Branching Out Educational Consultants
This time of year is notorious for bogging teachers down. I remember thinking, middle of October, “I have how many more months of this??!!” Time seems to stand still mid-fall. The excitement of the new year has worn off considerably, … Continued
My first year of teaching was a complete train wreck. In fact, the phrase, “train wreck,” doesn’t even begin to describe how lost I was as a teacher. I had just graduated college, moved to a new city, and entered … Continued
In my 4th year of teaching 4th grade, I had a whiteboard prompt that asked, “What would make school better for you?” One student’s response was, “Having a school newspaper.” Once I read his response, I knew that I had … Continued
To answer before listening, that is folly and shame. -Proverbs 18:13 The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out. -Proverbs 18:15 Speaking and listening are essential components to a student’s … Continued
As a teacher, I found that I often wrestled with wanting to create opportunities for critical thinking, but feeling like the planning of it took more out of my critical thinking stores than the students’! If you’ve felt this way, … Continued
Ideas from teachers Rachael Peterson and Beth Edwards. It’s that time of year where droves of college students step into a classroom to begin their student teaching. This experience can either make or break a future teacher’s desire to … Continued
Happy January and 2024! As a teacher, it always amazed me how quickly January would arrive. I remember setting up my classroom in the summer thinking, “January is so far away! There’s so much to do between now and then” … Continued
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, “Come with me … Continued
Readers are writers and writers are readers. I love a good idea map and a quality mentor text! As a former writing teacher, idea maps and mentor texts were paramount to my writing instruction. What better way to become … Continued
Having grown up in Christian education, I am all too familiar with the pros and cons of Biblical integration (applying Biblical truths to academic subjects). Sometimes, it was diagraming a verse in grammar (a con) or it was asking ourselves, … Continued
