TL;DR: Regular weekly planning meetings and reflections enhance co-teaching effectiveness. Leveraging each teacher’s strengths creates a dynamic and supportive classroom environment. Standalone support classes complement co-taught sessions, providing tailored assistance to students. For the past twelve years that I have been teaching middle school English, I have worked with seven different co-teachers. Each is amazing and unique in their own … Read More
Show 81: Summer PD Series 8, Building a Successful Classroom Culture
We have the special honor of adding to additional guest co-hosts two this show, Mike Creed and Lee Carlson. They are both masters of developing positive relationships and classroom communities. Mike has experience with teaching students K-5 and Lee has experience teaching middle school and high school. The insight they offer is incredible, and amazingly correlates between secondary and elementary. … Read More
5 Tips for Building Classroom Community
TL;DR: Challenging classroom behavior is often why teachers feel burned out. Building a strong classroom community is a proactive strategy to support positive behavior. Some strategies to build community include morning meetings, closing circles, mindfulness, and more! I was a special education teacher for 10 years and have been in the field for 12. The classroom community is my bread … Read More
The Gift of Contribution
TL;DR: There are so many ways we can contribute to the communities we find ourselves in. We will dive into these questions: How do you add value by your presence? And how do you add value through your words and actions? How much value do you add and how can you add more? How often do we show we value … Read More
The Case for Kids Over Content
TL;DR: For far too long, the scales of education tipped in favor of content over kids. It’s time we tip it back; relationships make the case for kids over content. Smiles and Frowns is an activity you can implement in your class to give each student a chance to share their voice every single day. During Smiles and Frowns, the … Read More