I want to share a project that has helped my improve my students' writing ability as well as help foster creativity and develop a passion for writing itself. It involves students writing a full-blown screenplay. Using computers~ my students spend an afternoon or two aweek writing a screenplay. They are required to follow the exact format of a screenplay~ which I teach using a video from Discovery Education. Once they have the format down~ they come up with a genre and a...

Classroom management styles can greatly differ. Some rule with an iron hand; others are fairly lax. Most teachers are somewhere in between.

It wasn't until I met one of my early mentors~ Rafe Esquith~ the nationally recognized teacher based in Los Angeles~ that I began to look at my management styledifferently.

He told me that~ at the start of each school year~ he mentally divides his students into three categories. The "ones" are those students that totally get it...

Greetings~

I want to talk about what I think is one of the best ways to improve as an educator. It boils down to two words:

TAPE YOURSELF.

Or rather have someone videotape you teaching. Tape yourself in action for at least 10-20 minutes then sit down and watch it. You will be amazed at how much you learn! I have taped myself a few times this school year and~ though I think I have improved in some areas~ Ilearned things about myself I would have never seen without...

Greetings~

I want to share a creative way to motivate and focus your students during math instruction. I call it Kung Fu Math.

First~ I created a series of belts or levels that the students aspire to and have them write it in their notebooks.

Then~ I tell them that everytime they get a math problem correct they earn a tally or "notch" towards the next stripe or belt. Everytime a student earns three notches they move up a stripe or belt (my...