March 13th was our last day of in-person school. On March 20th, I knew Fred and I would be in California for the following year. I started applying to schools in the first week of April. Before job searching, I talked to a few hiring managers to understand the current teacher market in light ofRead More
How I Prepare for a Teaching Interview
My first job interview was as a high school lifeguard/swim instructor at my local club. Luckily I was highly recommended by my swim coach because my interview skills were non existent. Since then I’ve learned a lot about interviewing and now have a toolbox of steps I always take before I head off to aRead More
How to Find a Teaching Job in a New City
Since I’ve started teaching, I’ve been in four different cities. Each time I had no idea what the schools out there were like and had to start from scratch. If you are a teacher who is moving to a new city and are unsure of how to find a job here are some of myRead More
5 Items You Need to Complete Your Home
As many of you know Fred and I have spent the last month getting adjusted to our new home in California. When we were back in Boston we bought a majority of our large furniture and now I’m working on the smaller decor items. As most millennials, I’ve been obsessed with the white/marble/gold theme. TheseRead More
How to Help Kids Beat the Summer Heat: Top Three Indoor Activities
Since I was young, the anticipation of summer break was always so strong. Now as a teacher, the anticipation is just as strong because I am finally kid-free! As a middle school math teacher, I know first hand how difficult it is to keep kids entertained and that it is not any easier during theRead More
Quick and Easy End Of Year Student Gift
I love giving gifts but at the end of the year I’m usually so overwhelmed and student gifts are the last thing on my mind. Last year, I *surprisingly* had a free moment and put together these quick and easy personalized stencil bookmarks for my students. Materials that I used: Transparent Color Light Filters RibbonRead More
Three Reasons Why Life is Good® as a Teacher
My math coach, Tricia, always talks about moments. She reminds me constantly to remember the moments, because not every day of teaching will feel like a win. To help me remember the moments, she always starts our coaching meetings by asking me to share a highlight of my week. We frequently sit in silence forRead More
Back to School MUST HAVES
Welcome to August where back to school is on EVERYONE’S mind. In a recent blog post I talked about ways to get your classroom funded for free! However I had people ask, “What do you do if the items you want are in stores and not online?” There are a few websites that allow forRead More
How to Establish Strong Routines to Increase Student Voice
After an observation my first year teaching, my principal told me, “I noticed you said ‘shh’ a lot.” Management issues aside, this piece of feedback was very indicative of my (then) idea of an ideal classroom. Over the years, I’ve learned to push the value of student voices in my classroom and added some newRead More
How to Set Up Your Whiteboard
As summer winds down, many of us are starting to plan for back to school and dreaming up what we want our classrooms to look like. (No? Just me? Okay.) In the next few blog posts, I will walk you through parts of my room. If you are like first year me and have noRead More