I hit the road once again with my social studies teammie, Mrs. Sittig, to the New York State Council of Social Studies (NYSCSS) annual conference in Albany. We had applied to present with another FMS colleague, Mrs. Cahill, and were so excited to find out our proposal was accepted.

This is the end result of one of my favorite units I do with my 7th graders. This year students brainstormed various positive messages they thought would make our school community a better place or would reinforce some of the positivity that already exists. Our school TV news will broadcast these to our entire school over the next few months (one per day). Enjoy!

The tragedy that befell Paris, France, Friday night cast a dark shadow across the globe. You could feel the collective human fear grip us all. As a mother of two young girls, I had to find a way to tune it out and protect them from the violence that was too much for their too-young ears.

Using Google Hangout to teach when you are absent.

What I learned from the break both I and my students took from blogging.

My thoughts on what it means to have a label based on test scores and how my students and I are getting through it together.

In these last days of April, I wanted to acknowledge the yin and yang that this month represents for my discipline. April is National Poetry Month, but it is also the time of year when students in grades 3-8 take their ELA and math New York State exams. The irony of this is not lost on us English teachers.

This has been a holiday season like no other. While the final week of school leading to vacation is always frenzied, this one was tinged with fear and worry. The tragedy in Newtown, CT, lead to fear and anxiety all over the country for students, parents and educators.

Power of digital storytelling and students' texts.

Student video competition that encourages New York State MS and HS students to become engaged in human rights.

What is Project Look Sharp? Project Look Sharp is a media literacy initiative of Ithaca College that develops and provides lesson plans, media materials, training, and support for the effective integration of media literacy with critical thinking into classroom curricula at all education levels.