It can be overwhelming trying to figure out which Common Core State Standard literacy strands your students need the most work with. There are so many different places to...
Many people like surprises. With the end of summer vacation, a surprise might be waiting for teachers at their school in the form of ACT®* scores. For students who tested in...
In a previous post, I have shared how I incorporate the DOK and Revised Bloom's Taxonomy into my 'shared reading lesson plans' and my 'unit plans.' In this post, I will...
High stakes assessments are coming to an end. This time period provides the perfect opportunity to introduce a few interactive writing activities in the classroom that can...
Last spring, my students took the SBAC (Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium) for the first time. To prepare my students for this rigorous assessment I researched any and...
If you have never completed a reading engagement inventory on your students, do it... I bet you will find the results fascinating! An engagement inventory is an observational...
The first week of school is a great time for students to give you some key information about themselves. On the first day, do something to make your class different (see my ...
The best way for me to get to know my individual readers is through my initial reading conferences, which I refer to as "Three Different Books." This conference gives me...
Spotlighting skills every day is one way teachers can support a grammar-rich environment and prepare students for exams! The critical reading section of the SAT has two types...
Word choice and precision in writing is a skill assessed by the SAT suite of tests. When students feel confident in using concrete, specific words rather than abstract,...
Word choice is emphasized in writing and in literature. Teachers read passages aloud from F. Scott Fitzgerald because of the wonderful language choices the author has made....
With high stakes testing going on across the nation, teachers have the responsibility to strengthen language and grammar development. The practice sentences in this post...