As the holidays approach, excitement brews in and around the school. Students show signs of frequent distraction, off-task behaviors and increased energy levels. Teachers are excited too but oftentimes their holiday spirit takes a hit as they try to calm the chaos brewing in their classrooms. Stop swimming against the current. There is a way to…

Teachers should model a growth mindset for students on a daily basis so that they are continuously open to suggestions for improvement as they set personal goals. The consistency of daily growth is key to acquiring improved skill because learning is an ongoing process, not just a single event. It’s a simple equation: Lack of…

I recently had a guest on the podcast named Bill Cecil [check out the episode here], who inspired me to write a few more podcast episodes and this blog post specifically. Bill was talking about the dangers of allowing others in the profession to cloud your judgment. He referred to this unfortunate circumstance as ‘secondhand…

‘Code Switching’ refers to the act of changing the way you behave due to the rules, or code, of the current environment. Being a student is hard. But, being a student learning from multiple teachers is even harder.  For every teacher’s classroom that a student enters, they must swap out their current code of operation before entering the new…

Thrifty Thursday Each week I bring to you helpful tips to become a more effective educator on the Always A Lesson fan page on Facebook. (Give it a quick like by clicking here!) I decided to start grouping my social media posts into a blog post incase you might have missed anything. Time to get caught up:…

  The best part about being a classroom teacher is designing the space and orchestrating the learning experiences the way you want. You can infuse your personality and philosophy into your daily work with students. This comes at a cost, however. Any time you place a large amount of people into a small space, getting…

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Happy Go Teach Conference [HGT] in Raleigh, NC. This conference was created by Jen Jones of Hello Literacy and Kayla Delzer of Top Dog Teaching in efforts to provide a flipped professional development [PD] session where best practices are modeled and participants are active in their…

Most teachers have a section in their classroom that contains books for children to read, whether for academic learning purposes or pleasure. However, the majority of these teachers struggle to utilize this space in an organized, efficient manner. As a result, books are lost or ruined and students miss out on reaching their potential through…

As a teacher, the #1 priority during the Back-to-School season is preparing your classroom. The tricky part comes when district/state requirements leave you in professional development [PD] sessions during your contracted hours, meaning you have little to no time left in the day to work in your classroom to prepare it for students. Administrators are…

  The above pictures of my sweet baby Lily at 9 months is the inspiration behind this post.  I happened to be rushing around downstairs preparing dinner while my little one ran around holding her stuffed giraffe singing her made-up melody when all of a sudden it went quiet. If you are a parent, you fear…