Teacher Tips & Tricks

Successful Co-Teaching Practices for Happy Teachers and Engaged Students

Coteaching is becoming a very popular arrangement in education. It is a way for special education students to receive support in their general education classrooms for math, ELA, and other core content areas. There are many arrangements of co-teaching, so it may look different depending on each school. Coteaching is one of the main ways […]

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What to Buy for Your Classroom and What to Leave Behind For Less Back-to-School Stress

I am a shopaholic. I admit it. It’s true. Want to hear something even worse? My shopping addiction only gets worse when I feel stressed – so basically the entire school year! That fact, along with all the TikTok videos, back-to-school-themed store displays, and online sales (looking at you, Amazon Prime Day) means that I

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Getting Started with Student Council – Quick Questions to Help Find Your Vision!

A few years ago, I was cornered at the copier. Through a short but persuasive conversation with my principal, I was “voluntold” to lead our school’s 6th-grade student council. It was our very first year as a middle school, and we were starting everything from scratch. Over my years in the district, I’d gotten a

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We All Make Mistakes – Error Analysis in the Middle School Math Resource Classroom

We all make mistakes, so let’s learn from them! One of the most difficult parts of being a teacher is having a great lesson with your students and thinking they are totally understanding the math concept, only to have them complete an exit ticket or homework assignment completely wrong! It can be discouraging, especially when

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Just Give Them Multiplication Charts, Already!

Every now and then, I see a post on a teacher facebook group regarding middle school students and their lack of automaticity with math facts. Teachers flood the comments with well-intentioned suggestions of math fact websites and games to play or share similar struggles from their own classrooms.  I always comment the same thing, ‘give

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Beating the Sunday Scaries: It’s Time to Take Back Your Weekends!

With the start of the school year comes the return of the Sunday Scaries – that feeling in the pit of your stomach caused by the stress of a looming Monday morning and busy work week. Most teachers are too familiar with this feeling. These anxious feelings are only made worse by the fact that

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Easy Breezy IEPs: A Beginner’s Guide to Organizing & Leading IEP Meetings – Part 1

As a new special education teacher, IEP meetings, short for Individual Education Plans, can be the most stressful, scary, and overwhelming thing! I remember spending hours slaving over my first IEP and hardly being able to sleep the night before due to nerves! Over the years, I’ve learned that taking some time to prepare ahead

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5 Effortless Activities for the First Week of School

With all of my local stores putting up their back-to-school displays, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the new school year is just around the corner. Whether that makes you want to happy dance or gives you the heebie-jeebies, there is no avoiding the back-to-school season! Even though I’m going into my seventh year

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