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Archives for March 2017

Seven ways to stretch your book-buying dollars to build your classroom library

 • Classroom Tips

Acquiring books for your classroom library can be both expensive and time-consuming. The spring and summer months, though, offer some great opportunities to stock up!

Tip 1: Shop during Teacher Appreciation Days

Most bookstores, whether chain or independent, offer special days several times a year with bigger than normal discounts for teachers. These discounts frequently occur in the spring and summer, so this is a great time to purchase new books. Many stores, like Barnes and Noble, will offer as much as 25 percent off. While that’s generous, sometimes it’s still not the best deal on new hardbacks (Amazon beats nearly everyone on most hardback copies), but paperbacks are typically a great bargain.

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Using the ARC system for lesson plans and unit materials creates organization

 • Classroom Tips

Have you ever struggled to stay organized at school?

I’ve finally found an amazing solution for keeping my brainstorming sheets, monthly calendars, planbook, and unit materials organized and user-friendly. The best part? It’s an all-in-one system. The Arc organizational notebooks at Staples use discs (available in several sizes) to hold leather or acrylic covers in which materials can be easily inserted and removed as needed….
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How to handle teaching dystopian novels in today’s political climate

 • Issues in Education

When reality mirrors fiction, how do we keep from being political in the classroom?

My 8th grade students just finished a reading unit in which they read a mix of dystopian novels in literature circles. They were tasked with analyzing the social and political issues in their books and then making comparisons between their own novels and supplemental texts, such as the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. Their summative assessment essay question asked them how the author of their book and Vonnegut used their texts to examine elements in our own society. How does that not open up a discussion of current political topics in the news this year?

Since the presidential inauguration, sales of classic dystopian books, such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, have become bestsellers again. Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway’s use of the term “alternative facts” to refer to false statements the administration made has led to comparisons between the dystopian societies and our current government. As a result, teachers are left in dangerous territory where it’s easy to cross a political line in trying to make reading relevant to students’ changing world….
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