Hats of Faith is a simple and striking introduction to the shared custom of religious head coverings. With bright images and a carefully researched interfaith text, this thoughtful book inspires understanding and celebrates our culturally diverse modern world.
Learn the simple, quick strategies cognitive scientists say can boost student learning in any classroom.
When I stepped into my very own classroom for the first time as a brand new teacher, Instagram didn’t exist. I didn’t even know about the online wealth of
If you're an educator who struggles with anxiety and feels like you’re drowning in work, here's an encouraging message you can replay anytime you're feeling anxious.
Also, check out the complete Simplified Coaching Planning Kit… including 6 different sections with 5 different cover options and the following tools to help you get organized, plan and prepare to be an awesome coach: Get your Coaching Planning Kit Today!
These game-changing digital tools will help you develop a more efficient assessment system and cut your overall grading time in half. As I’m sure many fellow teachers would agree, developing an effective system of providing meaningful, individualized feedback to each of our students during the wr
Learn how to write a research project with this detailed guide written a Senior Lecturer who has supervised hundreds of research projects.
Relationship building is key to good teaching. This system will help you quickly get to know students and benefit from those connections all year long.
Has your classroom turned into a 1:1 Chromebook Classroom and you are unsure of how to utilize these devices each day? Come learn about some meaningful ways to integrate these devices into your elementary classroom!
Directions that are observable, timed, clear, and concise can help ensure student compliance.
For the last month, I've traveled everywhere from Hawaii to Washington (short drive, actually) to Indiana to South Carolina delivering keynotes and leading workshops on empowering students with voice, choice, and ownership. Each time, I've
Heartbreak My heart was broken this week. I came into work early Wednesday morning to prepare for an instructional walkthrough that wouldn’t happen. As soon as I came into the building, my principal escorted me to a classroom filled with other staff and gave me the news that three of our students had died in […]
My list of top tips and resources for the new TEFL teacher; videos, songs games and advice on how to survive your first TEFL job.
This assignment builds bonds between students and prompts them to be more intentional with the language they use, both in word choice and rhetorical strategies.
You know that collective sigh, the one that choruses around the room when you enthusiastically announce, "Class, the next unit we'll be en...
Many alternatives to a classroom gig.
It's time to add dogfooding -- the practice of using your own product as a consumer in order to find and fix the bugs -- to our own teaching practice.
“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.” -Obi-Wan Kenobi There exists a quiet cadre of teachers who can take over any classroom—out-of-control, disrespectful, or otherwise—and get the students under control, quiet, and working within minutes. They have a certain presence about them, a certain ... Read more
I read the background story of Mr.Dickerson, the author of this poem, and it made me want to cry. The teacher made the student give her his shoe as collateral for a pencil. He had on dirty socks and all the kids started laughing at him. I've done it, not the shoe part. Never collateral. But I have shaken my head and said things like, "Why don't you ever have a pencil?" I don't even pay for my pencils, my district does. So why did I feel the need to address it? I should have just given the kid the pencil. After I read this poem a few years ago, I became more aware of my attitude towards my students regarding circumstances like these. It's similar to the wake-up call I got years and years ago when I used to fuss, roll my eyes, or make comments regarding the late ELEMENTARY student. They don't drive! How are they going to control what time they get to school or IF they get to school? Now I just smile and say, "I am glad you are here." with absolutely no sarcasm. It makes a difference. Do you know that educator that picks and picks and picks? Yeah, you know who I'm talking about. They have to make a case about every little thing. Don't be that educator. I remember I used to fuss at a little girl who never had her HW done.(That's when HW used to be an issue for me.) I found out at the end of the year that the little girl was homeless and staying in a shelter. I don't think HW was high on her list of priorities. In the article, Mr.Dickerson wants us to pay attention to what happened before this student came to school with no pencil. Pay attention to what the student did in order to come to school! That is what is important, how this child overcame their morning hardships and made it to school WITH their baby sister. And here we are, worrying about a pencil. Give the kid the pencil! Stop sweating the little things.
I don’t remember many English rules from my early years in school (who does?), but I do remember that I wasn’t allowed to put any periods on my paper until I was absolutely certain I had included a…
If you love reading as much as I do, then you probably remember the very first book you ever read, all on your own. Mine was The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister, and it was a story about making friends, sharing what you have — no matter how small —…
These Valentine's Day books for preschool help you celebrate the holiday in your classroom.
To do the work of a teacher and stick with it long enough to get good at it, you need a level of emotional resilience most other jobs will never require.
I share these stories because I suspect you have also had moments you’re not proud of, stories you’ve never told anyone; I want you to know you’re not alone.
