Right now, each student in our small 4th-grade class is making a map of a different continent. We’ve been making maps since the second week of school, starting small (mapping our classroom) and expanding our focus month by month. We’ve learned about maps, and now maps are our first step toward understanding continents and cultures…
The last month and a half of the semester was a time that was heavy on reflection in my classroom. We began new units in reading in writing, which meant students had an opportunity to check-in by completing self-assessment checklists to see if and where their skills were stretched in the previous units. These itemized…
On November 18th and 19th, I went to Quaker retreat center, Pendle Hill for a retreat and training for “Educators New to Quakerism”. Thirty-three adults that work in various capacities at Quaker schools gathered together to learn the basics of Quakerism and to collaborate with one another. I’d like to share two things that I…
Every month, we reflect on a particular value as a whole school. November’s value has been gratitude and it has me thinking about what I am grateful for in my first year teaching at Chicago Friends School. I have been grateful to come to work every day and greet my students, to have the opportunity…
As a teacher of adolescents, one of the most important subjects I teach is not often considered a “subject” at all. I teach executive functioning skills. Adolescents and teens are often typecast into the role of rebels, complainers, challengers of authority, and hard to satisfy. These behaviors are normal and are often demonstrating that the…