Ideas from the Blog

A key component of a successful Reader's Workshop is a full classroom library with lots and lots of selection.  That's the part that can make it difficult when you don't have the cash to stock one.  Last year I wrote a post with suggestions about how you can do this cheaply, with used … [Read more...] about Young Adult Novel GIVEAWAY

Secondary teachers: what do you think when you see all those classroom decor pics on Pinterest? Do you look with envy at all of the cute and awesome primary classrooms? Or do you roll your eyes and thank goodness you teach older kids? I'm very glad to be with the big kids, but I still believe that … [Read more...] about Classroom Decor: 4 Must Have Supplies

There is nothing faster than a teacher's summer vacation.  We just head giddily out the doors of our classrooms and then, before we know it, we're back in, setting up our bulletin boards and planning our first day and week activities.If you're a high school teacher like me, the first day is … [Read more...] about Getting Ready for Back to School

The greatest change I ever made in my classroom was the switch to a workshop approach.  Actually, it was the way I started, but I took a detour into the traditional for quite a while.During my teacher training, I was introduced to Nanci Atwell; In the Middle was the textbook my … [Read more...] about Reader’s & Writer’s Workshop in High School

I created this guidebook to stop the questions:  "Mrs. C, what do you mean by close reading?" "Where do you put the citation?""Do I have do use a citation when it's all my words?""What do you mean by topic sentence?"Now there is nothing wrong with those questions.  I love questions. … [Read more...] about The Best Resource Ever!

Before we get to that back to school business: CONGRATULATIONS to Kim Roberts, winner of the $25 gift card! I loved hearing from all of you about suggested blog posts and I have a list of ones that I will work on throughout the school year.I was thinking a lot this morning about my upcoming … [Read more...] about Planning for Back to School

I told someone the other day that if Teachers Pay Teachers had been around when I started teaching IB first, I would have saved myself hours of anguish. After teaching for almost twenty years, I had my schtick down pat: I knew my texts like the back of my hand and had all kinds of lessons to use.And … [Read more...] about Calling all IB English HL teachers!

This post is in answer to a question from a reader: when you have a large class, how do you maintain order with all of those teenagers moving around the room? Good question!I know I don't have all of the answers, but here's what works for me when I use movement and collaboration in my classroom:1. … [Read more...] about MOVEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM: MAINTAINING ORDER

It's time for an update.  I've been wanting to change the look of my blog, to make it look a little more grown up. I'm still tweaking and playing around, but so far, I'm happy with the new look.To celebrate, I'm going to give away a $25 gift certificate to TpT.  To enter, you just need to … [Read more...] about A NEW LOOK IN ROOM 213

Multi-Genre Projects Create Opportunities for Real LearningI began my grade ten class this year with guiding questions: What causes intolerance? How can we learn to be more tolerant? Then after every unit we did, or text we studied, I would have them reflect on what they learned from their … [Read more...] about Multi-Genre Projects for Deeper Learning

Learning stations in the secondary classes do workIf you're a follower, you're well aware of my crush on learning stations.  I had never used them until this year, as I hadn't even thought of using them with high school students. However, once I tried them both my students and I were hooked! I … [Read more...] about Learning Stations in the Secondary Classroom

It's the last week of class for us and my grade tens have been working on a final essay and a multi-genre project. I had a couple of buffer days that I had hoped to use for the poetry scavenger hunt I usually do at the end of the year, but it required a nice day, because they need to walk to the … [Read more...] about LEARNING JUST FOR FUN?