A Teacher's Daze

"Moving on up...." "My 'Teacher's Space'" This is a simple canvas of city lights that I enhanced by using an old desk lamp with a bendable neck.  It's perfect to spotlight this scene! Growing up watching the sitcom, The Jeffersons, I couldn't help but think of this song when creating my "Big City View" or "Going Places" theme for my middle school classroom.  In fact, the theme song to this sitcom has been stuck in my head, for days.  :-D...  I find myself singing "Moving on up/ to the East side...... I finally got a piece of the pie...."  If you aren't familiar with the show, then it is hard to imagine why this song fits perfectly with the underlying idea behind this classroom theme. First, I have to admit something.  I didn't start out thinking, "Okay, I'm going to create a theme that shows big skyscrapers, bright city lights, and famous places across the world."  Actuall...

I do not pretend to know the answer to my own question.  I do not know "exactly" where to start.  What I do know is a "start" is needed; therefore, I chose to begin reading historical fiction, which is a good transition from fiction to non-fiction, in my humble opinion.   After teaching English for 22 years, it's easy to get boggled down in doing what I've always done.  It's easy to rationalize that what I've always done has brought about, for the most part, effective results.  However, it is folly to imagine that there is not room for improvement.  So, I'm beginning in a way that I see as profitable.   Most teachers will agree that the more one knows the subject matter they teach, the more effective their teaching.  There is, obviously truth to this.  It's not the only way a student learns, however.  A teacher who can whet the appetite of young readers with books and stories that appeal to their curiosity will go on to read books that t...