teacher tips

A Back To School Video Your Students Need To Watch Right Now

| Marisa Donnelly

“How psyched are you to have the opportunity to learn about out the universe and its inhabitants for several hours a day at no cost to you?!”

I stumbled across this video by John Green and had to share. Not only is he hilarious (and talking at break-neck speeds through the entirety of this clip) but he looks at the whole back-to-school time of year in a positive way. School doesn’t always compare to the freedom and warm temps of summer, but when we show our students the positives (in an engaging YouTube clip) we might get at least a laugh out of them. Continue reading →

4 Good Questions To Ask Yourself As You’re Getting Ready For The Start Of The School Year

| Marisa Donnelly

Starting another school year is exciting! But how can you make sure you’re not falling back into the same patterns? How can you determine whether your teaching has gone stale, or if you need to add/change/modify? What, specifically should you ask yourself as you’re preparing?

Here are some great questions as you start to think about the new year: Continue reading →

The Forgotten Criterion – Making Writing Interesting

| Marisa Donnelly

I stumbled across this article today and just had to share. Something that’s so relevant for teachers (especially English teachers) is that ‘blah’ feeling we get when we know we have a large stack of papers to grade. Don’t get me wrong, as educators we love seeing our students improve and reading their work…but at the same time, knowing you have a (often very dry and very large) pile to get through can be daunting and tiring before the task even begins!

That’s why when I stumbled upon Ken Lindblom’s blog post, I thought, ‘Wow, how could I have missed something so simple, and yet so important?’ And that’s the importance of interest in our students’ papers. Continue reading →