Year: 2013

Calvin: The Unexpected Gifted Kid

As a kid, I read Calvin and Hobbes religiously, checking out collections from the library and cutting out favorites from the newspaper. Now, I read these same comics and see Calvin in a different light: an example of all of the unexpected traits of gifted students.

Classic Paintings for your Classroom

Exposing students to great pieces of art is an easy way to enhance a lesson, provide a visual way to practice a skill, and educate our students beyond the prescribed curriculum. Here’s a list of works that you can easily grab and use in your class.

Creating A Class Motto

Using Hilda Taba’s model of inductive thinking, use your students’ prior knowledge to develop a statement about expected class behavior.

Introducing “Criteria” To Students

Teaching our students to identify the criteria behind a decision will make them better decision makers and help them understand others’ points of views.

The Surprising Financial Failures of Walt Disney

As I read about the origins of the Disney studios, I’m struck by the endless financial trouble Walt Disney found himself in. Even after his classic films hit theaters, the studio was constantly in debt and faced a dismal future.

Homographs and Homonyms

This product features 125 homographs and homonyms to upgrade your spelling and vocabulary lists. Includes definitions, examples, parts of speech, and pronunciation guides.

Summer Reading: Book Edition

Here’s some summer reading recommendations of books you can actually touch! No real theme to these, except that each one challenged my understanding of kids and made me rethink the way I approach learning.

Summer Reading: Digital Edition

The internet is a treasure trove of fascinating and inspirational reading material, but how can we keep track of it all? Here are three tools that I use to tame the wild web and set up digital reading system.

Skits With Constraints

For many years, I shied away from skits, because they typically de-evolved into silly giggle-fests. For teaching grammar, however, they became an essential tool once I gave students clear constraints.