If you have read any of our recent posts, you may have noticed some advice boxes labeled Willard’s Words of Wisdom. You may even have noticed that Willard has his own “About” page. So who is this mysterious character? Today we unveil Willard. He is a snake plant or Sansevieria, pronounced (san-se-vi-ee’-ri-ah) and is a …
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General
Homemade I Spy Game: Fun With Phonics
Last week was exhausting. We are no longer knee-deep in a pandemic–it’s more like chest-deep with no end in sight. My children are missing their friends and their cousins. And the colder weather outside means more time for my people to run around the inside of the house like little lunatics. Just to top things …
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Simple Ways to Connect with Students in Virtual and Face-to-Face Classrooms
As we turn our attention to the upcoming school year, we do so with many questions and much uncertainty. Will we start the school year face-to-face or remotely? If we are face-to-face, how will social distancing guidelines change the way we teach? The list of questions is endless. And unsolvable. And possibly paralyzing. How do …
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Explicit Teaching From a Distance
As we embark on distance learning in our digital/virtual classrooms, it is now more important than ever to be sure our teaching is clear and concise. Distance learning needs to be more than a place where we post assignments, activities, and questions to respond to. We have the responsibility to teach while we are socially …
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Teacher Tribute: Patricia Kucharski
Is this virtual teaching thing making you exhausted? Need a good laugh? Stick with me for this tribute… Today we celebrate first-grade teacher, Patricia Kucharski. I adore so much about this teacher, but the thing I love the most about her is her willingness to put herself out there. I recently brought a group of …
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Spotlight on Professional Resources: Kids’ Poems
When I was first introduced to the idea of teaching free verse poetry to elementary students, I felt overwhelmed. Teaching form poetry such as haiku, cinquains, rhyming couplets, limericks, etc. felt safe–there was a formula that was easy to follow. But free verse poetry felt wide open and like it had no guiding principles. Then I …
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Breaking Skills Into Strategies
The last several posts have been devoted to unpacking skills and strategies. I have used Jennifer Serravallo’s definition of strategy: “step-by-step how tos that lead toward skilled performance”. When I think about strategies, the question that always pops into my mind is, “How can I break this down?” If a learner is struggling with a skill, …
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How Long Does It Take for a Strategy to Give Way to a Skill?
In my last two posts I wrote about the difference between telling and teaching and the distinction between a skill and a strategy. I shared a story about how author Jennifer Serravallo learned to draw people by using the strategy of lightly drawing shapes and then adding the details of the person. This strategy gave …
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