We are on a serious funny book kick around here. We all enjoy laughing out loud to some really great books. We've come across some really good ones
I was at a meeting today where we were discussing some of the challenges that we face as math educators and things that we can do to help boost student achievement. One of the things that was brou…
Ruby Bridges NO PREP Printables for Literacy and Social Studies was designed to provide your students with deep thinking, reading comprehension, vocabulary, problem solving skills, and {most importantly} an understanding of how RUBY BRIDGES helped to change our world. Using these Ruby Bridges Printables in your classroom will benefit your students in the following ways: • Reflect on the life, challenges, and accomplishments of Ruby Bridges. • Inspire students to care about who people are on in the inside, not the color of their skin. • Encourage the understanding of powerful vocabulary words. • Practice problem solving skills, in the areas of literacy and social studies. • Use reading and writing skills to reflect on learn about Ruby Bridges. ******************************************************************************** Click on the link below to see the Ruby Bridges full-product download: Ruby Bridges Printables {full-product download} The following information gives specific details about the Ruby Bridges full-product download: Included in the 51 page unit: ** Ruby Bridges Informational Passage ** Facts About Ruby ** Ruby Bridges Can / Have / Is ** I'm Brave Too ** I'm Brave Too {differentiated version} ** The Real Ruby Bridges ** Vocabulary Sort ** About Ruby Bridges ** My Ruby Bridges List of Vocabulary Words ** My Ruby Bridges List of Vocabulary Words {differentiated version} ** Ruby Bridges Fact & Opinion ** Ruby Bridges K ~ W ~ L ** Equality Organizer ** Ruby's ABC Order ** Ruby's ABC Order {differentiated version} ** Ruby's ABC Order answer key ** Mrs. Henry Helped ** Cause & Effect with Ruby ** Cause & Effect with Ruby answer key ** 1, 2, 3 Ruby Bridges ** 1, 2, 3 Ruby Bridges {differentiated version} ** Thanks to Ruby ** Ruby Bridges Story Planner ** Ruby Bridges Life List ** Ruby Bridges Life List {differentiated version} ** About Ruby, Then and Now ** Ruby's Long Walk ** Describing Ruby Bridges ** An Angry Crowd ** Ruby's First Day at School ** A Day with Ruby! ** A Day with Ruby! {differentiated version} ** Protesting Ruby ** Let's Make a Change Story Planner ** Equality ** The Amazing Life of Ruby Bridges ** Change Organizer ** Support From Mom ** Ruby Bridges ** Ruby's Sign ** If I Were Ruby Bridges ** A Courageous Act ** Ruby Bridges Reading Log ** New Beginnings ** Ruby Bridges Word Search ** Ruby Bridges Word Search answer key ***************************************************************************** Other Black History resources you might like: Martin Luther King, Jr. Printables Martin Luther King, Jr. Unit for Literacy and Social Studies Martin Luther King, Jr. Color and Learn Book ****************************************************************************** Customer Tips: How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: • Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you. ☺ Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: • Look for the red star near the top of any page within my store and click it to become a follower. You will now receive customized email updates about this store. ☺ Thank you for visiting Teacher Karma. If you have any questions or concerns about a product, please feel free to email me. [email protected] For additional learning strategies, please visit my educational blog, Teacher Karma Best wishes! Jen Bradshaw
Bunker Hill Indiana Photographer captures Maconaquah H.S. FFA Chapter Officers portrait photography at apple orchard in Fall wearing official dress blue jackets and casual club navy shirts | individual headshot and branding portraits, group portrait photography in vibrant color | Farm Pho
This teacher-led model for professional development is a formula for deep, reflective learning and long-lasting change. Read how one group of teachers did it.
The best rubrics save teachers time and give students that feedback they need to do better on the next assignment. Here's how to create them.
