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It’s real. I’m officially teaching a new group of fifth graders from a distance. My goal was to finish this series two weeks ago, but as many of you know, working as a full-time classroom teacher is time intensive work! Much of the time, things we set out to do take much longer than anticipated.…

Friday, March 13, 2020 7:30 – My grade level team and I met in one of our classrooms for our usual early morning chat. “Think today will be the day?” We knew it was only a matter of time before our school district would make the call to close schools. “I don’t know. I don’t…

One Moment in Time– Whitney HoustonOnce in a Lifetime– Talking HeadsOne Way or Another– BlondieOne Love– Bob MarleyOne– Three Dog NightOnce– Pearl JamOne– MetallicaOne– U2 One, Singular Sensation… for years, musicians have embraced the message and power of one. It’s about time educators do as well. Mistakes I Made in the Spring of 2020 I…

This is my absolute favorite picture of my parents. It must be at least 15 years old- it’s the one I cherish most. I snapped this photo in the backyard of the house I grew up in. My parents have since moved a five hour drive away. It’s tough not being physically close to them…

Online teaching is hard. It’s really hard. To my fellow classroom teachers trying to navigate this without much to go on or follow, hang in there! Today, my fifth grade teaching team and I talked about using the Chrome extension, Screencastify, to start journaling with our students from afar. We’re going to give it a…

When Kari Yates and I were collaborating to write To Know and Nurture a Reader (Stenhouse, 2018), we engaged in many long conversations around the idea of rethinking how our teacher language impacts students in different ways. We often referenced the work of Peter Johnston during these discussions, always reminding ourselves that our words in…

A couple weeks ago, I noticed a reading rut in class. We problem solved it as a community of readers. Read all about it on the CCIRA blog…