September 09, 2020

How do I teach Shurley English in a multi-grade classroom?

September 09, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

When I began teaching at a small private parochial school, I learned quickly that even though I was teaching two grade levels of Shurley English in the same room, there was a disparity in the way I had to instruct each level. Each group had different developmental needs and learning objectives. Along the way, I discovered a few extremely effective strategies for teaching different groups of students that I would like to share with you today.

January 15, 2020

NEW ELA Tool: The Two-Minute Tip of the Day

January 15, 2020/ Kim Shurley

Our commitment to you and your success in language arts is ongoing. A few years ago, we launched the Shurley English Blog, where our team of educators discuss trends, strategies, and tips for success. It’s all about encouragement, support, and aiding each other. It has been a true labor of love and our team is thrilled to continue the charge!

Today, we are excited to announce a new tool designed to help you and your students as you learn language arts skills: The Shurley English Two-Minute

January 09, 2020

One Giant Step—The Revision Process

January 09, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

As a teacher, you know the effortful task of teaching students about the six steps of the Writing Process. The steps should be taught and repeated so that students will always know how to communicate thoughts and ideas in competent, confident way. Now, I’d like to let you in on a little secret. As a student, I enjoyed the subject of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. I even loved journal writing. But, the truth was that I loathed formal writing. I had most of the pieces of the writing puzzle, but I didn’t know how to fill in the gaps to bring it to completion.

January 07, 2020

Starting Your Second Semester Off Right: 365 New Days!

January 07, 2020/ Contributing Blogger

As a classroom teacher, returning from holiday break was always bittersweet. On one hand, I knew the pressure for “test prep” would be more intense, but on the other hand, the satisfaction of witnessing my students grow into wiser beings put a validating smile on my face.

I imagine my students felt similar…a little anxious about getting refocused on learning and the routines of school-life, but excited to be around their friends and completing another school year.

The New Year seems to offer people a clean slate or a fresh start from which to begin another 365 days of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. Celebrations with family and friends, eating delicious food, watching the “ball” drop with flashy fireworks, and reevaluating the past or creating resolutions for the next 365 days is how most Americans bring in the New Year. Why not create a New Year’s Celebration in your classroom? It’s an ideal time to celebrate your students’ academic growth and invite them to reexamine their goals. (Food, fireworks, family, and a shiny ball are all optional.) Here are two ways you can bring in the New Year with positivity and possibility.

December 18, 2019

Are you meeting your students' needs?

December 18, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

Today’s classroom teacher wears many hats, and that’s a fact. Not only are they responsible to help children develop and improve their literacy, mathematic, and social science skills, they must also evaluate student progress and performance along the way. To be upfront, I’m not just talking about grades for the aforementioned subject areas. I’m talking about an assessment that goes much deeper.

On a daily basis, classroom teachers must

December 13, 2019

Teaching Word Choice: Skills for day-to-day life

December 13, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

As teachers, the concept of “word choice” is common language in classrooms around the United States. Careful word choice is the key to effective writing and speaking. Selecting appropriate and precise words helps to increase the impact you have on your audience. Ideally, this is what teachers try to convey to their students at each grade level, but a child’s learning continues

November 26, 2019

The Importance of Word Choice…in Life

November 26, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can change your brain.” Wait a second, that’s not how I learned it! Many of us grew up reciting some version of this common idiom, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” This childhood chant means that hurtful words cannot cause any physical pain and thus will be ignored. I will speculate and say that as we grew older, we all learned that this chant is not true; words can and do hurt; they can actually change your brain!

Have you ever been on the receiving end of someone’s

November 19, 2019

How to Spell Well: Tips and tricks for spelling success

November 19, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

Would you agree that teaching spelling should be an all-day/every-day job?! We all know that opportunities to teach quick spelling lessons arise frequently throughout the day. But, all too often, we miss these teachable moments!

Research on spelling shows that for decades, the common approach to teach spelling centered on rote memorization with a heavy emphasis on visual learning. But, the research shows that spelling can be improved by

October 31, 2019

How to Implement Correct Reading Techniques

October 31, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

Today, I’ve decided to write to you, the adult reader, about a topic that most of us take for granted: Reading. I’ve chosen this topic because improving reading skills is not just a concern for students only! We all need to practice. The truth is that your reading ability may be more important to you after you have completed your formal education.

Here’s the thing. Reading isn’t just for pleasure. In fact, reading all kinds of written material and processing the information quickly is part of our daily lives at work, at home, and everywhere in between. The scary part is that you don’t always have much time, yet it’s important to interpret many of these written messages with accuracy. So, what can you do about it? I’d like to give you just a couple of tips. First, you can start by

October 16, 2019

The Joy in Play—Benefits of Unstructured Fun

October 16, 2019/ Contributing Blogger

In previous blogs, we’ve discussed the benefits of taking some time to slow down, relax, meditate, and focus on being more of a human-being rather than a human-doing. For teachers and students alike, that all seems easy to do during the summer months, but how do you avoid getting sucked into the busyness of being that human that is always “doing” during the school year? …“PLAYTIME” might just be the answer for both you and your students.

I recently read an interesting article in a local health magazine that focused on why children need unstructured fun in their lives. Trust me, I don’t need to be convinced that playtime-fun is beneficial to human development, but I wanted to read what the experts had to say. Play was described as