I normally wouldn’t do this, but I’ve been grading short pieces my students wrote for a non-fiction pre-assesment and I came across this one. Don’t quite know what to make of it!: Humans My article is about humans. Humans are a very interesting species. They are superior mammals descended from apes. They are advanced beings…

Since this blog is constantly being spammed, I’m considering relocating. Stay tuned for more info.

Yay! I passed all three parts of the CSET! I really didn’t think that would happen. This should give hope to all of you out there who have yet to take it. If I can do it, you can too!

Now that the bulk of my course work is finished, I’ve started in on my pre-institute work. About a month ago, I received a box in the mail full of work to do and it has been collecting dust in my room until now. The estimated time for completing the work is 30-35 hours, but…

If you can see the beautiful possibilities in life, you will rise to the challenge…

Upon the recommendation of several people, I’ve started reading “Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches With Teach For America,” despite the fact that I really should be working on my last two assignments of the term! This book is an incredibly engaging, quick read, and seems to be turning my conventional wisdom on its…

I’m not so sure of the timeline for the final deadline applicants, but I’m pretty sure the final round of interviews are coming up soon. Good luck and congratulations to anyone who is attending. While I can’t give specifics about what goes on during the interview day, I can give a few tips that might…

Well, I flew down to San Francisco to take the CSETs this weekend. Oooof. That was not fun. Five hours of non-stop testing! And I didn’t even have to take the writing component like some of my colleagues! It’s funny because, for the Oregon tests, I always finished a couple of hours early. But not…

Here is a link I found about using Lemov’s taxonomy for classroom management. There are several short videos demonstrating the techniques. I find these videos to be helpful. http://www.uncommonschools.org/usi/aboutUs/taxonomy.php Videotaping yourself teaching is a great way to build on management skills. I recently had to videotape myself and watch it with a colleague for my…