Blog Updates
Insightful Interview Questions for Your Student Teacher
Whether you are looking to host your first student teacher, or have hosted many, you may feel anxious about starting on the right foot! After all, you will spend the majority of your time with them – it is important that expectations are clear and at the very least, a strong working relationship is formed! Most colleges ask potential cooperating teachers to interview their student teachers, which may feel uncomfortable to some host teachers. Many think, “I’m assigned this teacher, what point is there in interviewing them?” However, while it may feel like just one more thing on your already
Resource Round-Up: Must-Haves for Mastering Equations!
In my 7th grade math class, we are in full swing of our equations unit – one of my personal favorites! I consider integers and equations to be the most important units in all of 7th-grade math, and want to give my students tons of practice to cement their skills. If you’re looking to refresh your equations unit, are looking for supplemental resources, or are planning for some tutoring and summer school activities, don’t worry – I’ve done the legwork for you! Here are some equations practice activities that my students and I have loved! Self-Correcting Digital Mazes At the
5 Quick Tips for Selling on TeachersPayTeachers!
Many teachers that I talk to share their interest in starting their own shop on TeachersPayTeachers to sell their resources, but many times, they have no idea where to start! My TPT store has honestly changed my life, so I am happy to share my journey! Here are my tips for sellers that are just starting out! Collect Unique Ideas! Throughout the school year, I keep a list of ideas for TPT products on my phone. Whenever I think of a resource that I need and just can’t seem to find, I write it down. Then, when I have time
Not Just Another Worksheet – Easy Digital Activities Your Students Will Love!
With copy limits, limited time, and absent students, printed paper copies of assignments can truly be a hassle! During Covid, a lot of teachers were forced to use digital practice activities, and many have continued to make them a constant in their classrooms due to the many benefits of digital activities! Benefits of Digital Practice Activities Here are my favorite types of digital practice activities to mix up the workflow and avoid just another worksheet! Digital Task Cards Digital Task Cards are a simple, straightforward activity! Often created on Google Slides, these are slides that often have just one question
Tips & Tricks for Stress-Free Parent Communication
Depending on your past experience, some teachers find parent communication one of the most daunting parts of the job! Here are my tips for making parent communication more enjoyable and less daunting! Start Early & Be Proactive I make it a goal to reach out to each family during the first two weeks of school with a quick email. I like to introduce myself, share my contact information, and share a specific, positive thing that I’ve noticed about their child and that I am looking forward to a great year with them. This starts the year on the right foot
Paragraph of the Week: Quick & Easy Writing Intervention Strategy
My biggest issue as a resource teacher? Time! It’s the one thing I can never get enough of, so I am all about quick classroom routines that build necessary student skills. Each year, I notice that my students struggle with writing complete sentences and paragraphs. This year, I implemented and fine-tuned a quick daily routine that I called “Paragraph of the Week” (or POW for short), and what a difference it has made! This routine is exactly what it sounds like – Students write a paragraph over the course of the week, every week. I provide an open-ended prompt or
3 Quick Ways to Get Students Talking in Math Class!
Sometimes, my math classroom can feel like it’s all teacher-directed instruction. I’m guilty of being the main talker in my classroom – I have so much content to get through and so little time! Plus, I don’t want my students talking about math strategies incorrectly, and many of my students want to sit quietly and let someone else do the talking. Sound familiar? But one thing my old teaching professors would say keeps popping up in my mind – “the person doing the talking is doing the learning”? Well, I want that to be my students, not me! So, I’ve
How to Prepare for End-of-Year State Testing: Tips & Tricks for Teachers
April and May bring many things – flowers, warmer weather, field trips, and fresh air. However, they also bring the dreaded end of the year state tests. For students and teachers alike, high-stakes state testing is draining and disheartening. However, you can take steps to help your students feel more prepared for these unavoidable assessments. Practice Common Types of Test Questions Obviously, with each grade level, the questions on the state test will increase in difficulty. However, many times, the question types remain similar. Taking time to teach, model, and practice each of the common testing question types will help
Celebrate Reading All School Year Long – Fun & Easy Ideas for National March is Reading Month & Other Reading Holidays
March is a popular month to celebrate all things literacy in your school! After all, positive thinking about reading is a huge factor in student reading abilities. But who has the time to plan elaborate celebrations? Luckily, celebrating literacy doesn’t have to take a ton of planning! Here are some easy ways to celebrate reading and encourage literacy in your school, no matter the grade! Reading Themed Spirit Days! There are so many fun spirit day ideas that involve reading! Have a weekly spirit day during March or have a dedicated week to celebrate literacy! Here are a few of
Mastering Fractions: Effective Intervention Strategies
Fractions are one of the most difficult math concepts for students to master. Each year, I see students in 7th and 8th grade who struggle with a wide range of basic fraction skills, including differentiating what a numerator and denominator actually mean. Of course, school closures with COVID-19 did not help! Many teachers and parents alike are wondering what to do when students struggle with fraction operations. However, there are some strategies that can be used to teach fractions that could make a big difference for your struggling students, especially when used consistently! Use Multiple Strategies Many of our struggling
A Guide to IEP Goal Progress Monitoring: What Special Education Teachers Need to Know!
