Professional Development Opportunities for ELA Teachers

Professional development resources for ELA educators With all of the changes that the Common Core has ushered in, keeping up professionally has been extremely difficult for most teachers during the school year. However, many teachers use the summer months for professional reading, reflecting on past practices, and planning new and improved lessons and activities for the upcoming school year: with that in mind, take a moment to check out the opportunities that are available to ELA educators this summer: Continue reading

Technology Tools Available to Help Elementary and Middle School Students Write Better Essays and Stories – by Julie Lyons

It’s easy for a teacher to become overwhelmed by grading, and when it comes to grading students’ writing pieces, the ask can become even more onerous. As most teachers know, specific timely feedback in student writing is a highly effective way to improve a student’s writing skills. However, with so many subjects to plan for and teach (at the elementary level), and so many students’ writing pieces to grade (at the middle school level), how can a teacher “do it all”?

Luckily, there are many technological aids that can assist teachers who are looking for ways to improve their students’ writing, whether that writing is an essay, story, or merely building the grammatical skills to revise and edit writing pieces.
Educational Technology
Below is a description of several technology tools that are available now for students and teachers… Continue reading

Hot Topic of the Week

There are so many things happening around the U.S. in education, from the teacher strikes in Chicago to the new Common Core State Standards Initiative, it’s hard to choose just one topic.  As my blog will be weekly, talking about what’s hot in education around the country, I chose to start with the Common Core State Standards initiative, even though the teacher strike in Chicago is pretty timely, as this is probably one of the largest reform initiatives we’ve seen in a long time or ever…
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