Instead of...Try This

                                                                       -by Andrea Raines, BT & Staff Development Specialist 

This post originally appeared on the blog Aligned on October 3, 2017 by Andrea Raines.

Each year as I set up my ELA classroom, I always strive to arrange it so that it allows all students to be successful. As educators, we are continually exposed to new strategies and research to implement in our classrooms. Over the last few years, I have found several strategies that help me encourage my students to be successful within ELA standards.

6 Word Resolutions

by Susan Hitt

Every January, as I settle into the New Year, I enjoy reflecting on my personal and professional goals from the previous year and determining goals for the new year. While many like to make their resolution on December 31st or January 1st, I myself like to take my time. Like with shopping, I tend to browse and try on different options, determining what I think best suits my life now and what I think I would most benefit from in the future.  

Top 5 Blog Posts of 2017

by Susan Hitt

As 2017 comes to a close, I thought I'd take a moment to highlight the top 5 Education Celebration blog posts from 2017. So without further ado, let's take a look at the top 5 posts of the year:

Four Reasons to Try Actively Learn

-by Hannan Moon, Laney HS
@MrsHanMoon

In my last blog post, I mentioned a college professor who always encouraged teachers to keep students engaged and learning outside of the 4 classroom walls. In an effort to keep the learning alive after class hours, I’ve been searching for programs and activities that are easily accessible to students, easily manipulated by me, and easily gradable. The latest program that I’m using is Actively Learn. This program meets all my criteria: easy for me, easy for students, and keeps the learning outside of class.

Leadership Roles: A Siren’s Song

-by Taylor Thomas, Ashley HS

Becoming a leader as a classroom teacher is a challenging road to navigate, one that requires finding balance in how you devote your time because, as we all know, our role in the classroom reigns supreme. Or, at least, it should. This is a realization I had to learn the hard way.

How Choosing One Thing on Which to Focus, Makes the Rest Fall into Place

by Susan Hitt

As educators, we are often our harshest critics. We hold ourselves up to the "Pinterest-teacher" standard where classrooms are perfectly decorated and there is never an item askew. But we all know learning is messy. Teaching is messy. From uncapped highlighters rolling around to a whiteboard covered in 30 different handwritings, we know evidence of learning is not "picture perfect." But that's okay. In fact, that's what we as educators embrace. We have to learn to pick and choose where we want our focus to lay, and I, for one, long ago gave up on the idea of perfection. 

Pineapple Tidbits: A little of this and a little of that for the classroom teacher!

-by Susan Hitt

Welcome to another installation of Pineapple Tidbits. If you're wondering about the quirky name of this series, check out the initial post which explains it in detail.

Let's dive into this week's tastiness from the web: