Lesson Plans

A classroom activity for sharing the work of living poets shows students that poetry isn’t a thing of the past. 

Women have often been omitted from histories, but the work of female poets can give students a needed perspective.

Three ways to use tweets to introduce students to real uses of language in a context they’re likely already familiar with.

We teachers are always looking to innovate, so, yes, it's essential that we try new things to add to our pedagogical bag of tricks. But it's important to focus on purpose and intentionality -- and not on quantity. So what really matters more than "always trying something new" is the reason behind why we do what we do.

Too many university supervisors and administrators criticize the absence of lesson closure, the activity that ends a lesson and creates a lasting impression. Like contracting your bicep at the top of a dumbbell curl, closure squeezes an extra oomph into a lesson. Find 22 closure strategies in this article by Todd Finley.

Many would agree that for inquiry to be alive and well in a classroom that, amongst other things, the teacher needs to be expert at asking strategic questions. With that in mind, if you are a new teacher or perhaps not so new but know that question-asking is an area where you'd like to grow, start tomorrow with these five ideas.

Classroom activities and resources for developing a vital character trait.

Keeping fourth graders engaged in math in the run-up to winter break is easier with this sweet project.

A lesson plan for helping students as young as kindergarten begin to understand how to be safe online.

If you’re looking for ideas for classroom pranks, these are a few of our favorite April Fool's Day resources and teaching ideas.

Because of pressure to teach bell-to-bell, many classrooms now start with bell work—short exercises that students complete while the instructor handles attendance and other administrative chores. I’ve collected several creative, practical, and entertaining exercises that can function as bell ringers or sponge activities.

A hands-on administrator asks teachers to become students for a class period and, at his prompting, model trust, academic risk taking, and camaraderie.

Students need feedback often and creating a system by rubber stamping work can provide visible and immediate proof of student progress.

I don't know about your students, but so many of mine, coupled with Senioritis, were done after state testing. With just a few precious weeks left in the school year, what do you do to keep the kids energized and on board with learning? One thing I knew for sure when it came to my high school students: They had to feel as if they weren't actually doing work. (Yep, I had to trick them.)

Look through the door of one classroom and you might see the students hunched over, not engaged, even frowning. Look through the door of another classroom, and you might see a room full of lively students, eager, engaged and participating. What is the second teacher doing that the first one isn't? He or she is using creativity in that classroom.