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A small shift in the questions we ask can make a b

A small shift in the questions we ask can make a big difference in what we learn about student thinking.

“Any questions?” rarely gives you real information.

But small shifts in how we question students can completely change the clarity in the room.

When students can:
• explain the learning
• name the success criteria
• anticipate mistakes
• articulate what they’re trying to show

You don’t have to guess if they understand.

Clarity isn’t about more work.
It’s about more precision.

Save this for your next lesson.

Which one are you trying first?

#teacherclarity #formativeassessment #instructionalcoach #upperelementaryteacher #teachertips

Here’s an easy and fun halloween art project you c

Here’s an easy and fun halloween art project you can do before Halloween! 👻

All you’ll need to get ready for your students are ghost templates, bright @astrobrights paper, white liquid glue, black construction paper, and cotton balls. Get everything at @walmart!

Have your students cut out a ghost template or they can freehand their ghost shapes using the glue. After spreading the glue around, have them glue the cotton balls to the paper and then add eyes and a mouth made out of black construction paper!

It’s so simple and most of all fun!😍

You can also start this project by reading your favorite ghost themed picture book.

Comment GHOST and I’ll DM you the link to some free ghost templates you can use!

#teachingtips #teacherlife #elementaryteacher #elementaryart #teacherideas

Check out this how-to for making a haunted house a

Check out this how-to for making a haunted house art project with your students. 👻 Read more on my blog and find the writing piece that accompanies it! 👏🏻

Comment HAUNTED and I’ll DM you the link. #halloweenart #elementaryart #teachingideas #teachertips #iteachtoo

Supporting students doesn’t have to mean lowering

Supporting students doesn’t have to mean lowering the expectation. 👏🏼

Sometimes students understand the content, but they need a little more support with organizing their thinking, communicating what they know, or remembering the steps of a process.

That’s where intentional supports like language frames, anchor charts, worked examples, and graphic organizers can make such a difference.

And here’s the important part: the goal is independence.

We want to give students tools they can refer to BEFORE they immediately turn to us for help. Over time, as their confidence and understanding grow, they may need those supports less and less.

We’re not doing the thinking for them. We’re giving them tools that help them do more of the thinking for themselves. ❤️

What’s one support you use in your classroom that helps students become more independent?

#teacherclarity #explicitinstruction #elementaryteachers #middleschoolteachers #teachingtips

It’s hard to believe the 25th anniversary of 9/11

It’s hard to believe the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is almost here. Here are some resources to help you introduce and explain September 11th to your students.

🇺🇸 Informative Text: I compiled a short informative text (that you can find as a freebie in my shop) to help my students understand what happened on September 11th. We used it as a source of evidence to respond to the prompt: Why is it important to remember the heroes and victims of September 11th? After reading text, we had a class discussion about the importance of American heroes. We compiled our ideas on an anchor chart that we later used to write our responses using RACE.

🇺🇸Letters: A lot of my students’ families were in the military, and many of them knew about September 11th. We talked about how important it is to recognize our military heroes as well as our everyday heroes and how a short note can go a long way. We used my Community Hero Notes to write letters to military personnel and our community heroes.

🇺🇸Read Aloud: In addition to using the informational text piece, I also read aloud “Saved by the Boats.” This added more to our discussion and helped us understand how civilians played a huge role in helping victims of 9/11. You can find Saved by the Boats on Amazon (linked on my blog).

🇺🇸 @brainpop_official: BrainPop.com also has an informative video that helped us cite more evidence for our written responses. There are videos geared for upper elementary and it really helped students understand the totality of the situation. It connected the story and informational text and led to a deep discussion of why we remember 9/11. 9/11 Memorial also has an array of resources and lesson plans to help teach and discuss the events of 9/11 with your students.

🇺🇸Assembly: Hold a Patriot Day Assembly. We invited local community heroes (police, fire, military, medical professionals, etc.) to our school to honor them. Check my blog for the editable student script we used.

Comment 11 and I’ll DM you the link to my blog where you can grab all these links!

#teachersofinstagram #teacherlife #iteachtoo #teachingtips #teachingideas

Here’s a caption that keeps your stance clear but

Here’s a caption that keeps your stance clear but leaves room for a good conversation in the comments:

Let’s talk about grades! 👀

If a student has demonstrated mastery of a standard, should missing assignments lower their academic grade?

