I used to use journal prompts as a quick and easy center, or in my morning work rotation. Over time, I started to only use prompts during the first couple weeks of the school year when we weren’t quite into our regular routines and I needed something students could easily do without having to spend too much time on procedures and expectations. Then, those journals would sit in the students’ desks for months at a
On Amazon Prime Day this summer I bought an Amazon Echo Dot. I had recently spent some time playing around with an Echo at a friend’s house and I quickly fell in love with it. It’s a completely unnecessary piece of technology, but it helps my laziness you quickly and easily solve a few different tasks in the classroom. The Amazon Echo has stronger speakers than the Dot but the Dot functions just fine in
Fact fluency routines are often filled with worksheets and timed activities. They do have their place in the classroom, but they’re not very engaging. While I’ve definitely learned that fact fluency does not mean 1 second recall and strict timing systems, I also firmly believe that having a strong memorization of facts helps students focus their mental effort and energy on the larger math skills at hand. It’s important to build fact fluency in students.
I’m always looking for new videos to show my kids, especially when it comes to the content areas where I feel like I don’t have enough resources and don’t always have the best in-depth knowledge myself. I’ll be honest and say that my content areas get planned last, I don’t have nearly enough time to teach them, and I always feel like they could be so much better if I knew of better ways to
Every few years you get a group of kids that help you become a better teacher, and this year is that group for me. They need a lot of positive reinforcement and are high energy. My engagement strategy toolbox has increased as I’ve tried out new methods to keep them interested in our lessons and our learning. They’ve already made tremendous gains and I’ve seen some critical shifts in their thought processes about school, learning,
I’ve spent the last 15 years teaching in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades, and working beside elementary classrooms as an instructional coach and resource support. I’m passionate about math, literacy, and finding ways to make teachers’ days easier. I share from my experiences both in and out of the elementary classroom. Read more About Me.
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