Misser of the classroom. Reader. Wannabe writer. Barely blogger. Podcaster. Dormant Poet…I just know it.
A couple of years ago, I was validated and inspired by Ms. Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer. If you have not yet read this book, it is a must. Immediately after turning the last page, I went straight to my computer and tried to format and create an effective and explicit way to begin aContinue reading “Donalyn Miller: The Hero that Liberated Me”
Here we go again, people! It’s time for another school year. (For those that work at a year-round school, you might have long since settled into your classrooms. Hope it’s going well.) As I mentioned before, I have taken on a new role this year as an instructional coach. I’m currently on Day 6 andContinue reading “Welcome Back Everyone!”
My apologies to all for the lack of content and update on this blog. I had some minor, ok major, things going on in life and I just couldn’t keep up. I am happy to announce that I will be back in action committed to sharing thoughts, ideas, lessons, content, etc. on this blog. AndContinue reading “I’m Baaaaack in Action!”
The beginning of the year is full of many things, but the one thing that comes to mind for me is PAPERWORK! All of those emergency cards, contact information for mom/dad/legal guardian, email addresses, phone numbers, allergies, things the teacher should know, students’ likes and dislikes, etc. And the majority of it exists simply soContinue reading “Contacting Parents…Help!”
After being in school for a month, the time has come. Mrs. Cortez’s Book Club will officially begin next week. If you have ever thought of starting a book club with your students, just do it. Don’t hesitate. You will not be sorry. I have been running a book club for the past 5 yearsContinue reading “Book Club Begins!”
Welcome back to a new school year! I know many of you are just now getting into “school mode”, but those of us that teach at year round schools have been at it since the beginning of June. This year I am still teaching 5th grade, but a HUGE change has occurred. I am nowContinue reading “Welcome Back!”
I hope all of you lovely teachers are taking advantage of the free and wonderful videos of The Teaching Channel. If you haven’t gone to the website already, you MUST use this incredible resource. While searching the site one day, I came across a lesson called Using the SIFT Method to Analyze Literature. Continue reading “SIFTing Poems”
This year is the first year we have begun teaching novel units. Our fifth grade team (who is awesome, by the way) fundraised money and went on donorschoose.org to buy a total of ….SIX class sets of novels! So excited! The titles include the following: My first novel was The Sign of the Beaver.Continue reading “Grab your partner and READ!”
I think we can all agree that grading our students’ writing assignments is a daunting task. In the past, I’ve put it off for so long that grading it at all seems worthless because, in order to be useful, the feedback needs to be immediate–we all know that. So why is this task so difficult?Continue reading “Writing Rubrics…ugh”
Cortez Corner 