Adopting a new textbook is a wonderful time in a school family's life. Just think- you're seeing this brand new baby curriculum in all its sales pitch glory. Shiny new boxes with video screens. Bags, backpacks, crisp, new books and consumables, online platforms- it's enough to make any teacher's head spin! Look at this one!… Continue reading Oh, look! It’s a brand new baby…curriculum! It must be adoption time, huh?
Last month, I started my very first DonorsChoose campaign to try and raise money for hardcover literature circle novels. I figured it was go big or go home, right? I mean, we all know that hardcover is significantly more expensive than paperback, but that's because they last longer. Especially in middle school! For the first… Continue reading DonorsChoose- Does this really work for people? *Snark alert*
April is National Poetry Month, as every good English educator knows, and I wanted to celebrate by sharing my students' work. Those are the best kinds of posts, right? Seeing the culmination of your instruction and their hard work is inspiring! For this particular project- Poetry Project: Exploring Poetic Forms- the students choose from a… Continue reading Poetry, Poetry, Poetry!- Celebrate National Poetry Month
Snark Alert! Please do not read this post if you love standardized tests! It's that time again- state tests. "Oh, joy!" said no educator, ever. Not only have no educators said that, no student has said it either. From back in the day when we took the ITBS on one day of the year to… Continue reading It’s Testing Season in Texas- A Timeline of Tests
Yesterday we started literature circles in my 8th grade ELA classes. This is one of my FAVORITE days all year, and I was so excited to come to work! I posted on IG about it, and someone asked me about how to get started. I thought this would be a great place to outline my… Continue reading Literature Circles- The Process and the Product