I have to be honest – the concept of IEP progress monitoring was something I was very unprepared for as a first-year resource room teacher. Creating ways to gather data, organizing systems to track data, writing progress monitoring reports, sharing progress with parents – on top of everything else I was already buried with? I was drowning! Maybe you feel the same way and are desperately Googling ‘how you monitor progress in IEP’ or ‘what is the easiest way to progress monitor IEP goals’? Luckily, over the years, I’ve become a lot more comfortable with the process of monitoring student
Building a Strong Team: Tips for Setting Your Teacher Assistants Up for Success
As a special education teacher, having a teacher assistant can be a lifesaver! Maybe your school calls them paraprofessionals, teacher aides, instructional assistants, or something else! At my current school, every teacher has a designated teacher assistant – I know, I am SO lucky! My previous school only had a few Instructional Assistants who were designated support for tough students, so the support I had in my classroom wasn’t consistent. I’m so incredibly thankful for my teacher assistants every day and I’ve worked hard to create a positive relationship with them. Here are my tips for setting your teacher assistants
Engaging Resources & Strategies to Make Fractions Stick in Your Classroom
In my opinion, fractions are the hardest concept for elementary and middle school students to truly understand – and many students agree with me! Each year, I have middle schoolers who can’t tell me what a numerator really means or try to add or subtract denominators within a problem, so fraction review is something I am very familiar with! Here are my favorite ways to review and practice fraction skills throughout the year! Multi-Strategy Packets Solving abstract fraction problems requires a deep conceptual understanding that many students aren’t prepared for. I love using multiple strategies to solve each problem to
Resuming the Classroom Routine: Essential Activities for an Easy Return After Winter Break
Returning from Winter Break can feel almost more difficult than the beginning of the school year. In August, you feel rested from the summer off and excited to meet your new students. In January, after the holidays, this excitement may have dwindled and to be honest, you are probably in need of another week off! When returning to school starts to creep up on me, I feel such intense “Sunday Scaries” – and I know I’m not alone. Here’s what I do start the second semester strong! Reteach & Review Class Expectations & Procedures. After any break, it’s so important
Add a Dash of Holiday Spirit to Your Math Class: Easy Tips & Effortless Ideas
As soon as the first snowflake falls here in Michigan, my students are thinking about winter break. This makes it really hard to hold their concentration and motivate them to do their best on school work for weeks in December! I’m sure my class is not the only one that feels like we are hanging on by a thread! Here are my favorite ways to engage students with popular math topics with a fun holiday twist! A quick note: In order to include all of my students, I try to focus on general winter themes in my classroom, like snowmen
5 Quick Tips for Setting Up Your Classroom
Setting up a classroom, especially the first classroom that is all your own, is overwhelming! It’s tough to know where to start, and many teachers feel the need to create a Pinterest-worthy classroom before the first day of school – but that’s just not true! Your focus should be on making your classroom functional and comfortable, for both your students and yourself! Here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction! 6. Don’t buy all the stuff! It can be easy to think you need whatever
An Attitude of Gratitude: 3 Quick & Easy Classroom Activities for Thankfulness
Thanksgiving is a great time of year to focus on class routines around thankfulness, but that doesn’t mean it is the only time to practice showing appreciation! Incorporating academic activities that focus on thankfulness throughout the year can help students develop a sense of gratitude and encourage positive attitudes and appreciation. Plus, they can be a fun change of pace! Here are a few of my favorite low-prep and quick academic activities around gratitude and thankfulness! Thank You Cards I am an avid thrift shopper. When I find thank you cards on sale, I snag them! I keep these cards
IEP Goal Writing Made Easy: Tips & Tricks for Educators
