Teaching Tip Tuesdays

Scaffolding is a tool that great educators use instinctively. I don’t like the metaphor behind the term, however. We need a better visual image and story to help illustrate exactly what it means. Angela C. Santomero provides one for us in her [Keep Reading]

When Blue’s Clues premiered in 1995, it was truly unique and revolutionized preschool television with the use of something called the four-beat Pause. It worked this way, Steve, the host of the show, would break the fourth wall and ask the [Keep Reading]

Beats N’ Rhymes is a unique P.A. Day Experience that will be held at the Boys & Girls Club of London this Friday. It’s an introduction to the world of creating your own beats from scratch. You’ll learn the basics of music [Keep Reading]

Here’s an excerpt from “Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo. I thought it was fitting to share on this, the last day of summer vacation. It is written from the perspective of a teenage girl. I will be blogging about this verse novel [Keep Reading]

I love when I get great teaching ideas from whatever is I am reading in my spare time. This one comes courtesy of Alan Gelb from his book, The Seven Steps to Confident Writing. I think I will make this a daily homework assignment next year. I very [Keep Reading]

We are Teachers is a Twitter account that “offer ideas, inspiration, and information for your best days—and double that for your hard ones. Supporting kids means supporting educators, always.” A few days ago, they posed a question to [Keep Reading]

“The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.” ― Niels Bohr Neil Postman helps break down this thought. He writes, “It is better to have access to more [Keep Reading]

Psychologist Kevin Dutton has coined a term for something I am sure you have seen at some point in your career as educator. Have you ever had a student, or group of students, actively resist your attempts to teach them? Do they seem to completely [Keep Reading]

“I annoy my students on a number of levels. I don’t praise them enough: I’m always being critical, finding fault in their work. I make them commit to a writing project—choose the subject of their essays—almost immediately. I don’t [Keep Reading]

I was supply teaching in a classroom a few weeks back that had a brilliant display on the wall about the English language. It was chopped full of useful information for students. I found myself wondering how often this display gets used. I know that [Keep Reading]