Students and teachers alike anticipate the first day of school. It is a day of excitement, nervousness, newness, uncertainty, and expectation. The first day will set the tone for the year. As teachers we want to use this to our advantage and start things off well. We want to be ready for a productive term ahead.

“Welcome to first grade! I’m glad you are in my class!” I look around at the bright-eyed students sitting expectantly at their desks. Most of them are happy to be at school; one or two children may feel a bit apprehensive. I am looking forward to the new year!

Students who step into your classroom this fall have several basic desires and fears. They want to learn; can this teacher teach them? They want to be safe; can they trust this teacher? They want to be appreciated; can this teacher see below their exterior and know who they really are?

This is a reflective form for classroom use. Student reflection forms are a tool used for self assessment and can help increase accountability, allow students to take ownership of academic progress, help develop a positive growth mindset, and provide teachers insight on classroom environment and instruction.

Student reflection forms are a tool used for self assessment and can help increase accountability, allow students to take ownership of academic progress, help develop a positive growth mindset, and provide teachers insight on classroom environment and instruction.

This is a reflective form for academic excellence for classroom use. Student reflection forms are a tool used for self assessment and can help increase accountability, allow students to take ownership of academic progress, help develop a positive growth mindset, and provide teachers insight on classroom environment and instruction.

A is for Apple. Of course. Although do you know where the association of teachers and apples comes from?

You’ve said yes. You’ve been handed a key. You have a list of names and a starting date. Now what?

Imagination plays a huge part in shaping a child’s mind. Children don't have to learn to use their imagination.

As I write this, it is one week since the close of my twentieth year as a teacher. I look at this milestone with astonishment, puzzling over where the years have gone. And I wonder how I could possibly write anything to encapsulate twenty years of lesson plans, chalk dust, math facts, storybooks, band aids, and an entire generation of energetic youngsters. It’s not that I consider myself a hero for sticking to this job for twenty years. As with any vocation, a great deal of it is simply putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes this has involved a level pathway flooded with sunshine, while at other times it has been a rugged mountain trail and a wild stumbling in the darkness.

Mixing literature with art and drama can be a powerful way for students to remember and apply both the content and underlying meaning of what they have read.

The last song sung. The last good-bye said. The last dismissal bell rung. The last student departed. The teacher returns to the classroom, surveys the emptiness, and listens to the silence. The silence is deeper and lonelier than the normal after school quietness. There is no lingering echo of childish voices. There are no lessons to plan for the next day. It is the silence of waiting, an emptiness that won’t be filled until children enter the door again in a few months.

It’s eleven o’clock on an ordinary Tuesday. You’re teaching history class; but as you look across your classroom, you’re not sure how much of what you’re saying is sinking in. Sally is staring out the window. Michael is doodling in his notebook. Billy seems to be systematically destroying his eraser

Getting students who don’t like to write to do just that can actually be an incredibly easy thing to do—just give them suggestions of topics they enjoy and a few leading sentences to get the gears in their brains moving. First of all, you’ve got to know your students well enough to know what they

You don’t just teach. You inspire. You explain the economics of supply and demand to the fascinated face of a boy who grows up to start a business that flourishes and brings life to his community. You teach the songs and explain the music theory that ignites the spark of a young composer who g

While some teachers feel that it should not be part of our jobs to keep our students’ attention, it certainly is annoying to be teaching and to have students disengaged.  I loved school and usually didn’t find it too hard to pay attention, with one exception. I clearly remember an afternoon bio

In January of 2025, we were gliding into the second half of the year with strong momentum. Our daughters were doing well, getting good grades, and learning a lot. However, toward the end of January, our lives came to a screeching halt when my dad passed away suddenly from complications related to hi

John Dewey, known for his influential education reforms in the early 1900s, once said, “We do not learn from experience . . . We learn from reflecting on experience.” Dewey raises an important point. We can miss prime opportunities to grow if we do not put in the hard work of reflection. Inten

There was once an apple tree who spent her days helping things grow. It wasn’t always an easy endeavor, or a pleasant one. Some days, the sun beat down with relentless heat, and it didn’t feel like she was going to have what it took to keep the apples alive. Some days, the wind tore through her br