No teacher is an island. We need each other as we navigate the thrilling and often-choppy waters of secondary education. On this channel, you'll find life preservers in the form of tips, tricks, and tons of encouragement. Whether you're a first-year teacher or a veteran, we all need practical, real-world tips to help run our classrooms.
Since 1998, I’ve shared my love of literature and writing with high school students as a classroom teacher, library education specialist, and curriculum developer. I’ve taught them all, from the highest-achieving honors student to the continuation kid on the verge of dropping out of school. What every student wants is to be inspired, to learn, and to have some fun while at school. I hope my passion for learning and for helping kids comes through in this RU-vid channel.
Keep up with me and my latest projects at linktr.ee/Laura_Randazzo. Help other teachers find me by subscribing to this channel and joining the conversation!
I'm 13 so please don't mind if this is bad: 1. I was exhausted: As I lifted the brick, every molecule in my body told me to drop it. I couldn't carry any bricks anymore, but I had to, in order to support my family. Sunlight seared through the hole in the wall, as if urging me to continue, but my arms were too weary and my eyelids drooped of sleepiness. Stop it, I told myself. If my mother had to live, if my sister deserved any place in this world, i had to continue working, I had to move on. 2. The puppy was a terror: Denvor entered his house after a long and exhausting day at work, and the first thing he noticed was dog scratches on the back of his door as if his pup wanted to get out of the house. But that would never happen. Little Bob always loved his home. But then, why were his bed covers torn, sofa pillows thrown out, and paw prints leading to his room? As he entered, he discovered a devastating mess, that included a little, wet puppy sitting on the study table, looking at him with a murderous look, snarling at him with his paw on the vase given to Denver by his mother.. 3. My friend was mad. When he saw me, his face turned pale with a mixture of fright and anger, and when i asked him what was wrong, he clenched his fist as if I challenged him to a duel to the death and screamed at me in terror, "How in the name of God do you dare to come to my house and ask my what's wrong after what you did?" 4. The substitute teacher was strange. (sorry if this disgusts you but this is all I could think of) All of the students gasped as the teacher entered the classroom, holding a dead mouse, with crawling ants biting the remains of the poor creature in his hand, the teacher taking hold of the dead body of the mouse like it was a nuclear missile, and introduced this mouse as "Jerry".
I teach woodshop to 7th-12th. The 7th and 8th graders are my favorite to teach. Challenging. But oh so rewarding if you somewhat crack the code. Woodshop is easy though. I dont have to do mental kung-fu with them like a lot of classroom teachers do.
The decoder sheet is part of the 5-minute essay grading system. More details and download page here: www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Exhausted-by-Essays-5-Minute-Essay-Grading-System-Reclaim-Your-Weekends-1134474
Hi Laura! Love your stuff! Quick question-- where do you stand on graphic novels for SSR? I'm torn in that I know graphic novels help reluctant readers and is a cool medium; however, there are significantly less words per page and many students fly through them. How have you handled this?
A couple of moves you can make. You could just eliminate them as an option, but I've found lots of books have illustrations of varying expansiveness. Another more flexible approach is to allow one graphic novel per semester, but the student has to work with you ahead of time to determine a fair page-count. Essentially, how many full pages of text do you two agree are included in that graphic novel that would be the page-number equivalent for a traditional novel? Agree on that number and your student can read it but then they'll will also need to read other books to hit the page/grade goal.
Thank you for sharing! being organized and knowing what do before entering a classroom helps the routine to flow and students to know what they are doing and what they will be doing next.
Oh my GOSH!! Please do this for grades 7-8!!!! I would give an arm and a leg!! I already do SSR and MUG Mondays but to just have it all done would be phenomenal 💕
Thank you! First year teacher here for 8th grade ELA. I’ve been so stressed about the perfect classroom setup so this makes me feel much less anxious. 😅
Yup to there is no perfect! Just looking at my colleagues, students' favourite dozen teachers or so are nothing alike in their teaching styles. Everyone has their niche to discover. That said, at the start, definitely steal everything you can from people whose teaching inspires you. Not just resources, but techniques, classroom layouts, decorations. You'll keep what works for you and shrug off what doesn't, and as you find more of what does, you'll want to build on it and create your own.
Oh my gosh, I am so thankful you said your securities that you struggle with because I always think I am the only one who hates to hear my own voice (ironically I am a singer), who has a big forehead, etc etc. So to hear you say these things makes me realize, you have those too and you are still doing what you do. I can too!!
I have watched this video before and found it very interesting. However, I didn't have the confidence to use it in class. This school year, I 'll be using it for the first time. I'm both excited and nervous! 😃😬
I love all your lessons and lesson plans. They are soooo helpful. I found you when I was assigned to teach high school English (I teach elementary now), but I use your content for my homeschooled daughter. My problem is that I like EVERYTHING but of course my daughter can't do everything. 😂😬
Lots of these tips are handy for most professionals. A note on the incident where the principal asked you to decide whether a student should be expelled: an important reason why the principal should be making those decisions is because students across the school should be held to the same standard. If the teacher who witnessed the behavior decided on whether a student was expelled, some kids would be at the school longer than they should and some would be expelled without proper cause. Having one decision maker enables a benchmark to be set.
I appreciate your honesty and insight. I'm a young Australian, and I've just graduated from university with 90k (AUD) in debt and a degree in evolutionary biology. I absolutely love what I studied and I'm obsessed with the power of education to enlighten a person's whole life. However, I've sadly had to face the hard reality of an incredible lack of jobs for my position and qualifications. I've applied to over 100 entry-level jobs already, gaining six interviews, and an astounding 0% success. I even started applying to fields unrelated to science, research etc. and still no job, except for an offer from another local supermarket stacking shelves which I already do full-time. In Australia, teachers are quitting at an alarming rate while also having it far better than the USA with pay, and so our government is pushing for more teachers. Finally, a clear, direct path into a career with support. But I've always been skeptical of teaching. Coming from a small town high school myself, I know what kids can do. My classmates threw one of our teachers into a nervous breakdown and she had to resign. I felt so sorry for her as she genuinely cared about inspiring young people. I remember finding her at a local florist after I graduated high school and seeing how scared she had become of young people and society. I apologised to her on behalf of those who had tortured her. Since then, I could never see teaching in the same light as my naive university peers who romanticised teaching. But now, I see it as a possible career. Do you think there's a chance this could be a career for me if I go in knowing mentally how hard this will be? Or should I continue finding anything else no matter how hard it is right now in the economy and skip the government support?
I appreciate your candor. Why not volunteer a few hours a week this next term at your neighborhood school as a tutor? You'll soon know with greater clarity if teaching is/isn't the next right move.
@tannia9260 1秒钟前 Hello from Kunming, Yunnan, China. I had been a ESL teacher at a public elementary school. The number of students in my class is too much than your situation. Can u imagine? There are almost 60 students in the first grade class. And my wage for doing this job is just about $600 a month. It's a horirble job!
Do you have anything that would help with sophomores who are having a challenge staying engaged. They will do the work but I would love to try something diff. Already loving your page! Feeling more confident about the coming school year!
Absolutely! Gamify your classroom culture with Quarter Trios, an ongoing class competition that resets every 9 weeks (or whatever marking period you follow.) Here's a good place to learn more: laurarandazzo.com/quarter-trios-explained/
I appreciate your nod. Yes, once students "see" the pattern, they can apply it to their own writing. Making writing instruction concrete is vital to growth.
