It is Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Election Day. A day that fills many of us with patriotic excitement with a strong dose of anxiousness. This federal election cycle has been the most divisive election of my lifetime. And if I feel that was an adult, I know my students are feeling it too. Talking about … Continue reading Prioritizing Civil Discourse
Mentor Author – Jason Reynolds
Jason Reynolds is the man. You have probably seen a number of his written works on lists of must-reads for YAs and teachers on topics of race. He is a New York Times bestselling author, a NAACP Image Award Winner, a National Book Award Finalist, and has received multiple honors from Coretta Scott King Award. … Continue reading Mentor Author – Jason Reynolds
Social Justice Education – Black Lives Matter
A review of the need for culturally responsive teaching in the face of racial injustices through professional development and classroom resources.
The School Holiday Calendar
Ah! It’s one of the most wonderful times of the year - Winter Break! Now that I have made it to Winter Break, I wanted to take time to acknowledge that December is a busy time of year. My students had a week off of school for Thanksgiving break and returned to three jam packed … Continue reading The School Holiday Calendar
Presenting at i-Innovate
The school district that I work for implemented one student-to-one device six years ago. I began my first year of teaching during the second year of the one-to-one implementation. My teaching journey with a one-to-one environment has been a mixture of diving right in and slight hesitations in regards to the feasibility of some of … Continue reading Presenting at i-Innovate
American Federation of Teachers TEACH 2019 Professional Development Conference
A reflection of AFT's TEACH 2019 Professional Development Conference.
We The People – AFT Lobby Day
We the people are the legislative branch. We the people must be informed. We the people must vote in our local, state, and federal elections. We the people must follow through to make our voices heard to our local, state, and federal representatives. We owe it to the next generation to make sure that the … Continue reading We The People – AFT Lobby Day
Creating Book Reviews in Writers Workshop
As the final formal writing piece of the school year students wrote a book review on their book club book. The school district I work for utilizes a curriculum that provides “boxed” reading and writing units that implement the workshop model of instruction, one of the units assigned to my grade level is a book … Continue reading Creating Book Reviews in Writers Workshop
Book Clubs Independent Project
After four weeks of time in class for the independent reading of their book club books and completion of weekly check-in notes, students were presented with the next phase of our World War II book clubs: an independent project. Student choice is important to me when assigning reading projects. I knew that I wanted to … Continue reading Book Clubs Independent Project
Author Visits Bring Reading Alive
Fern Schumer Chapman, author, and her mother, Edith Westerfeld Schumer, pose for a photograph with some of the 7th Grade students. Photo Credit: Amy Hamernick https://twitter.com/AhamernickCJH In the seventh-grade social studies curriculum, students learn about World War II which grants a natural cross-curricular experience with fiction and nonfiction texts about the topic in language arts … Continue reading Author Visits Bring Reading Alive
The Chronicles of Middle School 