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- 6 min
ELA Escape Room
Today my students participated in our first-ever escape room. It. was. amazing. I think it's always a good sign when students are on their feet reading, leaning over a passage, and verbally thinking through text based questions. Not only did the students have a blast, they learned more about close reading and multiple choice than I could have ever taught them in a traditional lecture-style lesson. In an escape room, students are truly doing the work of learning. They are unp
73,135 views0 comments
- 5 min
Standards Based Grading for Independent Reading
Two years ago I changed my grading practices from the traditional 0-100 scale model to Standards Based Grading (SBG). Making this change forced me to reevaluate how I measured my students' independent reading skills. Standards Based Grading finally gave me the perfect balance between encouraging a love of literature through independent reading and using independent reading as a tool for building literacy skills. The first step in switching over to SBG was asking myself, wha
2,669 views0 comments
- 3 min
Teaching the Power of Literature through Songs, Poetry, and Independent Reading
Show students the power of literature in our lives: the power to make us think, to make us feel, to make us look at the world in a whole new way. The power of literature is the reason why we read, and teaching students that power creates lifelong readers. Last week I introduced my students to our newest independent reading study: stories and poems with enduring power. Using task cards, students walked around the classroom visiting four different stations where they brainstorm
1,575 views0 comments
- 2 min
Teaching Kids to Evaluate Internet Sources
What is real news and what is fake news has everyone from our president to our families at the Thanksgiving table talking, and this year as my students began their first research project, I knew that I could use current events to maximize the engagement and authenticity of their study of evaluating Internet sources. I started preparing by gathering as many fake news stories as possible. I tried to find articles that avoided politics because I did not want my middle schoolers
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- 2 min
Celebrating March Madness with Poetry Brackets
Let's face it: getting kids excited about poetry can be a challenge. However, it's not at all impossible. Last year was my first year using poetry brackets during the month of March, and it was a hit. I gave kids a "Sweet Sixteen" of poets, had them find and research poems by each poet, predict winners, and then we voted on our favorites using Google Forms, advancing poets accordingly. The most rewarding part was hearing students throwing around poet's names like they were t
1,994 views0 comments
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