Organization as a teacher Our prep time may be limited and interrupted, but you can achieve organization as a teacher. I have not always been that teacher, so how did I do it? At the start of 2025, I developed a new routine for my prep times and waited to see if it would fail…
Grading Period It can be overwhelming to reset for a new grading period, especially if you want to produce high-level reading and writing results. Focus your energy on these 4 tasks. They will make planning and lesson creation a breeze as the time goes on. This can be combined with my back-to-school set-up checklist for…
Analog Classroom Yes, the Internet has informed me that analog is back. People are buying more physical media (or dragging it out of the basement) and setting down their phones (at least for a little while). I anticipate that this trend will continue to spike as AI sorts us into houses. So what does an…
Essential Questions in Lesson Plans It’s easy to get swept away in content and forget to include essential questions in lesson plans. This is especially important when teaching reading in ELA classrooms where skill development can overshadow the heart of humanities. Essential questions are the perfect fusion. A questioning reader is a curious reader. Below…
Thematic Lesson Plan in English There are several ways to organize units of study in classes–a timeline, or by text or skill, but my favorite is a thematic lesson plan in English–and not for the reasons you might think. What is a thematic unit plan? A thematic unit plan is a collection of lessons that…
Back to School Activities for High School As I planned back-to-school activities for high school students this year, I thought long and hard about what experiences and values I wanted to center, using that to drive what we did. The results are so great. First, I wanted everyone to connect with me in some way.…
Teacher Clarity in the Classroom Why is teacher clarity in the classroom important? Teacher clarity is important for teachers because it brings purpose and fulfillment to a career that is otherwise demanding. Without a why to return to, it’s easy to spiral into dissatisfaction. It’s important to students so that they can buy into the…
