Something I became really interested in during my student teaching was Whole Brain Teaching. I am by no means a Whole Brain Teaching expert (you can find the experts at their website), but I have tried to implement a few Whole Brain things into my class each year. I was not sure initially how wellContinue reading “Whole Brain Online”
Author Archives: Cora Howard
Revisiting Benchmark Assessments
At the beginning of the school year, I wrote about two benchmark assessments I am using with my students this year: the Decoding Inventory and Spelling Inventory. I gave the assessments during the first week of school and again a couple weeks ago to track my students’ progress. Now that I have gathered this data,Continue reading “Revisiting Benchmark Assessments”
The Cold Call
A couple weeks ago, my principal started doing teacher observations. She has a lengthy list of best practices she expects to see teachers use, and part of her criteria includes having every student participate in class. While this is a worthy end, I was worried about what it would take to reach that end: callingContinue reading “The Cold Call”
In Their Element
I spend a lot of time pointing out the deficiencies of online education, but this week I noticed a unique benefit of the online school experience. Online school isn’t truly online; my students are learning from home. Students’ homes are the places where they spend most of their time and learn life lessons, and forContinue reading “In Their Element”
Setting Goals
During writing class this week, I talked with my students about setting goals. I score their writing on a rubric, so I told them to each choose something on the rubric to be a goal for them during their revision process. When I conferenced with one student, he said, “I’m really good at filling aContinue reading “Setting Goals”
Screen Time
When online school was announced for the start of this year, the principals began to panic about “screen time.” In my elementary school, students spend 4-5 hours of their school day live on Zoom, not including time allotted for working on online assignments. To be honest, I did not understand the screen time hype atContinue reading “Screen Time”
Dot Talks
A couple weeks ago, I posted about my “Dailies” that I do every day with my second grade class. This week, I want to share about a variation on Number Talks called Dot Talks. When adults count objects, they rarely count each individual thing. Instead, they subitize, or mentally put objects into groups of aContinue reading “Dot Talks”
A Bright Moment
Sometimes online school seems painfully distant and impersonal. Other times, like this week, little bright spots of personality shine through. Online school greatly reduces the number of discipline issues in class. No one can hit each other, and a quiet room is just a mute button away. This is good, because it can be nearlyContinue reading “A Bright Moment”
Dailies in Grade 2
Does anyone remember playing Neopets? Neopets had certain activities you could only do once a day, so I would always go through the list of my “dailies” right after logging in. Most of the daily rewards were small, but getting them every day would help them build up into something more substantial. When I movedContinue reading “Dailies in Grade 2”
Joy in the Growth
This is my fourth year of teaching. I had thought that by this point I would be doing many things for at least the fourth time. This year should have been my fourth open house and my fourth first day of school. I should be planning my fourth overnight camp and thinking about my fourthContinue reading “Joy in the Growth”
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