Content Category: Choice Literacy
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Classroom Tour: Manipulatives and Books
Mandy Robek shares the thoughtful ways she pairs math manipulatives and books while providing easy access to the tools for students. She also promotes engineering and design with access to...
Hidden Lessons: How Do We Cope with Challenges and Change? (Part 2)
In the first installment of this series, I talked about the growing importance of mental health awareness and social-emotional skills in schools. In my own state of Ohio, we now...
August 8, 2025: Anchor Charts
True belonging doesn't require that we change who we are. It requires that we be who we are. —Brené Brown Unlikely Friends I’ve been going to the same gym for...
An Ode to the Anchor Chart
“Mrs. Parks, can you write those steps on a chart so that we remember what to do?” came a soft voice from the bunch. “Of course,” I said. Another voice...
Four Ways to Use Anchor Charts in the Classroom
Why are anchor charts disappearing from the walls of the classroom? Is it the shift away from the workshop model? Or perhaps, state-mandated curriculum? Have anchor charts become the proverbial...
Classroom Tour: Kinds of Spaces to Help Learning Blossom
Mandy Robek takes time to consider different places students will use in the classroom. She considers books, portable learning spaces, and the way learning will blossom over time in her...
Hidden Lessons: Integrating Social-Emotional Learning in an Authentic Way
Mental health awareness and social-emotional learning are becoming increasingly important in our schools. As a high school teacher and a mom to adolescent daughters, I see the unique challenges that...
August 1, 2025: Simple Joys
Simplicity is often one of the greatest strengths. —Erik Spoelstra No More Extra-Extra Summer is wrapping up, and I wonder where it went and what I did. If I’m really...
Books Are My Management Strategy
Books are my management system. For a decade, I worked to build a community of readers. No matter their level, their mindset, or their skill set, they were readers. The...
Creating a Space
I pulled open one of the heavy double doors and stepped into the library. I marveled that when we returned after the summer break, this would be the place I...
July 25, 2025: Let’s Get Started
Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. —Nido Qubein On Sunday On Sunday I picked up my friend Buford and we went...
June 27, 2025: Restore, Refresh, Rejuvenate
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure. —Oprah Winfrey The Power in Learning to Pause It was...
Nonfiction Books for Compassion, Inspiration, and Heart
My class recently did a Mock Caldecott project, and I was surprised by how much I had been missing in the book publishing world. I discovered new authors and illustrators....
June 20, 2025: Choice Numeracy
Collaboration allows us to know more than we are capable of knowing. —Paul Solarz Joint NCTE/NCTM Conference I’m writing this a few days before attending the Joint NCTE/NCTM Conference in...
June 13, 2025: Generative AI (Part II)
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. —Albert Einstein With Humanity The early 1900s, before the Roaring Twenties set in, is known as the Progressive...
June 6, 2025: Generative AI (Part I)
AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI Will replace those who don't. —Ginni Rometty, Former CEO of IBM Four Things I Didn't Use AI for This Week...
What Would You Do?
Tammy Mulligan uses role-play to help her class process different ways to respond to challenging behavior situations. In this video clip, Tammy shares the rationale behind this practice and gives...
Setting Personal Goals for Math Independent Work
How do you take a practice that works so naturally in reading and apply it to mathematics? Does it work the same way? Does it have the same powerful effects?...
A Literacy Project Needed Math
I don’t know why I didn’t make time for a Mock Caldecott project earlier in my career. This past year was my second time using a text set of possible...
Developing Flexibility with Number Lines
The language we use with students can clarify meaning—or cause confusion. Imagine a second-grade classroom where students are learning to subtract. In an attempt to help students, a teacher tells...
Beyond “I’m a Third-Grade Teacher”: The Power of Role-Specific Prompting in Educational AI
Everything is changing at warp speed with the landscape of AI tools for education. Many educators find themselves frustrated with inconsistent or underwhelming results. Or, worse yet, some default to...
