Teaching
4 Things Every Teacher Needs in 2021
I’ve thought long and hard about what teachers need this Teacher Appreciation Week. Gift giving in the pandemic is just not that simple. To make matters worse, last year’s Teacher Appreciation Week was kind of cancelled – no flowers, no special lunches, no apple coffee mugs. So the pressure is on in 2021. This year…
Read MoreHow
When I was in the 2nd grade, our class got in trouble on the playground, and our teacher had us come inside and write an essay on how we would act the next day. She was mad. And she was not from North Carolina. She was from somewhere up north where they wore heavy coats…
Read MoreWhen Students Light the Way
The best gift I didn’t know I needed was a touch lamp. The kind that turn off and on when you barely touch the base of it. This particular touch lamp was black on the bottom with a round base and slender pole leading up to the lightbulb. The bulb was covered by a tan…
Read MoreHow Potatoes are Like a PLC
In the last decade we have seen the rise (and fall) of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). The idea itself is a really good one… bring professionals together, collaborate and learn, and walk away with agency to do amazing things for students. What could possibly go wrong?! Well, like many things in education, we took an…
Read MoreQuestioning and Students’ “Inner Voice”
As we have discussed in previous blogs, using picture books with upper level readers has many benefits. If you have students who have a hard time tracking their “inner voice” and often get a tangled up with comprehension, you can teach them how to question as they read. Student-generated questions are different than teacher-generated questions.…
Read MoreRereading + Picture Books = Higher Comprehension
Well-crafted picture books make the reader yearn to come back to it many times. The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg is one of those books. Through his text and artwork, the reader has a natural inclination to read and reread as a way to understand more of the story. Helping students notice how rereading is…
Read MoreUsing Picture Books to Increase Critical Thinking
One reason we love picture books at ERG is they not only look inviting and feel wonderful in our hands, but also have layers to dig into! The themes that often emerge from picture books provide our students with ideas to explore, opinions to express, and rich conversations to be had. One magical quality of…
Read MoreNo Baby Books November: Verdi
Picture books. Most of us love them. Picture books are the instructional chameleon. They work in a variety of literacy lessons, formats, and purposes. They are brightly colored and engaging. For many of us, we are emotionally attached to these texts due to the rich stories and wonderful memories we have from either reading them ourselves…
Read MoreA Day in the Life of an ERG Event
7:25 – Arrive at venue to drop off some materials. Realize it is not set up and the doors are locked. Go into panic mode. 7:26 – Look around building, search for other people, retrieve number of building contact and leave message. 7:30 – Find a person arriving for work who begins set up with…
Read MoreHow To Ruin A Perfectly Good Year
In order to ruin a perfectly good year, you will need to get a few things in place. The first item is to make sure you have a crazy morning routine. Wake up late, don’t eat, roll into school with no plans (and almost no gas), and continue the day in a mode of reaction. This will…
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