3.3kviews In my last post, “Why I’m Happy to Post ‘Cheat Sheets’ on my Classroom Walls,” I discussed why and how I use anchor charts, vocabulary… Read More »How Both Students and Teachers Can Use Anchor Charts
4.8kviewsIn my last post, I talked about the sick feeling I get from test-day “cheat sheets” and overly generous study guides. Friends, these guises are… Read More »Why I’m Happy to Post “Cheat Sheets” on my Classroom Walls
17kviewsBut I don’t teach AP US History, why is this relevant to me? After ten years, I still remember my first mentor telling me that “The… Read More »10 Classroom Exercises to Scaffold towards APUSH
4.3kviewsMaybe your school has an undesirable course that all your department members try to avoid. Grammar for Writing? Ugh. Economics? Eek. Well, for some crazy reason,… Read More »Scaffolding Towards AP Lit with Literary Analysis
1.5kviewsLast week, I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to tour the beautiful state of Michigan—from Parma, down in the Southeast, to Mackinac Island, up off the North shore… Read More »Literacy Roadtrip 2014: nErD Camp & Michigan Reading Association Summer Conference
6.1kviewsEntering the Conversation Most of ya’ll know my friend and colleague Dave Stuart over at Teaching the Core. A few weeks ago, Stu shared ways… Read More »Getting Real with Argumentative Writing
1.6kviews Last week, I was fortunate to experience one of the highs of my teaching career: my students participated in a live web chat with… Read More »Author Chat with Malcolm Gladwell
17.1kviews What is a Reading Ladder, and where does this idea originate? A Reading Ladder is simply a piece of explanatory writing where students rank the… Read More »Reading Ladders: How to Hold Students Accountable to Choice Reading
3kviewsQ: Why not use a novel my students are already assigned to read? As we scaffold and support our students, it’s always important to consider… Read More »Completely Change Your Students’ Argumentative Writing: Teach Them to Close Read a Picture Book
1.1kviewsWhen it comes to the Common Core, many teachers today feel a bit overwhelmed by the barrage of ever-changing standards and top-down state expectations. In terms… Read More »Use In-Class Debate as a Transition to Argumentative Writing