As a fledgling teacher, I recall my mentor telling me one day “as a teacher, you create the weather in your classroom.” While I didn’t fully comprehended the statement at the time,over the years, with more experience, I came to better appreciate this phrase. 

What this phrase essentially means is that teachers create the mood, the feel, the environment.

For example, if the teacher is stressed or in a bad mood, this mood spreads to the students. I know it’s hard to prove this...

When I think back to my school days, I can remember many events that stood out. My Second-grade teacher, Mrs. Wiersig, brought food into the classroom for us to try when we were studying vowel sounds. She did so many great things, and we cooked different recipes with stories we would read during reading groups, and...

I had previously written an article on running a classroom community of learners, but I wanted to take a minute to dive deeper into each category. I truly believe that building a classroom community of learners is important. As we are at the close of a school year, summer is a time for teachers to reflect and change things for the upcoming year. Here are some things to consider.

Scenario...

With every new piece of writing feedback, the pony-tailed girl at table two tapped her scuffed shoes under the table as she rushed to implement my suggestions. Soccer-obsessed Camila started the year penning jumbled sentences and nervously avoiding eyes in class. But her commitment to hard work and using feedback quickly rocketed her to the top of the writing class.

Like so many students, Camila offers an important lesson on what it takes to improve: be coachable. For teachers,...