October 02, 2019

Grammar Extension: The Empowering Acrostic Poem

October 02, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

The ideal scenario for the first couple months of a new school year would be a classroom running smoothly. You want to be comfortable with your daily schedule and know that you can meet the needs of all of your diverse students.

Realistically, some of you may already feel like the expectations and duties increase even more as the fall progresses. Before you become consumed with the busyness of the new school year, always remember this: “YOU are a TEACHER!” You are the one that works to mold the future. You make an incredible impression and impact in the lives of all the students who enter your classroom.

This year is a brand new one, and if you’re ready to level-up your teaching, you should consider this question: “What kind of teacher do you want to be this year?”

September 10, 2019

Writing Mechanics: When should I write numbers in word form?

September 10, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

The rules for writing numbers in a sentence or paragraph haven’t changed over the years, but for some reason, I still feel the need to double-check them. I’m not sure why numbers are such a stumbling block, but any time I need to communicate a quantity, dollar amount, percentage, measurement, or date, I wind up questioning how to write it correctly. I can never remember if I’m supposed to write the numbers in words, or if I’m supposed to write them in figures?

If you have the same questions, here’s a quick guide to help you know when numbers should be written as words:

September 03, 2019

Curriculum Toolbox: from hodgepodge to cohesive

September 03, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

During my undergraduate days, I was headlong into all of my pre-teaching training courses. I truly enjoyed all of them. But, as I neared my junior and senior years of college, I began to get more into the philosophies of teaching. It seems that, at that time, the prevalent theories of teaching led my professors to refuse to tout the use of specific curriculum. That was both good and bad. It was good because it forced me to think along the lines that I did not need to depend on current published curriculum to be able to teach well. It was bad, however, because it generated the incorporation of a hodgepodge type of homemade curriculum that was left strictly up to me to develop and teach—risky, to say the least.

After I landed my first teaching gig, I knew I was in trouble because the school district had a mandated curriculum, which is what I was told would probably happen. We were taught in college to “just close your door and teach the way you know is right.” Well, that was risky, too, because my lack of experience in the classroom made it nearly impossible to know “what was right.” So, I proceeded with what I thought was right while still trying to adhere to the required curriculum. What I discovered unsettled me.

August 27, 2019

Shurley English 101: Pushing beyond your comfort zone

August 27, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

Just like many of you, teachers across the United States are experiencing lots of change during this time of year like switching classrooms or schools, learning new curricula, and welcoming a new class of students. Changes like these push us outside of our comfort zones.

I used to look at veteran teachers and thought they had less planning and preparing to do because they could use lessons from their previous years. I’d dream of the day when I could relax at the beginning of the year and coast through my lessons like they were, or so it seemed. For some reason, I believed I could avoid the inevitable changes in our field; I was proven wrong when I changed grade levels for the first three years of my teaching career. I also learned that those veteran teachers still worked just as hard as the new teachers. What an interesting welcome to the world of education. I learned quickly that change is the one thing that always remains consistent.

August 13, 2019

The Art of Self-Care for Teachers: Saying "No."

August 13, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

Last week, we discussed how practicing the art of self-care IS your duty. Learning how to set boundaries at home and work helps you take care of YOU so you can take care of others. One valuable way to break your pattern of self-sacrifice is by learning how to gracefully say, “No.”

When you’re a chronic giver or helper, it’s really hard to tell people, “No.” Most of us don’t like to disappoint people. We avoid conflict when possible, and many people simply believe that taking care of one’s self is just plain selfish. These days, more and more people have started shifting their beliefs around self-care; personal health and well-being have become a part of people’s lives in the 21st Century. People are empowered when they can say, “No” to a request that is not absolutely necessary.

Please be aware of this important point:

August 06, 2019

The Art of Self-Care for Teachers

August 06, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

Are you familiar with the frog in boiling water metaphor? (Of course, do not attempt this at home!)

Imagine a pot of cold water sitting on the burner of a stove. A frog is peacefully swimming in it. The heat is turned on, and the water starts warming up. The frog finds this pleasant and keeps swimming. The temperature keeps rising, though. Now, the water is a little more than what the frog enjoys; it becomes a bit tired, but it doesn’t panic. As the water continues to heat up, the frog finds it very uncomfortable, and

June 06, 2019

Creating a Writing Inspiration Station

June 06, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

There’s nothing like the dreaded feeling of sitting at your desk with a blank sheet of writing paper staring back at you. You see some of your classmates busily jotting down ideas; you see them creating their prewriting map; or you see some classmates looking upward with a pleasant grin, lost in their imagination. Not you though; your white paper just taunts you with thoughts like these: “So, what are you going to write about this time?” or “There’s nothing to write about; you’re all out of ideas!”

May 30, 2019

Grammar Time: What part of speech is the word THERE?

May 30, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

The word there is a commonly used word that can be difficult to classify because of its various roles in a sentence. There can be used as an adverb, pronoun, adjective, and sometimes as an interjection. But in grammatical constructions like there is or there are, there is considered an expletive. This tiny word can create a lot of confusion because the context can be so varied.

Study the following guide to help you understand how to label and classify the various roles of the word there.

March 28, 2019

Help Your Students Improve Their Revision Skills

March 28, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

How many times have you asked your students to revise their work, only to have all of the papers returned to the hand-in basket within a few minutes with little to no changes at all? The problem is that many students lack the necessary grammar skills required to revise.

Simply writing a comment on a student’s paper to suggest a revision isn’t enough.

January 31, 2019

The Impact of the Mnemonic Device

January 31, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

I’ll never forget returning to my 6th-grade language arts classroom after winter break. Being the social type, I had stopped between classes to say hello to some of my friends, and I barely made it into the room before the tardy bell rang. To my surprise, the desks had been rearranged into groups of four, and I had no idea where I was supposed to sit.