ERIN SPONAUGLE

Silly season is officially upon us, and your supplies are feeling it. Here's how to get through the rest of the year with your materials and your sanity mostly intact.You know what nobody told you when you decided to become a teacher? That one day you'd watch a kid casually snap a brand new colored pencil in half, stare directly at you, and then shrug. And you'd have to decide in real time whether to address it or just keep teaching because you have fourteen more things to co

First of all, everybody is tired. Your students, their parents, your coworkers, you. The third quarter of the school year tends to be when the heaviest content is taught, and the most work is piled on, which means kids who are already struggling to keep up are hitting a wall right about now. When someone is overloaded and their executive function is running on fumes, things come out of their mouths that probably shouldn't. We're not that different, honestly. We just have

When our students don't do their work, we can't see what they know. We can't give them feedback. We can't tell if they're ready for the next level of content, and we can't make the professional judgment we're being paid to make about their progress. That's frustrating on a purely practical level. few things in the classroom will get to you faster than planning a solid lesson, designing an assignment that actually gives you something to work with, and then watching the work n

Teachers can't be the only ones our students learn from. Standing up there every day, pouring everything we know into a room full of kids while they absorb it passively from their seats, or worse, from their iPads, is a fast track to being completely emptied out by October. Cooperative learning shifts that dynamic. When students work together, they teach each other, and sometimes they are honestly better at teaching certain things to one another than we are.

If you are a teacher in the United States right now, you already know what I'm about to say. The things our students are seeing in the news or right outside the front doors of their own homes are heavy. Every time you check the news, it feels like we are teaching in a time of tragedy or crisis. They involve real people's safety, real families, and real fear. And those same students are walking through your classroom door every morning carrying all of it, whether or not you ca

But here we are. We’re getting ready to start a new semester, and today I want to talk about something that always feels bigger than people admit: transitioning back into school after break and setting our students and ourselves up for a stronger second half of the year. If you're feeling a little sad or anxious about going back right now, I want you to hear this first: that feeling doesn't mean something is wrong with you. It actually makes a lot of sense. Over the past

Students repeating sounds like “6-7,” “sigma,” or random noises can derail learning and teacher well-being. Learn why it happens and practical classroom strategies to stop disruptive noise and protect your peace.

Are your students acting out and harder to manage around the holidays? In this article, you'll learn the reasons why students have more behavior issues around holidays and breaks, and strategies for teachers to keep the classroom calm and focused.

Parent-teacher conferences don't have to cost you extra stress. Read this guide for ideas, checklists, and answers to questions that can keep your parent-teacher conference from being a successful experience.

If you’re asking yourself, "Should I quit teaching?" it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re paying attention. The truth is, many teachers reach this point—especially in their first few years—but also veterans who’ve been in the classroom for decades. You might be a Teachaholic.

Let’s talk about the not-so-subtle signs that your teacher boundaries have gone missing—and what to do about it. Even if you love teaching, if your job is consuming every ounce of your time and energy, it’s only a matter of time before resentment creeps in.

Teacher Burnout doesn’t just “happen.” There are warning signs—physical, mental, and emotional—that show up first. And recognizing them early can help you take back control before teaching drains the life out of you.

Transform your classroom economy system with a bulletin board that motivates, manages, and makes “cents.” Learn how to set it up, display it, and get student buy-in from day one!

Discover 3 powerful reasons to start a classroom store as part of your classroom economy system. Create a behavior management strategy that works — and keeps your sanity intact!

A classroom economy system is an effective and engaging method for behavior management in the upper elementary classroom. Learn how a classroom economy can motivate students and improve the classroom learning environment in this article.

Is student behavior out of control in your classroom? Here are three effective ways teachers can handle disruptive student behavior.

Back to school means teachers start to feel overwhelmed about the year ahead. Learn what needs to be every teacher's priority here.

Meet the Teacher Night is your chance to introduce students and parents to your classroom for the first time. Learn what matters most here.

These six classroom set up hacks for back to school help you save time and get your upper elementary classroom ready for back to school.

Adding these three statements to your behavior management plan as you head back to school will help you redirect student behaviors quickly.