JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
Tips for the first days of school
The first days of school offer teachers an opportunity to set a positive tone and convey to students that their classrooms are supportive learning environments for all. Free chapter excerpts offered in the August 2011 issue of NSTA’s Book Beat incl...
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
I once worked with a principal who encouraged us to check off the comments boxes on progress reports and report cards. Most of these were rather generic and impersonal. We thought—wouldn’t it be great to have database of comments to choos...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
My neighbors just drove off, heading towards the first day of kindergarten for their daughter. I love to see the excitement on children’s faces as they go to “the big school” for the first time....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
What do students already know?
Last year, I started giving pretests at the beginning of each unit. The students were upset because they didn’t know many of the answers, even though I explained I didn’t expect them to know everything and the pretest wouldn’t count as ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Teaching with technology (revisited)
In case you haven’t seen it yet, the July issue of Science Scope is themed around technology....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
I’ve been reading about the revised Bloom’s taxonomy, with “creating” now being at the top. The examples I saw for this level included things such as posters, puppet shows, songs and dances, or skits. These may be enjoyable fo...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Back in the 1990s, when I was a technology director, a school board member asked me “What technology should our students use to prepare them for the workforce?” I responded that what our current elementary students would use in college or...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Summer can be a time of rest and renewal and an opportunity for teachers to fit in professional pursuits like reading that new book, taking a workshop, or conducting an in-depth study. In the July 2011 issue of NSTA’s Book Beat, we invite readers t...
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
Connecting with families over the summer
At the end of the school year I gave each preschool student’s family (about 58 of them) a note and a self-addressed stamped envelope in the hopes that they would write to me to let me know about any explorations their child experiences o...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
I was recently at a workshop where the presenter used the term “bell-to-bell teaching.” As a student teacher, I was embarrassed to ask what this means. —Cory, Mobile, Alabama...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
What can I do on the last few days of school? This year (my first as a teacher), my exams were over, projects were completed, and my grades were turned in. But after that it was hard to keep the students focused. —Angie, Salt Lake City, Utah....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Find support and share resources at the Learning Center
As I was packing up materials and readying the classrooms for summer storage I reflected back over the year and thought about the next. Developing an on-going inquiry (or overlapping inquiries because more than one class uses the space at this school...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
On the train, returning from a busy day in Philadelphia and the annual ISTE conference (International Society for Technology in Education), I finally had time to think. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a technology-related conferenc...
By Mary Bigelow