Real Teacher Blogs

Word clouds are taking over the web, helping teachers rain knowledge down on students!

Wordle may have blazed the way for work clouds in the classroom, but Standford's Word Sift brings visual learning to the next level with the additional customization options, drag-and-drog images, and much more.

As hard as it may be for us to admit sometimes, teachers make mistakes. We make less as we get better, but we’ll always make them.  

Sometimes, I forget to enter a grade where there needs to be one. At the beginning of the year, I tell all my students that one unfortunate soul will have their essay lost among a stack of my papers and it won’t be found for two years if ever.  (I’ve already hit my lost essay quota this year, Vanessa’s defense of Hamlet’s behavior, and my guilt has made me super anal retentive since.) 

At times like these, I’ve found that it doesn’t hurt to say “I’m sorry. I made a mistake,” and not to follow it with, “I work 60-75 hours a week, I deserve one.” 

 Wow.  With the mass firings in Rhode Island, it has been a rough week in the world of education, but I’d like to share my magical teaching moment that makes it all worth it.

Despite how heavy my heart is as I write this, I will swallow my sadness and tell you a story that might help to keep you motivated despite all this insanity raging on outside of our classrooms. 

Close your eyes. Wait. Open them. I hope you’ve opened them. Maybe just squint a little and imagine a work place where everyday, every individual comes to learn something. That’s EVERYONE’s goal. People come to this place because they recognize that learning is valuable, perhaps the most valuable thing a person can do with her life. 

Okay. You can stop squinting. Wait for the slight headache to fade and ask yourself if your school was the place you imagined. If you did, you’re fortunate enough to belong to a professional learning community.

Everybody loves to play with magnets. I still have my refrigerator covered with magnets although all the children are grown. You can bring that fun to your computer, your interactive white boards and your classroom with Word Magnets.