This was our first week back from winter break. I always have my students write about their goals for the new year. But, since we started so late into January this year I wanted to think of another new year…
Read More »
Have you read, Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers, by Jennifer Gonzalez from The Cult of Pedagogy? It’s a beautiful blog post of advice for first-year teachers to find their marigold. A marigold is someone who…
Read More »
One of my goals as a classroom teacher was to make learning more visible for my students. I wanted them to be in control of their own learning, so I always tried to give a clear picture of our learning…
Read More »
If you follow my Instagram, you’ll see a recent post about how I implement a Homework Choice system with my students. I received a lot of questions regarding how I implement this system and gain parent support. Here is how…
Read More »
When I was teaching, my favorite part of getting ready for the new school year was decorating my classroom with bulletin boards! These are some of my favorite bulletin boards from throughout the years. Click each title to find the…
Read More »
Whether you’re celebrating a week-long kindness themed week at your school or you’re looking for kindness activities to complete with just your class, I’ve got you covered! It’s important that we explicitly teach empathy, kindness, and compassion to our students….
Read More »
If you’re anything like me, you get stressed out when Open House starts lurking around the corner. The projects, the cleaning, the ANTICIPATION! This year was extra stressful for my team and me because Open House fell right smack dab…
Read More »
The English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework in California calls for Designated ELD instructional time. It’s a protected time in the school day when teachers use the California ELD standards to teach critical English language skills. The state of California…
Read More »
This year I introduced growth mindset to my students. Growth mindset is the idea that continuous effort and a positive attitude will increase achievement. Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck completed decades of mindset research, showing that using a growth mindset…
Read More »
Congratulations on getting your first teaching position! You’re probably sorting through so many emotions and feeling very anxious and excited about starting off your new career, and that’s totally normal! All veteran teachers look back at their first year and…
Read More »
