Welcome to the Middle School Cafe! Why have I called my site a cafe? Well, if you know me as well as my students do, you'll understand one very important thing about me - I LOVE coffee! I call it froo-froo coffee (mocha's, latte's, skinny, nonfat, extra shot, well you get the picture), the fancier the better. Unlike many who visit the coffee house, I don't have just one specialty drink I ...
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Latest from the Cafe
Change is the Name of the Game
Well, we are officially one month into the school year and to say that it's been a crazy roller coaster ride is putting it mildly. It seems like every time I turn on my computer, or get an email from admin, something is changing or they are apologizing for not knowing the answer. I know many of you ...
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Teaching Elections without Bias
In the political climate of America today, you may find it hard to teach about elections without bias getting in the way, but teaching today’s students the importance of voting is critical to making our Democracy work – it is vital to the success of our government (both local and national) and our ...
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Assessing Student Led Book Clubs
Book clubs are a great reading strategy that works to increase student reading skills, but let’s face it, when students work together it can be hard to fairly asses a grade. We can see the benefit of students working collaboratively to accomplish a goal, but don’t want to create an environment where ...
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Do Book Clubs Work with Whole Class Novels?
Can you effectively engage students in a book club if you are required to teach a specific class novel? Yes, Yes, Yes!!!! In fact, you might find that students get more out of the class novel when it’s presented in book club format.
I’ve heard many times that “I would love to try book club, but ...
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FIVE More Reasons to add Book Clubs to your Secondary ELA Class
If my last post didn’t convince you to try book clubs in your secondary ELA class, here are five additional reasons to consider!
As you can see, I’m very passionate about adding book clubs as a strategy in secondary ELA. I have found no other reading strategy as successful as book clubs. ...
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Our First Bump in the Road
Welcome to another first Friday Bonus - tales of my online teaching journey. If you recall from last month I accepted a job in my current district teaching in their new online program - a way to reimagine what school looks like. Since my district doesn’t start back until the middle of ...
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