A quick little disclaimer: The following information is what I have personally learned through 8 years of teaching special education in Michigan. It should be used for inspirational and entertainment purposes only. Check with the special education department leaders in your school district with specific questions regarding your students’ IEPs and special education needs. Over the years, I have inherited many IEPs that have goals that make absolutely no sense. It’s frustrating since they are difficult to understand, implement, and make progress towards! Poorly written goals are especially tough – hard to work towards and are even more difficult to
Resource Round-Up: Must-Haves for Mastering Integer Operations
Let’s face it, integer operations are an essential math skill. However, they can be incredibly difficult to truly cement into the brains of middle school and high school students. Think about it: students spend 6 or more years learning that 3 + 5 is always 8, no matter what. This fact, and other math facts like it, become engrained and automatic. But suddenly, near the start of seventh grade, we start to tell them that -3 + 5 isn’t 8. It can be frustrating and confusing! It takes a lot of time to unlearn the very math facts that elementary
Unlocking the Joy of Reading: Proven Strategies for Teachers & Parents to Cultivate a Reading Habit in Reluctant Readers
Reluctant readers, unmotivated readers, whatever you call them, parents and teachers alike are running out of ideas to help increase reading scores around the country for students that just will not pick up a book to read. Students have so many other preferred activities, like video games or scrolling TikTok, that reading falls by the wayside and feels more like a chore than anything else. However, reading for extended periods of time is a predictor of student achievement and one of the best ways to improve standardized test scores. So what are teachers and parents to do? My middle school
Using Digital Task Cards in the Classroom: A Quick How-To Guide for Teachers!
Since the pandemic, teachers everywhere have been incorporating more technology into their classroom practice. It makes sense – digital activities have a lot of benefits that the distance learning era brought to light. For example, digital assignments are easy to share with students whether they are present at school or not. They save paper and your time at the copier. Students (and teachers) won’t lose Google files as easily as they may lose a worksheet, and some digital activities are uniquely interactive and even self-correcting! One type of digital activity that has a permanent place in my classroom routine is
5 Quick Tips to Set Up A Stress-Free Classroom
Setting up a classroom, whether it’s your tenth classroom or the first classroom that is all your own, is overwhelming! It’s tough to know where to start, and many teachers feel the need to create a Pinterest-worthy classroom before the students even arrive for the first day of school – but that’s just not needed! Your focus should be on making your classroom functional and comfortable, for both your students and yourself! Here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction! 1. Think It Through! Setting up your classroom is actually not the first thing you should
The Great Classroom Escape: Using Escape Rooms to Ignite Student Learning
When most people hear the term “escape room”, they picture elaborate puzzles, locked rooms, hidden keys, and a ticking timer. Modern escape rooms have developed a reputation for being a ton of fun and great opportunities for teamwork. However, setting one up involves countless hours of prep work beforehand, both physically setting up the space and mentally planning it all out with perfect precision. If this is your idea of an escape room, you may feel confused when other teachers talk about using an escape room in their classrooms. Maybe you think, “Who’s got time for that?!” Not me! Luckily,
How to Easily Teach Technology Skills in Your 21st Century Classroom
“Wait, how do I copy and paste again?” “I didn’t mean to do that!” “Can you show me how to…” Sound familiar? I love using technology to enhance my students’ time in my classroom, but I hate all of the tech support I need to do that stops me from helping students with actual content! Students have more access to technology than ever before – but that doesn’t mean they always know how to use it in the most efficient way. With increasing numbers of school districts moving to a 1:1 technology model, efficient computer use has never been more
I Taught it but They Still Don’t Get It! – 3 Easy Strategies to Stop the Cycle & Make Your Lessons Stick!