It's taken YEARS to get my wall of wisdom. When I teach, I learn. I learn that kids are visual creatures. Stuff just sticks better if you show it with a picture. So, all the wise things I have learned over the 15 plus years of teaching I have put into a poster form. There's still a lot of ideas floating around in my brain, but it takes time to get them all out. I know not all art teachers have time to make their own posters. So i decided a few years back that very time I make a poster, I scan it and put it on TPT (Teacher Pay Teacher) to share the opportunity for other teachers to use it in their classrooms as well. Please visit my store. Here you will download the image of the poster only. You take that download and print it from your printer, send it to an online photo center and get it shipped to your house, or take you download to a photo store to have printed in house. My secret? I sign up for CVS and Walgreen photo coupons and wait for a 50% off everything sale. Then I print me some poster. That is how I get all mine down. People always ask me how they print out, are they pix led or high quality? I scan them at home on the highest digital capability on my scanner. so, when you print them big, it looks great too. Visit Store Here... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Lost-Sock-Art-Teacher I have included a lot of pictures below of how they turn out in real life. Tired of saying the same thing OVER AND OVER to your students! JUST A DOT, NOT A LOT!! I was. That's why I started making posters in the first place, just for me and my classroom. But things are so much more peaceful now when I have posters that say it. A poster speaks a thousand words, you know. Go see what I have I store for you and your classroom walls.. Oh, if only walls could speak.. WAIT, they can! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Lost-Sock-Art-Teacher My Newest Poster Get it here... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Creativity-Takes-Courage-Poster-3413925 Visit my TeacherPayTeacher store here. Got lots of colorful designs to give your classroom "class" and brighten up your walls. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Lost-Sock-Art-Teacher Check it out Yall'. All of these poster ideas come from 14 years of teaching! I repeat the same phrases, rules or rhymes to my students and it just didn't seem to stick. Then I just started making illustrations of those things and there I was... with a big WALL OF WISDOM! I just keep adding and adding. Now I'm addicted to making POSTERS! I love lettering and illustrating. I love color and details. I love ART! If you have an idea for a design, something that you have learned or teach your kids, let me know. It may be my next poster! Please visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store where you can get your own posters for your classroom! Yay, you might just find a free one there... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Lost-Sock-Art-Teacher As an art teacher, there are things that I am continually telling my students. Things like... "You are responsible for your own mess", or "Art requires patience above talent!", "There's no excuse for messiness!", "Don't use a waste a new piece of paper when you can use an eraser!". Instead of repeating myself, I decided years ago to make a "Wall of Wisdom". It is full of ideas to make your art better or my philosophy of a good art attitude. This was my old wall of poster... New wall at new school... I've went Art Elementary in 2014 ;) after 10 years of MIddle School Elementary boys = PAPER AIRPLANES!!! WHat's the deal? And they are not even CREATIVE! Maybe if they drew windows with passengers peeking through... or something, but NO! SO, I have decided to BAN THEM FROM MY ROOM! "Let your Imagination fly... NOT YOUR PAPER!" T. Morgan Kill the dead space! Fill it up with life, learn to turn! Dear art student, I am not impressed by your speed. It's slow and steady that won. Love, Mrs. Morgan Improved version Purchase this Poster here... https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Slow-and-Steady-Wins-the-A-2710822 I have some kids that get super excited when they are the first ones done with their work. Being quick is not always a good thing. Remember the tortoise and the hare? Sometimes that means they did not take the time to be neat or to complete the work. So, slow and STEADY wins the race. Some kids work hard at first, then get tired, then quit doing their best. If you start neat, finished neat. Be consistent with your work. I let kids know on the first day of school, that I do not grade them based on talent. Nobody can pick their talents when they are born. I am sure if they had a choice, all students would choose to be artistically inclined. So, I grade on their "ARTtitude". Do they try, do the fix mistakes, do they improve, do they listen to advice? Or do they give up, give half effort, or turn work in knowing it could be better? It takes blood, sweat, and tears. It's about distance vs. speed. My pet peeve is when kids waste paper! They put one measly mark down and then throw it away! UGHHHHH! I want to just throw erasers at those wasters! So, I made this sarcastic ad for the NEWEST INVENTION... THE ERASER! You don't have to be talented to be neat. It just takes special care and patience. All you have to do is a back and forth motion with your hand while holding a crayon... it's not that hard. So, I do grade hard on kids who are sloppy. It is just them telling me they don't care. It's a bad "art"titiude. In most cases, it is best to color dark. It shows up