content knowledge – Literate Voices

Classroom Management 101: Relevance

I’ve said this many times in many ways but I believe it bears repeating. The inescapable truth is that students don’t care for content the way teachers care for content. That is, they aren’t exhilarated by the thought of a perfectly formed sentence or a flawless mathematical proof. They don’t find excitement in uncovering aContinue reading “Classroom Management 101: Relevance”

Classroom Management 101: Being Human

Yesterday as I was wrapping up a class on content literacy writing strategies, one of my credential students raised his hand. I was in a great mood, having waxed eloquent on ways to build writing into the curriculum and had them all practice implementing the strategies in their content area groups. It had been aContinue reading “Classroom Management 101: Being Human”

Student Engagement: Why Are We Learning This?

I’ve had some questions both here on the blog and in my classroom about the challenge of getting and keeping students engaged. Rigid discipline and strong armed guidance have been mentioned as a possible necessity, given middle schoolers who may be behind in reading and writing skills. While this seems like an inevitability to manyContinue reading “Student Engagement: Why Are We Learning This?”