Middle schoolers love routine and structure, so I like to assign seats from day one. This helps them to get a feel for the class and the fact that they don’t have free seating even on day one (I swear this makes a difference in middle school!). I love efficiency and systems, and I…
As the end of the school year approaches, I’m already thinking about next school year. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time. The beginning of a new school year is my chance to start over and do it better and do it right. But, I want to make sure that the…
…like teacher tired! New post coming as soon as my grades are posted, answer sheets are copied for testing, word walls are covered, plans are made, flipcharts are updated, desk is cleared off, new work is hung outside my room, cubbies are straightened, I’ve gone to the bathroom, gotten water, had a snack, put my…
The Friday before break…this is an ominous four-word phrase that occasionally evokes a four-letter word from teachers, but today, the stars aligned for me in 6th grade (not 7th or 8th, but I’ll take what I can get)!!!! I couldn’t believe it. The students were so incredible that I even gave them stickers (yes, middle schoolers…
Today’s post is going to be hit or miss. If you don’t have a Promethean Board in your classroom, then you should bypass this post!!!! If you do have one, I hope that my experience can help you to use your board in the most effective way possible! To start, when you plug into your Promethean…
I LOOOOOVE using culture and news articles in my classroom. I developed this skill during my 2nd year of teaching with CI. Back then, I was TERRIBLE at asking TPRS stories and needed something different to keep myself and my students interested. Thus, I started using news STORIES and cultural STORIES in the place of class…
As a follow-up to what I learned and saw at CCFLT, I’ve been intentionally allowing my classes to have conversations that are completely untargeted and that follow the natural stream of conversation. For me, this has been extremely successful. Not only have students been focused and engaged, but it has also been fun for…
After watching Paul Kirschling last year, I was inspired to figure out my own system for beginning Free Voluntary Reading. For me, this was extremely scary! Middle schoolers can be really reluctant to start something new, so I knew that I would have to set it up in a spectacular way in order to ensure…
Without a doubt, attending conferences makes me a better teacher. This weekend, I got a few strategies that I’m going to merge together to make one SUPER-LESSON to try out this week. Mira Canion presented about using a “lower” level question, ¿Cómo soy? (“What am I like?”) to be compelling for any level of learner. She modeled this…
After talking with my former teaching partner and friend, CI teacher extraordinaire, Annabelle Allen, I am finally ripping off the band-aid. I’ve been wanting to start a CI blog for years, so here I go. Annabelle had a good point saying that I reflect all the time, try new things, and have epic fails (ok,…
