My Introduction to Annotation Several years ago, I was attending AP conference at TCU and heard the term annotate for the first time. I say several years, it was probably more like a decade ago. Of course, as an English student, I knew what interacting with a text was, but I don't remember hearing the… Continue reading Annotation Academy- Teaching Your Secondary Students to Annotate
Do you ever go on Pinterest (of course you do) and see some of the incredibly adorable anchor charts for the elementary classroom? They are so colorful, and they have little drawings of people and fish, and they rhyme and stuff. Can you imagine hanging something like that up for your middle or high schoolers… Continue reading Anchoring Your Instruction: Using Anchor Charts in Secondary English
The other day, I gave one of my fellow teachers my Magnetic Poetry Kit because I've never found a place for it, and she has some on the side of her metal desk. I figured she'd get more use out of it, you know? Well, we teach middle school kids, so of course I warned… Continue reading Censoring in the Middle- These Kids Laugh at the Craziest Stuff
I've always been a teacher that likes to make my classroom a bit more homey than most. Even in my first year of teaching, I wanted to add lamps, a couch, and a papasan chair to my room to give it that little something extra. Well, my first year was 20 years ago, and there… Continue reading My Flexible Seating Journey in the Secondary Classroom
In case you've never heard of hygge (pronounced hue-gah), according to Google dictionary it is the quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture). My understanding is that, during the long, dark, Danish winters, they practice hygge as a way to… Continue reading Hygge Classroom Challenge- Make Your Classroom Warm and Inviting the Danish Way!
