How to Create that Interactive Vibe

I’ve heard many teachers lament that this online instruction deal isn’t what they signed-up for, yet here we are. What …

How to Commemorate Juneteenth

Here’s my most poignant play—and it’s perfect for celebrating Juneteenth. Based on actual slave narratives, Freedom for the First Time …

Rikki Tikki Tavi

Originally published by Scholastic, here’s another of my classroom plays getting new life on TeachersPayTeachers! Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling’s classic short …

Pip & the Prisoner

When most people think about Charles Dickens’ novel, Great Expectations, they land on Miss Havisham and her creepy old mansion …

How to Celebrate the Moon Landing’s 50th Anniversary

I was seven years old when the Apollo 11 mission blasted off for the moon in mid-July of 1969. I …

Here’s Help for that Holiday Chaos!

That last week before Christmas vacation can be a real doozy. While thoughts of sugar plums may not derail that …

See the Movie. Stage the Play!

Take advantage of high student interest in the Peter Rabbit movie by enacting my read aloud play script, The Tale …

How to Create a Library Culture

One of the greatest things my mother ever did for me was regularly take me to the public library when …

Perhaps the Most Important Thing You’ll Teach This Year

It’s not my aim to be political, but no matter one’s affiliation, it’s hard to deny that racial tension has …

Teaching Grit & Resilience

Some of my colleagues were complaining recently that kids today don’t have much in the way of grit, meaning that …