Empire High School Safety PSA

EHS staff and a special guest, Shaquille O’neal, have teamed up to give students a visual for safety expectations that students will need to adhere to while on campus. We tried to have fun with it, yet be informative. That said, no Oscars will be awarded for any of the acting…

Levels of Questions Reading Strategy (FREE)

Levels of Questions (Open via TPT)

***This works with any text. It’s a strategy I learned while in PD at Empire High School. I’ve been using it for years, and it engages students while keeping them accountable during the reading of a text. I’ve used this strategy when teaching 9th, 10th, and 12th grade.

 

****Levels of Questions (LOQs) is a reading and critical thinking strategy to drive discussions with student-based personal question/answer. The strategy Levels of Questions is structured around Questions for Critical Thinking via Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Student Artwork

I asked one of my former students to paint a picture for me. She just dropped it off, and she went above and beyond. Always support teen talent!

FREE Teaching Resources

After about three years, I’ve decided to reactivate the blog. The blog will be used for several of the following purposes: offering educational resources, posting about miscellaneous educational topics, and I’m not quite sure what else. I figured I would start off by sharing a few free resources. Who doesn’t like free? 

There are 9 free teaching resources, below, that I’d like to share with others. The only request that I will make is that if you find them useful, share them with others. You’re able to directly go to each individual resource, below, by clicking on the title, or you may view all of them on my TPT Store. I also have over 30 resources for sale… Enjoy!

The Reversal via iTunes + Amazon

The Reversal via iTunes

The Reversal via Amazon – paperback + digital

This is a story about a country boy from rural South Jersey who fought hard to overcome poverty and low academic standing by reversing his life’s circumstances. After earning his college degree, he became a social studies teacher, head wrestling coach, and school administrator. He spent over three decades reversing lives of many other young men throughout the country. With a few good people in your life, it’s amazing what a student can accomplish many times over against all odds.

The book will be available for digital download on iTunes via iBooks. This book is also available for download & paperback order via KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

Senior Memoir Project

 

Purchase via TPT Store

Task Summary: This is the last quarter of senior year in high school, and it’s time to reflect upon all the memories as students transition into the next phase of life… Students will be writing a book called a Senior Memoir. It will consist of student’s memories and thoughts from their entire life.

– It’s highly recommended that students read This I Believe Essays in conjunction with this assignment. There are selected essays that are included in this project zip file.

– A grading rubric is included.

– A memoir chapter example is included.

Elements of Hip Hop Unit (Literature+)

• For Sale via TPT

Unit Description: This unit will introduce students to various elements of Hip-Hop culture that include but is not limited to the following: art, fashion, emceeing, music appreciation, and politics. Enrichment will take place through various forms of discussion that will be facilitated via informational text, literature, poetry, music videos, video documentaries, etc.

Students will infuse social elements of Hip Hop that will give them a chance to work on mastery level academic skills that include but are not limited to listening + speaking, critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing. I think it’d be an interesting concept to infuse Hip Hop music in with the following critical thinking activities:  Socratic Seminars, Levels of Questions, OPTIC Strategy, ECQs based on musical themes, and 5, 4, 3, 2 + 1 Discussion. 

Summer Shoe Contest

– Open Google Doc for details

Students will have the opportunity to win these pair of all leather size 10.5 Air Force Ones. A little extrinsic reward for extra motivation, you bet… These shoes will be earned by any summer program student that wishes to participate. Participation is not required, but it is highly recommended even if you can’t fit the shoes. Once you’ve earned the shoes, you can do what you wish with them.

 

Here are the details about how to earn them on June 19th.