better, it pops out, and it reveals the true color. At least if you don't color the inside dark, then emphasize it by outlining dark on the outside. Plus, coloring darker is harder and more time consuming, which in the end shows more care. I tell the kids that if the paper is big, draw big. Fill the space up. The picture is more important than the emptiness behind it. Drawing bigger allows the artist to include more detail as well. If you have the room, use it! Otherwise, you are wasting. Patience is a virtue... You have to practice patience while you create art. When my students work hard by showing patience, I like to post their work online. The great educational philosopher Harry Wong said something like this when I saw him speak. I just took what he said and make a poster for it. I let the kids talk while they work. As long as they do this responsibly, But, if they talk more than they work, inhibit others from working because of their talking, or they fail because of their mouth, then they have a problem that needs to be fixed. Art, the most important meal of the day. Shhhhhhh!.... Draw secret, soft & light lines if you're not sure in the beginning stages. If you draw hard, yiu make it harder on yourself to fix. I try to teach kids to avoid putting the too much pressure on their pencils in the beginning stages of drawing. So many times, they mess up, try to erase, but can't get rid of their original drawing lines. Then I make them use the back of the paper. If they already did, then I make them erase the lightest side. I do this to teach them to draw light till they KNOW they have it right. Kids beat, bang, and drop colored pencils. This tears them apart! Then they try to sharpen them and the lead falls out. It is a horrible result of an abused supply. I have this to encourage them to treat the pencils like glass. I keep the markers in a vertical storage tip down. This allows the flow of the ink to travel to the tip. It increases the life of the markers. Some kids do not close the glue. This open hole lets air in and that air hardens the remaining glue under the cap. Then kids think that jabbing a larger hole in a clogged up glue bottle will make it work better. It will temporarily make it work better for them right then, but in the long run, this massive hole they poked just makes the tip get clogged even more from the extra air that gets in it. This is a never ending cycle! Since this annoys me, I made a poster to try to get my point across. I also get tired of kids not cleaning brushes out. Then the paint dries on the brush, hardens the tip and it is never able to be used again. Or, they do clean it, but leave it with the bristles down. Then it dries bent and is permanently bent. My are teacher from High School, Mrs. Liddell, had a poster like this one. I liked it, so I made one for my classroom. "Your mamma doesn't live here, so clean up your own mess". My self made Principles chart... Self made Elements chart... Somplified my charts for elementary ;) I decided to make this motivational poster for my classroom just recently. I did some research behind it and found the history of the original very interesting. So, this is my parody of the We Can Do It poster. ------------ Think positive! Mini Masterpiece wall (Index card art) 4 kids per table, everybody has a purpose. Rules and rewards... Palette of positivity. Each class has a paper palette that colored stickers are added to for noticeable efforts. http://tabithaannthelostsock.blogspot.com/2013/04/we-can-do-itart-classroom-encouragment.html And that is my Art Class. Hope you are more the wiser!
A user-friendly encyclopedia of tech, made especially for teachers.
This condiment organizer is a great way to display and hold packets, straws, and creamers while also working as a cup and lid organizer. It is the perfect addition to any coffee station, while it offers organization and a bold look to impress your guests! Features Holds a variety of items (packets, creamers, straws, etc) Holds standard cups (up to 4" diameter) Easy cleaning
Advice from three ESL teachers on the things regular classroom teachers can do to help English language learners thrive in mainstream classrooms.
Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. But a lot of those tips won’t work if you fail to follow this one essential rule.
I've written about Teaching Channel before, and I'll be writing from time to time about a particular great idea I've found there. If you haven't already joined, remember that it's FREE, and signing up takes less than a minute! One of the many great Tch video clips shows middle school teacher Meagan Berkowitz teaching a poetry lesson using the SIFT Method - Symbol, Imagery, Figurative Language, and Tone or Theme. It's less than 5 minutes long, and well worth watching to see her interaction with her students, and the focus they have on the poems they are reading while using bookmark cue cards. Close analytic reading is an important feature of the Common Core; here's a tool for you to try out to see if it fits your needs! Besides the bookmark, you are given the lesson plan, a copy of the two poems used, and a transcript of the lesson. If you're a language arts teacher, you're all set to try this lesson yourself, or to adapt it to your grade level! And don't forget to "pin" the lesson by clicking "Save this in my Lesson Planner." (A note: there is a typo on the SIFT bookmark that you'll want to change before printing - "attitude and author" should be "attitude an author." I changed it in the image above. Since it's an open Word document, it's no problem!)
