When I was a student, I was highly motivated by grades, so when I first stepped into the role as teacher, I was shocked when one of my students threw away a graded assignment that I had just handed back. He didn’t look it over or ask me any questions; he just put it in the trash can. I had expected him to care that he had just failed. Lesson # 643 that I learned that first ...
4 Things I Always Do When Lesson Planning
Lesson planning is like cleaning the kitchen. You are never done. As teachers, we are both proactive and reactive in planning lessons. We plan ahead, then execute, then go back to our plans to edit when students are not mastering concepts. We. are. always. lesson. planning. It might sound like a complaint, but it is just a reality of instruction - you must always have a ...
Advocate for Yourself, Teacher
Teachers are advocates. We discover a student has a need, we communicate the need to various stakeholders, and then we use our collective brainpower and resources to make sure that need is met. When a former student struggled to see the board, I worked with the counselor to help this student get a prescription and the glasses they needed. Teachers do this for so many people in their ...
5 Tech Ideas for Student Engagement
With so many classrooms virtual this year and so many websites promising to engage your students, it can be challenging to know where to start. Or perhaps, what was once working, is no longer working. Here are 5 ideas for engaging students online. LISTEN ON: APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY #1 Blooket If you haven’t heard about the Blooket website by now, go look right ...
Free Digital Math Activities
Let’s talk about digital activities - specifically, free digital math activities! Maneuvering the Middle has digital math activities for 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, and Algebra 1. Let’s talk about what digital activities are, why we love them, and some ideas on how you can use them. Most importantly, you can try them out in your classroom with a freebie down below! UPDATE: ...
2 Tips to Set Students Up for Success
As teachers, we have all heard the statement “set students up for success” probably more times than we can count. Sometimes these statements can lose their meaning, but don’t let this one! If students feel successful in your classroom, then your workload will be less. Less make up work to follow up on and grade, less classroom management, less ... fill-in-the-blank. #1: ...
3 Tips for Increasing Teacher Productivity
Teacher productivity is a topic I could talk at length about. I love optimizing my time, building routines, and checking off a to-do list item. Check out some of these methods that will save your time and your sanity. LISTEN ON: APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY 1. GO SLOW NOW TO GO FAST LATER Teachers live in a very cyclical world. Most of the things that we do ...
Digital Math Resources in Google Classroom
For the last 9 months, Maneuvering the Middle has worked to support teachers who have shifted to online or hybrid learning. To best serve teachers and students, we have created brand new digital math resources and shifted our paper-based activities to digital resources through Google Classroom. To learn more about these updates as well as some of our favorite online tools that make ...
Teacher Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Often when I feel like a class period is not going well, I tend to blame so-and-so students or a lackluster concept. However, more often than not, the problem starts at the top -- the teacher -- me. Yikes! The good news is that I am in full control of myself, so I can make the necessary changes to improving said class. Here are some teacher mistakes that I made/make and some ideas on ...
10 Ways to Use Task Cards in Your Classroom
There seems to be no shortage of task cards out there as a resource for students and teachers. The question is how to incorporate these tools as meaningful and engaging work in your classroom. Here are some ways to get you started! 10 Ways to Use Task Cards 1. Extension This is a no-brainer. Print, cut, laminate, and put task cards on a ring. Store them somewhere in your ...