Ways to Motivate Students to Read We all studied motivation for at least a nanosecond in our teacher training programs. I remember them focusing on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. When finding ways to motivate students to read, we tend to focus on extrinsic. Positive reinforcement, like sticker charts, raffles, and prizes. Negative reinforcement, like losing…
Easy Lesson Planning with ChatGPT for Teachers
ChatGPT for Teachers Have you played around with ChatGPT yet? I finally got around to it amidst all the things, and I am very excited about some of the possibilities of ChatGPT for teachers using the four moves every literacy lesson plan needs for soaring reading growth. If you haven’t had a chance to check…
Joyful Reflections with a Reading and Writing Portfolio
Reading and Writing Portfolio As I get sucked into the day-to-day of teaching, I can lose sight of the big picture–and so can my students. That’s why taking time to breathe, reflect, and dream are so important for me to do with my students. Finding activities that help us pause makes sure we focus on…
7 Ways to Create Teacher Clarity in the Classroom
Teacher Clarity in the Classroom Why is teacher clarity in the classroom important? Teacher clarity is important for teachers because it brings purpose and fulfillment to a career that is otherwise demanding. Without a why to return to, it’s easy to spiral into dissatisfaction. It’s important to students so that they can buy into the…
5 Simple Solutions to the Standards for Overwhelmed Teachers
Overwhelmed Teachers Teachers long to celebrate not only their results but having a clear direction for their work. Without this clarity, we often can’t even see that our work is making a difference. Instead, we stay trapped in cycles of overwhelm that go something like this: get excited about an idea → try it →…
Increasing Teacher Productivity: Do Less To Maximize Reading Growth
Increasing Teacher Productivity Before I dive in, let’s talk about the “Increasing Teacher Productivity” from the title. It’s important to remember that productivity isn’t about doing more. It’s about achieving the best results in the most efficient manner. When I began developing the four moves every literacy lesson plan needs, I believed that I could…
Super-Charge Student Engagement With Five Powerful Moves
Student Engagement Today we’re discussing five absolute essentials for engaging students in education for life. It wasn’t until I was preparing this video that I realized how important engagement is (you can catch the video version of this post here). I had always thought of engagement in the short-term, as something to help a student…
Three Tricks to Beat Student Stagnation for Good
Ever had a student who did all the work and still didn’t make adequate reading growth? I have. For a long time, I struggled with how to explain to this type of student why they weren’t getting the results they wanted. I struggled with what to do differently. Not anymore. Last week I hosted a…
How to Make Magic with the Class Discussion Teaching Strategy
Class Discussion Teaching Strategy There was a point in my career where I walked away from class discussions. The large-group conversations didn’t achieve what I wanted: all students included and conversing without my mediation. In small groups, students were more likely to participate, but they still avoided authentic conversation, just sharing round-robin style without any…
Spend More Time on These 3 Techniques of Teaching Writing
Techniques of Teaching Writing If you are a language arts teacher, do you write? I decided to teach language arts because I love to write. This seems to make me an outlier, as the traditional teacher chooses the field because of a love of literature. I like literature too, but it was really my life…
