Teacher to teacher

In my pre-K classroom, I strive to strengthen my students’ nonverbal communication skills because understanding facial expressions and gestures allows for communication to be fluid, natural and meaningful. For English language learners, these skills are just as important as listening, speaking, reading and writing English when it comes to acquiring English language skills. 


As we think about gearing up for a new school year, here are a few tips to help us navigate the busy, sometimes overwhelming job of managing a classroom.

There is a profound connection between developing good character and achieving academically. For this reason, our committee of educators launched a character education program to highlight skills that might promote good character in our students. 


I started to research metacognition in young children because I wanted my students to be aware of their own learning and thinking and take ownership over their own successes.

In a 12th-grade ELA class, I turned a research unit on disaster and apocalyptic fiction into a podcasting unit and tasked my students, 65 percent of whom were English language learners, with becoming media makers for real-world audiences.

For some reason, suffering appeals to my 6th-graders as readers. Because of this consistent interest, each spring I organize book clubs around what I refer to as “social issue” books. This year, I decided to focus exclusively on nonfiction books.

It’s a challenge to make sure students are doing meaningful work while also giving them opportunities to engage with one another. Throughout my career as a history teacher, I’ve found success using educational protocols to help my students interact.


It’s not easy to engage students in productive and meaningful discussions in math class while still using scaffolds and differentiation. This is where station teaching can help.

I help my students learn to advocate for themselves when they need time, space and quiet to process feelings or calm themselves. One strategy I’ve used with success is to create a Peace Place in my classroom.

When working on my doctoral degree in educational psychology, I embarked on a journey to explore the home-school connection for students with special needs, its challenges and the most effective ways to initiate it.