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Archives for January 2017

Cursive or print? Does it really matter?

 • Issues in Education

A few months ago I read the 2016 YA novel, How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather. From the first few chapters, I knew this was a story my students would love, and I became excited to do a book talk for my classes.

Then I encountered what I knew would be a roadblock for many students. No, it wasn’t difficult vocabulary or mature content. The story used fictional letters from the 1600s that were printed in cursive type to appear authentic. The problem? The majority of my seventh and eighth grade students cannot read cursive writing….
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Getting and staying organized

 • Classroom Tips

Have you ever been so buried in grading that you let a few other organizational or procedural things slide?

That was me every time I tried to start the school year with a new complex organizational system. I would keep up the work for a month or so, and then I’d start procrastinating when more important things came along.

This school year, though, I pledged to make a change for the better, and so far it’s been going great….
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Absent Crate: An easy way to manage work when students are absent

 • Classroom Tips

“What did I miss when I was gone?”

That’s a common question heard daily by most teachers. When you have close to 150 students and 5 to 20 are absent on any given day, it’s hard to keep track of which students have missed certain lessons. That’s why I started an Absent Crate this year to put the burden of looking for missing work on students.

As I was searching for a new absent work system, I saw multiple versions of an Absent Crate on Pinterest. The concept spurred me into thinking how I could make this work most effectively in my own classroom. Here is my version:…
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