All Posts

Like most years, my students seem to believe that the learning ends in my classroom about a week before the end of classes arrives. Sadly (but fortunately!) for them, this is definitely not the case. I am most assuredly a "to the last drop" kind of teacher when it comes to using all of the instructional time. Nothing perked my students up more than uttering those 2 words (competition and prizes!) as I explained the project!

A quick brain break turned into an engaging activity to bring in new readers!

This collaborative activity had my students practicing their writing without the hassle!

Improving education quality is a continuous, deliberate effort. It isn’t a guessing game, nor is it a corporate box-checking exercise. In my years as an English teacher, Head of Department, and Academic Manager, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges schools face in truly understanding how well they are serving their students. When school evaluations come around (such as our recent reviews by the Swedish School Inspectorate) success doesn't come from luck. It comes from having cl

Why Team English works and what teachers are saying.

"Miss... no offense, but why are we doing this?" Sometimes students are afraid to ask this question because they're worried that they'll offend me and my planning, but this is such a wonderful question to be asked. Understanding why we are doing something is not only valuable for their understanding, but so important for student motivation.

Recently, I was invited by the Head Office for our schools to be a guest speaker for their internal leadership course for Assistant Principal and Principal candidates from across all of our schools in Sweden. Having had the pleasure of running professional development before, I felt that even though I had never been a principal - I knew what my audience of professionals wanted to know: what I learned through my experience that would be applicable to them as leaders, and als

Since we received superior results on not one, but two inspections from the Swedish School Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen), several other schools have reached out to us to tour our school, observe our classes, and talk to our teachers for inspiration and support with their own routines.

Our school recently had the pleasure of welcoming back cooperative learning expert Jennie Wilson for a professional development session. The start of the school year is the perfect time to rethink old strategies, and infuse the classroom with new ones, and as usual, Jennie and my colleagues really got my brain working on ways to enhance the experience of my students. As an educator, I am constantly seeking strategies that not only improve academic performance but also cultiva

A brain break, in my definition at least, is a 5 or so minute activity that breaks them away from what we were working on, and gives their brain a rest. The activity can be wholly unrelated to what we are learning, or not. The main point is to do something else.

This year I'm lucky enough to be teaching year 9 students who I had when they were in year 7, and it's so exciting to see how much they have matured over the years. This week we set ourselves up for success by...

Generally, when students arrive at our school they have at least some knowledge of English. This year, we have a new challenge in that some students are coming to us without the ability to speak English or Swedish at all. This year, we have a new challenge in that some students are coming to us without the ability to speak English or Swedish at all.

The new school year is starting, and the second book in the Team English series has been published! Meanwhile, fourth graders at my school are using Team English A for the first time this year!