I love teaching and I love learning new ways to improve my practice. I hope you will join my professional learning network so we can learn from each other. Browse through the lessons and teaching tips I have discovered through my decades in the classroom working with students at every level. I also recommend that you check out the guides which offer a more in-depth look at a wide range of topics.

The following posts offer hacks, strategies, and tools to make classroom life easier and more effective.

Most popular post in this category:

All posts in this category:

• Handcrafted Icebreakers
• Studying American Literacy
• The Grade Conference Transition
• Less is More
• 3 Reasons You Should Bring Games Into Your Classroom
• Games Set Stage For Serious Rhetorical Work
• The Secret Ingredient For Teaching Success
• Gaming the System
• The Writer is the Goal
• Oh, Snap: 3 Reasons To Snap In Class
• 3 Writing Lessons We Learned From Games
• Exploring the American Dream
• 3 Ways To Draft A Literacy Narrative
• Seat Time is Not Pedagogy
• Is the American Dream Dead or Alive?
• 3 Reasons I Love HyperDocs
• Creeds and Comics
• In Defense of Rubrics
• What Does Writing Workshop Look Like?
• 3 Flavors of Literacy Narrative: Picking the right one for your class
• 3 Reasons You Should Focus On Class Community
• Students Don’t Need “Our” Writing Rules
• Pick 1 Thing: 3 Reasons You Must Know Your Endgame
• Empathy and Respect: Seeing Our Students As People
• What is Your Endgame? Passion or Commitment
• Don’t Reward Clock Watchers
• Visual literacy: Fake flyers, protest signs, and demotivational posters
• Notable Notes: #HyperDocs
• Classroom Badges Update
• Source Sandwiches: Teaching students how to integrate evidence
• Jumping Into Arguments About Literacy and Education
• Gamification: Second edition
• Badges and Student Choice
• Notable Notes: Usability Tests vs. Peer Review
• 3 Reasons to Use Paper Prototypes in the Classroom
• 3 Tips To Help Students Find #PBL Ideas
• Icebreaker Arguments Reprised
• 3 Ways Bell Ringers Will Improve Your Class
• 3 Reasons to (Re)Write the Literacy Narrative
• Why I #LoveTeaching
• 3 Multiple Prep Survival Tips
• Grading With Badges Revisited
• 3 Reasons to Assign Infographics
• Using the Walking Dead to Teach Ethics
• Building Projects Using #6Words Stories
• Why Are We Here?
• Breaking the Ice with an Argument
• Starting The Year Off Write
• Teaching In #6Words
• 3 reasons you should build assessments as a class
• 3 reasons why you should practice metateaching
• Easing The Pain Of Grading
• Is Your Elevator Pitch Ready?
• The Benefits of Service Learning
• 3 Benefits Of Teaching With (or Through) Social Media
• 3 Reasons You Need PBL
• My Secret Formula to Facilitate Reflection and Workshop
• Why Self-Assessment Journals?
• Dear Students
• The Group Learning Document
• Paper Trails: My Alternative to the Annotated Bibliography
• Students Respect the Badge
• Why My Students Must Blog
• Community Doesn’t Just Happen
• We Need More Writers: What are you going to do about it?
• Teachers: Don’t Forget The Most Important Writer Is You
• Technology: Silver Bullet or Amazing Race?
• Did you ever think it might be the assignment?
• Grading Using Google Forms
• You Can’t Teach the Writing Process: How to Make Writers by Showing Not Telling
• 10 Ways Literacy Narratives Will Rock Your World (or at least your writing classroom)
• Education is about the journey, not the destination
• Radical Idea: What if we stopped teaching writing?
• You can assign writing and avoid a grading avalanche
• Teachers: Expose Yourself and Show Your Work
• Considering Contract Grading and the Class Blog
• Why video assignments?
• What Can You Learn From And About Your Students?
• Challenging your pedagogy and maybe even your program
• Inspiring writing, learning in six words
• Feedback Loops & Writing Workshop
• Why Writing Studio?
• Which Comes First For You: The Spirit or the Letter of the Law?
• Students Say Multiple Connections Make Learning Better and More Fun
• Using Comic Book Themes and Archetypes to Write About Humanity
• Using 6-word-memoir Posters to Discuss Reading, Inspire Writing
• Google Docs, Blackboard blogs, and class discussion
• Teaching/Technology: On Digital Learning Day
• PLNs, Serendipity and Learning