I recently saw a photograph (on Facebook) of a large trash can/bin stuffed full to overflowing and the caption read, “This is our school curriculum!” I laughed and thought – I can relate to that! I think an overstuffed curriculum makes for a stressed teacher, and sometimes we forget to have fun and make connections with our students.

Why did you become a teacher? To teach the curriculum? I would guess, no! To design assessments with appropriate criteria? I would guess no! To create...

As teachers, we know that student writing and reading are intrinsically linked. Sometimes, all it takes to bring out their inner writer is the right book. So, how do we find those perfect books to help our students grow as writers?

Our friends over at Primary Paradise dive into Using Real-Aloud Connectors to really ignite writing in K-5 students. It’s so important to share rich, engaging books with our students...

Please go ahead and finish this statement: a gifted student is like…

What did you say or write? What images did your simile draw upon? Do you view gifted students as “shining star,” “shooting rockets,” or “diamonds in the rough?”

If your similes were predominately positive, you are not alone. A study (Olthouse, 2014 ) found that pre-service teachers mainly represented gifted students in this fashion. The group inaccurately believed, for example, that gifted students almost...

When you have people together for any amount of time, a culture emerges that consists of a set of customs, beliefs, values and norms. This culture can either create a sense of mutual purpose, a mission, a vision, values and goals or perpetrate discord. Every school has a culture whether you work on the culture or not (Barth, 2003). Culture cannot be seen but it is there. It is an important aspect of school.

Culture consists of the beliefs, feelings, behaviors, and symbols...