Yes, unless you teach in a year-round school, that part of the academic year when you start looking at ways to wrap it up is here (or coming very soon). My three kids have already informed me of how few school days are actually left before summer vacation. I nearly had a heart attack! Mailbox…
Language Arts
Logophiles Anonymous
Hello, everyone. My name is Todd, and I am a logophile. Now, before you go running off to demand an apology from The Mailbox for allowing such trash to be printed on the Internet (you, in the back, stop laughing), let’s agree to a definition of logophile: logo-, a combining form meaning “word,” from Greeklógos“word,”…
What Traits Must a Teacher Have?
Without a doubt, the place where I failed most spectacularly as a teacher was at the corner of Organization Street and Process Avenue. I’m sure there were days when my students didn’t know what to expect from me; however, the work we did was consistent and the way in which we approached it rarely veered…
Dr. Seuss in the Upper Grades
We’re just a few days away from Dr. Seuss’s birthday, March 2, and how are we to mark this special day in English literature when the good doctor is too often thought of as a “wee kiddies” author? Get your upper grades students into the spirit of Seuss not as readers, but as writers! Step…
Surviving Math No-Man’s-Land
At the age of 44, I finally understand just how beautifully simple it is to figure out the area of a triangle. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I thought it wasn’t beautifully simple before. It’s that I didn’t know how to figure it out before. I’ve had to teach myself math. Yes, I…
February Writing Prompts
February is an atypical time of year. It’s a shorter-than-average month that follows closely on the heels of a series of holidays and a decent-size school vacation. February packs one national holiday and three notable observances—Presidents’ Day, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, and Chinese New Year. It’s also Black History Month, which lends February added weight…
This Year’s Must-Read Series
Another year, another popular series of books for young students. Whether it’s Harry or Katniss, Percy or Artemis, each school year seems to bring about another series of books some readers simply gobble up. And I have found that readers in Massachusetts may have fallen for a different collection than readers in Oregon or North…
What Fiction Would You Save?
Today, I have a reading comprehension sort of question. One of the bigger shifts in language arts courtesy of the Common Core state standards is the move away from fiction texts toward more focus on nonfiction texts. As a lover of the expository essay (and as someone who wishes he could write a whole lot…
The Common Core Pickle
Is there any better feeling than the one you get when, after struggling with a difficult or unusual task, someone says, “Hey, how are you doing?” Like when you’ve wrestled with a pickle jar, straining your wrist, feeling veins bulging on your forehead and disks bulging in your back, and you finally get that blasted…
Write? Right!
October 20, 2012, is the National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and recognized by US Senate Resolution 565. I thought you’d like to know about it. NCTE has plenty of information about the day on their website, and getting your students to be a part is easy….