I absolutely believe missing work matters. It can tell us a lot about organization, responsibility, effort, and work habits. But I’m not sure those things should change a grade that is supposed to communicate what a student knows and can do academically.

Maybe the bigger conversation is this: What is a grade actually supposed to measure?

I’d love to hear from you on this one.👇🏻

#grading #middleschool #teachers #standardsbasedgrading #education

✨ September’s Kindness Calendar is here! ✨ It was

✨ September’s Kindness Calendar is here! ✨

It was sent to subscribers this morning, so be sure to check your inbox for your copy! 💌

Not a subscriber yet? Comment SUBSCRIBE and I’ll DM you the link so you can join and receive a new kindness calendar each month! 🫶

And since we’ve officially entered the “BER” months 🍂, I’m sharing some of my favorite fall activities you can use in your classroom all season long!

Comment FALL and I’ll DM you all the links! 🍎🍁🎃

#KindnessInTheClassroom #ClassroomActivities #TeacherResources #FallActivities #SocialEmotionalLearning

Skill gaps don’t magically disappear when students

Skill gaps don’t magically disappear when students leave elementary school.

By middle school, those gaps can start looking like something else: avoidance, rushing, shutting down, lack of participation, or even a “motivation problem.”

But sometimes the student isn’t choosing not to do the work. Sometimes the work is exposing a skill they never fully developed.

Strong Tier 1 instruction absolutely matters, but Tier 1 alone won’t meet every student’s needs.

Middle schoolers still need targeted intervention, protected time, progress monitoring, and instruction focused on the specific skill getting in their way.

Intervention shouldn’t depend on a teacher “finding time” or a student giving up an elective indefinitely. It needs to be part of the system.

Intervention doesn’t stop after elementary school. It evolves. 💙

What does intervention look like at your middle school?

#middleschoolteachers #mtss #intervention #teacherclarity #instructionalcoaching

I have to know what teachers and parents think abo

I have to know what teachers and parents think about this one. 👀

My son’s participation grade was lowered because he was absent.

I absolutely believe students should make up any work or learning they miss. But I don’t believe the absence itself should lower a student’s grade.

Missing work and being absent are two different things.

What do you think? Should attendance impact a participation grade?

#grading #teachersofinstagram #teacherlife #education #assessment

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Search the blog

A small shift in the questions we ask can make a b

A small shift in the questions we ask can make a big difference in what we learn about student thinking.

“Any questions?” rarely gives you real information.

But small shifts in how we question students can completely change the clarity in the room.

When students can:
• explain the learning
• name the success criteria
• anticipate mistakes
• articulate what they’re trying to show

You don’t have to guess if they understand.

Clarity isn’t about more work.
It’s about more precision.

Save this for your next lesson.

Which one are you trying first?

#teacherclarity #formativeassessment #instructionalcoach #upperelementaryteacher #teachertips

Here’s an easy and fun halloween art project you c

Here’s an easy and fun halloween art project you can do before Halloween! 👻

All you’ll need to get ready for your students are ghost templates, bright @astrobrights paper, white liquid glue, black construction paper, and cotton balls. Get everything at @walmart!

Have your students cut out a ghost template or they can freehand their ghost shapes using the glue. After spreading the glue around, have them glue the cotton balls to the paper and then add eyes and a mouth made out of black construction paper!

It’s so simple and most of all fun!😍

You can also start this project by reading your favorite ghost themed picture book.

Comment GHOST and I’ll DM you the link to some free ghost templates you can use!

#teachingtips #teacherlife #elementaryteacher #elementaryart #teacherideas

Check out this how-to for making a haunted house a

Check out this how-to for making a haunted house art project with your students. 👻 Read more on my blog and find the writing piece that accompanies it! 👏🏻

Comment HAUNTED and I’ll DM you the link. #halloweenart #elementaryart #teachingideas #teachertips #iteachtoo

Supporting students doesn’t have to mean lowering

Supporting students doesn’t have to mean lowering the expectation. 👏🏼

Sometimes students understand the content, but they need a little more support with organizing their thinking, communicating what they know, or remembering the steps of a process.

That’s where intentional supports like language frames, anchor charts, worked examples, and graphic organizers can make such a difference.

And here’s the important part: the goal is independence.