In my last post I looked at a book, Cricket is My Game, by Jason Cole (Barbados), where the illustrations and text complemented each other; the illustrations were in bright colours and had a lot of movement, and where the personalities of the characters were captured in the illustrations. The best of all worlds! However not all books for children have this balance, nor do they all need it. It depends on the target audience, and sometimes, unfortunately, costs. Books fall into different categories. The breakdown I find most useful is: Picture Books, Picture Story Books, Chapter Books, Young Adult Novels. Books do not always fall neatly into these categories; sometimes there is overlap. Picture books are for children from ages 0-6, nursery school (early childhood) into primary. These books have mainly illustrative matter (including photographs) with little text. Some are made of board so as to survive the handling of toddlers. Amongst these are alphabet books, rhyming books, nursery rhymes, books used for pre-reading (no words at all), and so on. Interestingly enough, although full colour is the rule for this group, there have been some modern ones in two or three colours. The Caribbean does not produce many books which fall into this category. This could be because there are so many of them that we really can’t begin to compete, and often the content does not need to be culture-specific at this stage, or perhaps this is where we share a common international culture: Shapes, A-B-C, nursery rhymes, counting books. We are more likely to see Caribbean alphabet books, and counting books because this is where we can meaningfully introduce cultural aspects. One Smiling Grandma, by Anne Marie Linden, illustrated by Lynne Russell (Heinemann Young Books - UK) is a colourful example. Picture story books. These have illustrations in full colour, on every page, (Wonderful!) on every other page, or perhaps less frequently. This is where it would seem most Caribbean children’s books are to be found. The story is the vehicle, but the illustrations are important. That is, the children cannot enjoy the story without the illustrations, and a skilled book designer will do justice to the text. Double spreads can create a sense of setting like the one in Cordelia Finds Fame and Fortune by Diane Browne. These books are suitable for nursery school through primary/preparatory to about age 8; are read to children or read by the children themselves when they become independent readers. Some are in rhyme, some not. Even though full colour is expensive these books are short, usually no more than 32 pages, so there is no gain in trying to do fewer illustrations, except of course for the illustrator’s costs. Pity! And this is where cost can be a challenge to Caribbean publishers. Other examples are the Little Lion Series, by Kellie Magnus, (Jackmandora – Jamaica), Shaggy Parrot and the Reggae Band, by Jana Bent et al,( Reggae Pickney – Jamaica), where there is an interesting mix of photos and traditional illustrations, Boy Boy and the Magic Drum, by Machel Montano, (Trinidad), A Season For Mangoes, by Regina Hanson, (set in Jamaica -Clarion Books, USA). In spite of the need for illustrations to be in full colour, it’s interesting to mention the American Dr. Seuss books. The quirky illustrations are in three colours, and the text is powerful. Does it even need the illustrations? Yes, but not as much as other books. The text carries you along on a wave of words. Chapter books are for the independent reader, upper primary to lower secondary, ages 9-12. This category has seen some of the most recent consistent activity with Carlong Publishers’ (Jamaica) Sand Pebbles Series. At this level we move into more text than illustrations. Illustrations do not carry the story; rather, they illustrate some scenes within the story. So in A Tumbling World… A Time of Fire, by Diane Browne, (Arawak Publishers - Jamaica) the historical aspects, tramcar and carriage, appear in some illustrations, giving us a sense of time. Illustrations are usually in black and white; the number varies with the extent of the book and the reading level. For the child, these books prove that he/she is growing up. In fact, children can be put off by full colour illustrations, and too large a font size - a 'baby book'. Some books even manage without much illustration. My friend and fellow writer, Hazel Campbell, likes to point out that the Harry Potter books only have small illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. Although children need books at all ages, this is where we lose them if we do not continue their exposure to books, and to our own books. Some examples of books in this category are Little Island, Big Adventures, by Maria Roberts Squires (set in the Grenadines - Carlong), Jenny and the General, by Jean D'Costa - Jamaica - Carlong) Every Little Thing Will Be All Right, Diane Browne (Jamaica - Carlong), Ramgoat Dashalong, Hazel D. Campbell (Jamaica - LMH). These two last titles have collections of stories instead of chapters. Bernie and the Captain’s Ghost by Hazel D. Campbell ( Jamaica - Carlong), and here one can see how the black and white illustrations complement the excitement and tension in the story. Young adult novels. There are no illustrations. We are in the big leagues now. Perhaps you can remember from your younger days, turning to the cover of this type of book every now and then while reading, to capture images of the protagonist, the setting. This category can extend from upper primary to upper secondary. In the Caribbean these books seem to fall into two groups: those which have a child protagonist, but are really about adult writers revisiting their colonial childhood/ making sense of it, and those which have been written specifically for children. In the latter category are books like Harriet’s Daughter, by Marlene Nourbese Philip (set in Canada – the migrant experience which is so much a part of us - Heinemann), and more recently, Delroy in the Marog Kingdom, by Billy Elm (set in Jamaica - Macmillan Caribbean), and The Legend of the Swan Children, by Maureen Marks-Mendonca (set in the rainforests of South America – the author was born in Guyana - Macmillan Caribbean). An interesting one is Inner City Girl, by Colleen Smith-Dennis, (LMH – Jamaica), which although it is for the young adult readers, has been entered by the publisher in the adult category of a national competition. But that sometimes is how it is. Good books can be enjoyed at many levels.
What’s the difference between Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and traditional classroom education? This chart shows how they differ.
A digital curation project is a fast way to engage critical thinking in any content area. Here's how it works.
Teachers are not short on problems. But you don't have to wait for a committee or a bigger budget to start solving them. Take these 3 hacks, for example...
