such a great app to use for blended learning activities. Today we’ll be discussing some other features of Nearpod and how it can open up new ways of student-centered learning. Nearpod does have a lot of great features in the free version. But if you’re willing to spend a…
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