We want to give students tools they can refer to BEFORE they immediately turn to us for help. Over time, as their confidence and understanding grow, they may need those supports less and less.

We’re not doing the thinking for them. We’re giving them tools that help them do more of the thinking for themselves. ❤️

What’s one support you use in your classroom that helps students become more independent?

#teacherclarity #explicitinstruction #elementaryteachers #middleschoolteachers #teachingtips

It’s hard to believe the 25th anniversary of 9/11

It’s hard to believe the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is almost here. Here are some resources to help you introduce and explain September 11th to your students.

🇺🇸 Informative Text: I compiled a short informative text (that you can find as a freebie in my shop) to help my students understand what happened on September 11th. We used it as a source of evidence to respond to the prompt: Why is it important to remember the heroes and victims of September 11th? After reading text, we had a class discussion about the importance of American heroes. We compiled our ideas on an anchor chart that we later used to write our responses using RACE.

🇺🇸Letters: A lot of my students’ families were in the military, and many of them knew about September 11th. We talked about how important it is to recognize our military heroes as well as our everyday heroes and how a short note can go a long way. We used my Community Hero Notes to write letters to military personnel and our community heroes.

🇺🇸Read Aloud: In addition to using the informational text piece, I also read aloud “Saved by the Boats.” This added more to our discussion and helped us understand how civilians played a huge role in helping victims of 9/11. You can find Saved by the Boats on Amazon (linked on my blog).

🇺🇸 @brainpop_official: BrainPop.com also has an informative video that helped us cite more evidence for our written responses. There are videos geared for upper elementary and it really helped students understand the totality of the situation. It connected the story and informational text and led to a deep discussion of why we remember 9/11. 9/11 Memorial also has an array of resources and lesson plans to help teach and discuss the events of 9/11 with your students.

🇺🇸Assembly: Hold a Patriot Day Assembly. We invited local community heroes (police, fire, military, medical professionals, etc.) to our school to honor them. Check my blog for the editable student script we used.

Comment 11 and I’ll DM you the link to my blog where you can grab all these links!

#teachersofinstagram #teacherlife #iteachtoo #teachingtips #teachingideas

Here’s a caption that keeps your stance clear but

Here’s a caption that keeps your stance clear but leaves room for a good conversation in the comments:

Let’s talk about grades! 👀

If a student has demonstrated mastery of a standard, should missing assignments lower their academic grade?

I absolutely believe missing work matters. It can tell us a lot about organization, responsibility, effort, and work habits. But I’m not sure those things should change a grade that is supposed to communicate what a student knows and can do academically.

Maybe the bigger conversation is this: What is a grade actually supposed to measure?

I’d love to hear from you on this one.👇🏻

#grading #middleschool #teachers #standardsbasedgrading #education

✨ September’s Kindness Calendar is here! ✨ It was

✨ September’s Kindness Calendar is here! ✨

It was sent to subscribers this morning, so be sure to check your inbox for your copy! 💌

Not a subscriber yet? Comment SUBSCRIBE and I’ll DM you the link so you can join and receive a new kindness calendar each month! 🫶

And since we’ve officially entered the “BER” months 🍂, I’m sharing some of my favorite fall activities you can use in your classroom all season long!

Comment FALL and I’ll DM you all the links! 🍎🍁🎃

#KindnessInTheClassroom #ClassroomActivities #TeacherResources #FallActivities #SocialEmotionalLearning

Skill gaps don’t magically disappear when students

Skill gaps don’t magically disappear when students leave elementary school.

By middle school, those gaps can start looking like something else: avoidance, rushing, shutting down, lack of participation, or even a “motivation problem.”

But sometimes the student isn’t choosing not to do the work. Sometimes the work is exposing a skill they never fully developed.

Strong Tier 1 instruction absolutely matters, but Tier 1 alone won’t meet every student’s needs.

Middle schoolers still need targeted intervention, protected time, progress monitoring, and instruction focused on the specific skill getting in their way.

Intervention shouldn’t depend on a teacher “finding time” or a student giving up an elective indefinitely. It needs to be part of the system.

Intervention doesn’t stop after elementary school. It evolves. 💙

What does intervention look like at your middle school?

#middleschoolteachers #mtss #intervention #teacherclarity #instructionalcoaching

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