I’ve been to over a hundred parent nights and my main takeaway is this: use the time to build a community and get to know your parents’ needs. And stay away from PowerPoint!
Year: 2020
The Westing Game – Book Study Ideas
Sixteen unlikely heirs? A mysterious murder? A fortune on the line? Let’s dig into The Westing Game!
Which One is Not Like The Others?
When we ask kids “which one is not like the others”, our cleverest students love to find ways to pick the non-obvious answer. So why not use this as a framework for pushing students deeper into our content.
Thinking Like Equivalent Fractions
Go across disciplines by asking students to write a story about fraction equivalence.
Calculating the Volume of Laptops
So once your students can calculate volume… what do you have them do next? In this math project, kids will look up historic laptops, calculate their volumes, and note how technology has changed over time.
Depth and Complexity Frames: My Big Mistake
Frames, a graphic organizer often used with the Depth and Complexity framework, have one big trap that I fell into for years.
Synonym Graphs
Use a two-dimensional scatter plot to dig into the nuances of several synonyms.
Fill ‘er up with Clam Chowder!
Sure gasoline seems expensive. Until you try to fill your car up with other liquids!
2019 Year In Review
It’s that time of year when I look back and look forward. I’ve been writing these since 2011 and it’s always rewarding to look back at what I was thinking in the past and how it’s changed over the years. What Stuck (and What Didn’t) As I reviewed the past, here’s what I stuck with: […]
Moving Beyond The Cliché With Alliteration
One mark of an advanced writer is their use of figurative language. An on-level writer might use figurative language correctly but will rely heavily on clichés. An advanced writer will surprise us with interesting, often more nuanced use of figurative language. And nowhere is this more apparent than with alliteration.