Yearly Archives: 2011

Evaluations

Well, although I was taken away from this blog for a while, I am now back with some ideas from the semester. I can officially say that I just had the best semester of my teaching career. It wasn’t perfect, … Continue reading

Leave a Comment

Filed under Assessment, Teaching Discoveries

My Classroom Management in a Nutshell

The great American Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This is true in many different areas of life, but is especially important in education. At first when thinking about it, I thought that … Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Classroom Management

Routines and Procedures

This year I have really taken the idea of Routines and Procedures quite seriously. I wanted to see if it really made a difference. So far, for me, it has made an incredible difference in the achievement of my students. … Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Classroom Management

The Power of the Picture Dictionary

This year, I added another comprehensible input element to my classroom –The Picture Dictionary. I had heard about it for the last few years and considered it a great idea, I just never implemented it. Over the last few weeks, … Continue reading

2 Comments

Filed under Classroom Management, Storytelling tips, Teaching Discoveries, teaching grammar

Teaching French This Year

I have decided to teach a French exploratory class at the Middle School this year. Many people are surprised at this because I don’t speak French. Really, you ought to blame Ben Slavic. I remember a conversation we had one … Continue reading

Leave a Comment

Filed under Teaching Discoveries

The Textbook. Enemy of Acquisition or Useful Tool?

For a long time, I was frustrated with textbook companies and saw them as the enemy of acquisition. I felt that they were useless and didn’t help me to acquire when I was in school. I felt that they were … Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Teaching Discoveries

A Well-Oiled Machine

This summer I had the opportunity to do a lot more farm work. To some of you, that may not seem out of the ordinary since you know that I live in a rural town of about 3,000 people. However, … Continue reading

Leave a Comment

Filed under Classroom Management, Teaching Discoveries

My Best Year Yet

I have taken a good, long break from this blog. I needed some time to reorganize and think about a lot of personal and professional things. This blog has really made a difference in my professional growth and I am … Continue reading

4 Comments

Filed under Teaching Discoveries