Have you seen this movie yet? If not, go see it. Do it now. I’ll wait. Because I may or may not post spoilers. It’s probably trendy to write posts about the movie right now, but I don’t care. I have thoughts about it. Thoughts that I think will help parents and teachers make the most…
Ah, late April. The weather is warming, the birds are chirping, flies have started to invade my house. And the students at school are almost – almost – done with standardized testing. Think if I say that enough times, it will become true? I wrote a post similar to this last year (find it here) wherein…
I’m getting ready to start figurative language lessons with my group of second graders. Last year, I used a song or two to help them identify the different types of figurative language. It worked. I looked really good when a student announced to her classroom teacher, “That’s an idiom!” simply because the teacher said the…
This week is Banned Books Week, a week to contemplate the various works of literature that for whatever reason have historically been deemed too dangerous for public consumption. Where the Wild Things Are, The Diary of a Young Girl, and The Old Man and The Sea are among them. The one that surprised me the…
Ah, fall. Tis the season of cooler weather and changing leaves and Halloween costume planning. It’s also the season where every kid and teen enrolled in a public or private school becomes the temporary employee of The Fundraiser. Or in some cases, The Fundraisers. Plural. At the same time. Don’t get me wrong. I work for…
The first day of school for students in one of the districts in my area was yesterday – yesterday. August 1st. I think I blinked and missed summer. My kids have a couple more weeks before the first day, so all the kids in my area either have their bottoms in the chairs of their…
When I was in sixth grade, my classmates and I learned all about melodramas, those stories where an obvious hero saves an obvious damsel in distress from an obvious cackling, mustache-twisting villain. I remember having to create melodramas, which is funny to ponder now as an adult, knowing twelve-year-olds don’t need help creating drama. Maybe…
I never went to school to be a writer. I went to school to be a teacher, and only a small fraction of that time was devoted to being a writing teacher. Since I lack formal instruction, I’ve done my own research on the topics of what makes a good writer and what makes a…
In my professional life, I’m an Interventionist/Certified Tutor at a local elementary school. Part of my work day includes half an hour providing enrichment instruction to a group of above-average-reading second graders. Their teachers provided me with a list of skills they would like for me to teach to the kids to prepare them for…
This example is from The Oatmeal. Click on the link for more hilarity, after you finish reading this blog, of course. Welcome to Part 2 of Why Teachers Deserve Presents. Check out Part 1 if you missed it. Not only will you agree that teachers deserve presents for teaching this craziness, but you will be…
Allison Maruska 