There are a lot of factors that go into the success or failure of any lesson plan. Your students, activities, management, planning, formative assessment, available resources, and probably 1,000 more things I’m not thinking of at the moment. One thing has helped me improve the success rate of my lessons is the first 5 minutes. I have created a simple … Read More
3 Ways To Remove Fear From your Classroom
Most of us have seen or experienced the traditional archaic model of education where a lesson is taught, notes are taken, quizzes or worksheets are handed out and grades are given. While this model works for some students, there are many students that completely shut down in this process. This process of judgement and single chances creates an immense amount … Read More
Stop Making Excuses, and Start Making Changes.
Ok… so let me just start by saying, I am an educator and I have a never-ending amount of respect for the teaching profession and the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that goes into every day you step foot in your classroom. Teachers are overworked, underpaid, and above all, under-appreciated. When our students fail, it’s our fault. When they succeed, it’s … Read More
5 Changes That Saved My Teaching Career
I had the most difficult and challenging year of my life in the classroom last year. I had a ton of management issues, low student performance, and basically anything else that could go wrong went wrong. After a year like that, I knew I had two options: look for another line of work (like Burger King, for example), or … Read More
Why Your Students Act Out: 4 Ways to Lessen Discipline Problems in Your Classroom
We’ve all been through professional development that made us want to pull out our hair or crawl out of our skin. As the speaker drones on, or reads a powerpoint, all you can think is: “When is lunch?”, “How much longer?”, “I already know how to do this!!!”, or maybe even, “I’m totally lost!…they aren’t making any sense!”. While I can … Read More