“I taught it but they still don’t get it!” Sound familiar? You’re not alone! Millions of teachers every year run to their teacher BFFs to vent about the very same thing! With so much curriculum to fit in a year, it can feel so disheartening to come back the day after you’ve taught a great lesson only for your students to look at you with blank stares and no clue where to start. Here are my top tips for stopping this cycle! Find the real starting point for your students! Understanding 6th-grade math doesn’t start on the first day of
4 Effortless Ways to Celebrate Halloween in your Math Classroom
Halloween is right around the corner, and if your students are anything like mine this time of year, they are bouncing off the walls! My students are so excited to share candy, plan out costumes, and plot their trick-or-treating route. Shockingly, they are not as excited about practicing math…WEIRD! It goes without saying that surviving this time of year takes some patience, extra coffee, and a game plan! Here are my favorite ways to easily celebrate the spooky season and keep my students engaged, without adding a ton of extra prep to my plate! Halloween Ice Breaker Game Set If
The Fraction List Strategy: A Frustration-Free Strategy for Adding & Subtracting Unlike Fractions!
As a math interventionist, one topic that I see students struggling with year after year is adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators. Earlier in my career, I remember struggling through a fraction unit, trying the 4 square method, multiplication charts, and anything I could remember from my own days in school or find on Pinterest, all without seeing much growth. I knew I needed to do something differently, leading to the creation of my new favorite fraction strategy! Since then, I’ve used this strategy with students year after year and will never go back! The Fraction List strategy is
Accommodations Explained – Checking for Understanding
As a classroom teacher, providing the necessary accommodations to your special education or 504 students may feel like ONE MORE THING added to your already very full plate. However, most accommodations can be simple to implement and even improve your teaching practice for all of your students. Today’s accommodation we will explore is often seen on IEPs as “Checking for Understanding”. Checking for Understanding is a common accommodation for students who tend to fly under the radar. Perhaps the child struggles with advocating for help or has a weakness with processing language and therefore, has a hard time understanding class
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 that we are able to serve special education students in my school, and I have been co-teaching for the last four years to support students in their math classes. I have been incredibly lucky with my co-teaching partners and we have built strong relationships over
A Beginner’s Guide to Hashtag Sales on TeachersPayTeachers.com – What They Are, How to Shop Them, and How to Join on TPT!
We all love a good sale! Since teachers spend so much money out of our own pockets on resources for our classrooms and students, shopping during sales is a must! Many of us know that TeachersPayTeachers, or TPT, hosts site-wide sales each quarter. During a TPT Sitewide sale, sellers are encouraged, not required, to put their stores on sale (often for 20% off) and TPT adds a code for an additional 5% off, making most resources up to 25% off! It’s a great way to stock up on great resources for your classroom at a discounted rate. It’s even better
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 have spent way too much money on my classroom over the last few years. As a math teacher, I couldn’t even total it up for you! I remember when I was a first-year teacher, feeling like I needed everything other teachers recommended or shared to feel
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 reputation for going above and beyond, which apparently translated to “please add more to my plate!” To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement! I had never been on student council while I was in school, so I had no idea where to start or
3 Unique and Engaging Strategies to Teach or Review Classroom Expectations
As we returned from winter break this year, it became clear that we could not pick up right where we left off in room #264! With the addition of new students as well as some schedule changes that lead to some different class combinations, I knew we couldn’t just jump into business as usual without all getting on the same page. However, I hate teaching expectations. Well, let me rephrase that. I hate explaining all of my classroom expectations. Just talking at the students is so boring to me, and if I feel that way, I can only imagine how
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 their mistakes can be easily avoided and are a result of just not paying attention to their work! Sound familiar? This happens all the time in my middle school math resource classroom – and I can guarantee that my students are doing the same thing
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 them a multiplication chart and move on’! I understand why these posts happen so often. When I was growing up, math fact memorization was a huge deal. We had timed “math minutes”, which were timed races to determine who had memorized their facts. They caused
Easy Breezy IEPs: A Beginner’s Guide to Organizing & Leading IEP Meetings – Part 2: Writing the IEP
So, you’ve scheduled the IEP meeting, and it’s approaching fast! Now, it’s time to write the IEP documents! Nowadays, most districts have a digital system for IEP writing, including Infinite Campus, PowerSchool, or IEPWriter, but there are many others! Depending on the IEP program, the layout and order of the IEP components may be different, but all IEPs should cover the same information. How much of the IEP you have written prior to the meeting depends on your district. In some districts, most of the IEP is written during the IEP meeting. While this lends itself to awesome collaboration, it