Reflections on Teaching

This is a weird couple of weeks because we have parent conferences (with minimum days) backing up onto the Thanksgiving Holiday. My district is one of the few in the area that still has kids come in during Thanksgiving week, so there is this funny 2-day dog-leg of a week. The schedule is all mucked [...]

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I was going to write a lot more when I did this post, but I got sidetracked by something I read here in the Bracey Report 2009. I was arrested while reading the account of a child who died for want of dental care, but it was the following paragraphs that left me both breathless, [...]

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Thank you very much for having me in your IB Theory of Knowledge Class on Tuesday. Here were some of the things that I saw while I was in your class:

You started with warmup which was to write down three main points for creating a good presentation for an upcoming project.
Speed dating was next. You [...]

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The next edition of the ELL/EFL/ELD Carnival will be…right here! Any blog posts, including examples of student work, that are related to teaching or learning English are welcome. You can contribute a post by using this easy submission form.
The last edition of the Carnival hosted by Jennifer Duarte and Michelle Klepper is  here, and as [...]

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As I’m starting new units, one of them has offered examples of both success and failure, and some lessons for me. This isn’t one of those big “ah ha’s” but one of those smaller moments of enlightenment that make up the day-to-day practice of teaching, and improving that practice.
The unit is on Astronomy which we [...]

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Between a bought with a cold and new units to set up at work, I’ve gotten behind in my posting, and for this I apologize. Lot’s of interesting things are taking place.
Self-Control Unit for upper grade
I will come back to this unit over time between other units.  The latest thing I was doing with students [...]

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Thanks for letting me chat with your class tonight. Lots of great questions. I’m sorry I was under the weather and unable to stay long. If you have further questions, please send me a comment below. Also, it would be a great help is you share with me resources or approaches that have or have [...]

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Last week was completely insane schedule-wise, and an invitation early in the week to a district town hall meeting for schools in PI (program improvement under NCLB) was the maraschino cherry that tipped it well-past being merely ambitious into Bedlam land. I did volunteer for this, but afterward I have to wonder why? The meeting [...]

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