Today, Miss Sassy Pants had a chance to finish reading Monika Mira’s Science and Nature for Young Reader’s book: Hawaii’s Green Sea Turtles. When she finished, she walked in to me, handed me the Kindle, and said, “Best. Book. Ever.” I asked her why. Here’s what she said: It was the best book ever because … Read more
Did you know that in the US, the Appalachia area is the poorest? From the MonkeyDoProject website: The Appalachia region is 205,000-square miles that stretch along the Appalachian Mountains from southern New York to northern Mississippi. It covers parts of 13 different states–Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, … Read more
Even though I teach online, I know there are many ways to use Web 2.0 tools in the face-to-face (f2f) classroom. It hasn’t been that long since I was a f2f teacher and finding new and fun ways to get my students to produce material for assessments and projects. When I went out for maternity … Read more
Working online has taught me about many different teaching tools. One of my favorites for making announcements or asking students to create responses for assignments is Bitstrips. Bitstrips is a free site for creating cartoons. I’ve created a video to help you understand how to make a cartoon on Bitstrips: 2013-01-23_0951 (Click on the link … Read more
Occasionally, a teacher is lucky enough to find a group of students who stay with them forever. I started teaching in 2000, and the students I’ve had with me in that time have touched me in one way or another. Some were so awful, I will never forget them and will pray I’ll never teach … Read more
Have you heard of Bon Qui Qui? She became famous a few years ago when Anjelah Johnson was a guest on Mad TV. Bon Qui Qui is the server at “King Burger.” In the sketch, she tells a customer that she’s “rude” for interrupting Bon Qui Qui’s phone conversation and then calls “security” every time … Read more
Throughout a child’s education, parents are provided with tips and suggestions for making each school year better than the last. Here, I provide parents with 6 honest requests from an experienced high school teacher (me). When the teacher calls you or emails you, we do actually want to hear back from you. And it’s not … Read more
When we hear that teachers are to blame for the demise of our schools and for the lack of education that our children receive, many of us who are teachers begin to get defensive and then angry. But what if what we’re hearing — this generalized response to our public education problems in the US … Read more
Teaching high school English means getting to delve into literature from all over the world. One of my favorite stories to teach was that of the forbidden lovers, Tristan and Iseult (or Isolde). Before the James Franco movie came out, it was difficult to find teaching materials on this story. What does a teacher do … Read more
I used to to tell my students that by the end of their semester with me, they’ll have caught STDs. There’s this story I tell them, and I usually regret it. So, I’m going to tell you and ultimately regret it, I’m sure. But it does directly connect to Mama Kat’s writing workshop prompt below, … Read more