I had the pleasure of attending the Fusion 2015 Conference in Chicago, IL on July 7th – 9th. The conference increased my understanding of the…
View More NWEA Fusion 2015 Conference – RIT 101
STEM Career Day
On June 15, 2015, Earle STEM Academy will host STEM Career Day. I selected three group leaders to design an investigation of a STEM career.…
View More STEM Career DayNWEA Resources
Although I provide quality instruction (tooting my own horn … lol), I like to provide my students with multiple resources to prepare them for the…
View More NWEA ResourcesGenius Hour
In October, I read an article Kids pursue passions during ‘genius hour’ at Centennial Arts Academy. I meant to blog about it, but never did.…
View More Genius HourRetake Test Contract
I have a confession … my students haven’t been performing well on tests. It’s the beginning of the school year and the coursework will not…
View More Retake Test ContractWeek in Review
I like for students to be able to see how everything we do within a week is connecting together. All too often, students assume they…
View More Week in ReviewVocabulary Development
The Frayer Model has been used on cards for years by teachers to help develop students’ vocabulary. I have found that students have a hard…
View More Vocabulary DevelopmentCurrent Events
Now that I am teaching Social Studies (or Social Science as CPS calls it), I feel that it is only appropriate for a middle schooler…
View More Current EventsMath Talks
Today, I decided to introduce the practice of talking about Math in my class. This is called a Math Talk. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) really…
View More Math TalksHabits of Mind
During a professional development on 08/27/14, teachers were given a list of the Habits of Mind and asked to vote on the ten most important…
View More Habits of Mind