Inside Bell's Brain

If you know me well, then you know that one of my best (or perhaps worst , depending upon your perspective) qualities is my insatiability for knowledge .  I believe in striving for continuous improvement in all areas of my life, though - admittedly - I am more successful in some areas than others.  But ultimately, I couldn't agree more with John Cotton Dana's quote... That innate push for improvement that compels me to keep going , work harder , do more , and so on, and so on, is what made me perk up when I saw this month's 2getherwearebetter linky theme: Room to Improve .  We're doing a little introspection on our last academic year to decide... (1) What area of your classroom or of your teaching would you like to change or improve in the upcoming school year? (2) What are your plans for changing it ? (3) Seeking blogger and peer input on others' experiences, advice, and feedback to help us in the process. Immediately, I knew what my pos...

Good.  It's such a simple word...one that we probably use 100 times in a single day.  "Be a good girl."  "You're a good boy."  "Do a good job."  "Did you have a good day?"  "This food is good."  When there are seemingly an infinite number of adjectives we could choose, we stick with the word "good."  It's a word I've been trying to eliminate from my vocabulary for quite some time, but probably not for the reason that you think.   I see so many signs, products, and instructional tools that talk about "good" readers and writers.  I think so many of them are wonderful products and great resources for our classes, so I don't want my message to be misconstrued.  But if we tell students that there are "good" readers and writers, what is the implication?  That there are also BAD readers and writers.  That's what concerns me the most.   Some students, and some teachers alike, struggle w...

  Getting started is often the most difficult part of writing.  That's true for native English speakers and English learners alike.  But as is often true, what is effective instructional practice for ELs makes for effective practice for our native English speakers also.  With that in mind, one solution to the writing dilemma is using sentence frames.  Sentence frames allow writers to concentrate on the most important part of writing (the sharing and communication of ideas) rather than worrying about the syntax (structure) and grammar of the sentence.  For example, if you're writing a compare and contrast paper, an appropriate sentence frame might be, "(This) and (that) are alike because _________________."  This allows ELs and other students to really concentrate on what they're trying to express about the comparison rather than stressing about the structure they need to express this idea.  Sentence frames can be as complex or as simple as yo...

This year, one of my focus areas has been to incorporate more Whole Brain Teaching strategies in my daily instruction.  In my opinion, one of the best - and certainly most fun - components of WBT is "call and response".  These "attention grabbers" are very popular on Pinterest; you can find so many premade posters out there with creative calls and responses for teachers and students.  But I wanted something a little more individualized for my classroom, so I made my own!  I printed each page (pair) on a different color of bright paper.  I cut out each phrase using several designs of craft scissors and glued each pair onto a large posterboard.  (See photo below.)  My students really enjoy them; it makes a big difference in student engagement and adds variety to our lessons.  I'm sharing the file with you so you can do the same!  It will be free for the first 24 hours, so grab this one while it's HOT! NOTE: I took out so...

I've been contemplating how to kick off my new blogging endeavor, and I think I know just what to do. I've already shared this little trick with several of my closest teacher friends, and we've found it to be a dream come true for establishing multiple grouping configurations.  (Interaction and multiple grouping configurations are absolutely essential for English learners to get the most from their content classes.) About two years ago, I developed these grouping sticks to ensure that my students were able to work with all their classmates in different settings and in different groups. The concept is a little tricky to articulate, but I have taken pictures to support my attempt at a detailed explanation.   The first decision is determining the number of sticks you need. For a class set, I usually use 25, although some of you probably need a class set of 36 (in which case, purchase 2 packs). You can purchase a pack of multi-colored Popsicle sticks at your local craft...