As a parent and teacher, nearly every conversation I’ve had in the past couple weeks has focused on the topic of whether or not to send kids back to school due to the threat of COVID 19 and/or disruption of COVID-19 restrictions and rules. Spoiler alert: I’m sending my kids back to school – for… Continue reading 10 Easy Strategies to make Literacy a Family Activity this Fall
Literacy is central to success in life – academically, socially and financially, but like everything else in life it comes easy to some and much harder to others. Unfortunately, since it is literally the vehicle of education this becomes incredibly problematic if children struggle with literacy skills. We all desperately want a solution to support them in moving along with their classmates, but handing them a computer with assistive technology programming is not the solution we should be leaning towards – it should be intensive, evidence based instruction – both at home and school. For literacy intervention to be successful, there needs to be a “all hands on deck” approach.
Before I became a teacher, I volunteered at my alma mater elementary school with a seasoned primary teacher who banned handouts in her grade 2 classroom. Although it was a rough start, it was amazing to see the growth in her students’ penmanship and literacy skills as the year progressed. That experience stuck with me,… Continue reading 5 Reasons Why Note Taking Rocks!
Inferencing is much more than a reading skill; essentially, it is the process of training the brain to think metaphorically rather than literally. Many students have already acquired this skill as it has been modelled at home in the context of both reading materials and experiences, but for many of our students it is something completely foreign to them that needs to be explicitly taught.
Over the past couple weeks, Ontario teachers have been up in arms in arms about the repealing then, re-structuring of the sex ed curriculum. As an observer, I’ve kind of shrugged my shoulders about this because as an English teacher I know that many of us tackle these topics in our classrooms regularly – regardless… Continue reading Social Issues in Ontario will always have a home in English Class!
If you regularly read @teacherevolution.me, you know that I’m all about student feedback. In my classroom, students share in decisions about content, assignments, organization, agenda etc. I’ve learned that to be a great teacher, I have to be a great listener – and that I have to cultivate and honour the student voice in my… Continue reading OSSLT Student Feedback: What we can DO to Improve Their Experience and Scores
Last year when teaching my students about social media, I had them complete a poll: what social media applications did they use the most? We were in the midst of studying social media applications, their power and influence but I had an ulterior motive: I wanted to find out their digital patterns to use as… Continue reading 5 Easy Steps to use Instagram in Creating a Culture of Reading at your School
Hi parents of teenagers, it’s me – an annoying teacher trying to tell you how to raise your kids. Well, it’s not all that bad, actually; I’m just telling you that you need to do one thing: get your teenagers to read. It’s REALLY, REALLY important. Actually, research shows that it is the single best… Continue reading An Open Letter to Parents: why your teenager needs to read
What my students want to read in 2017! (and some of my suggestions too). Enjoy on this wonderful #familyliteracyday:)
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