We had the best time today. The entire school and almost the entire staff went to a big celebration in a park, and we had the school to ourselves. Three kids were absent today, as was Ali, so it was me, Jan (my para), and 12 preschoolers. We went on an exploration adventure, starting with the [...]

I’ve been away for a bit, but I’m back!  Maybe, briefly.  Due to standardized testing, I have a RARE few moments to type a post while at school.  I’ve got cheer tryout stories, already, but I’ll share those in the future! OKP asked the following:    Hope the Clean Desk challenge is still on! Hmm…did you ever have a ...

A few months ago, while at a lesson waiting on my kid, I started chatting with another parent. He told me all about his son’s ADHD, and commented that “women teachers just don’t know how to teach boys.” I’ve been thinking about that ever since. A few years ago, I had a four year [...]

I am so excited to answer the next two questions simply because the come from Frumteacher! She always asks me questions about my classroom practice-I’m no expert, btw. It’s all trial and error. . . .a lot of error. But her questions often provoke me to take a deeper look at my classroom or teaching [...]

When I taught preschool at a daycare center, during my first official year of teaching, I had a big classroom with a large area where we could sit on the floor for circle time, in an actual circle. Now, many years later, I am teaching preschool in a public school, in a very small classroom.  Our [...]

Perhaps because I really started out teaching in daycare, before I taught kindergarten at that inner-city school, I still obey the rules about licensing and ratios and proper supervision.  I never want to have my students out of my sight, because if something happened to them, it would be my responsibility.  So — I want to [...]

On most days my desk looks like this: Well, on Friday morning, I decided I was tired of looking at that junk. So, while my students were busy with a guided reading (it was sort of a free day b/c there was a big program planned for later that day), I cleaned off my desk. [...]

After fifteen I was burning out, and ready to leave the teaching field. I did not feel like I was very effective anymore. That all changed when I learned of the approach called Power Teaching.This is a brain based learning approach with elements for both classroom management and teaching methods that bring your students on board with you, reduce ...

Just in time for March Madness Watch this video Read this article Being a Middle-Aged Nerd is No Excuse for Stupid What did you just learn? How can you relate it to classroom management? Also, I want to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the new “Rate this article” thing at the top of each article now. Go ahead ...

In case you haven’t already seen it, this post of teacher misbehavior caught on cell phones from Dangerously Irrelevant has been making the rounds. I saw it on Seth Godin’s blog, of all places. Seth’s assessment is that the teachers have a marketing problem. Cam Beck thinks the problem is deeper than simply marketing. He says ...