Teaching With Inquiry

What have you learned about yourself over the last year?   It’s been an incredibly challenging year for most of us, to say the least!   In this episode, I am reflecting on my last year of teaching and sharing my thoughts on it.   Around this time last year, I decided I was in need of a change, and I reduced my teaching contract to about three days a week.    I like to change things up and get a bit uncomfortable because I find that I can get a little too complacent over time and fall into habits that aren’t always the best for me or my students. Can you relate?   I am excited to say that it is time for me to change things up again! I am sharing what’s next for me so you can experience it in real-time with me, but before I start this next chapter, I also want to take some time to reflect on the last one, so I invite you to join me.    Listen in and take a moment to reflect on the last 365 days of teaching with me!   I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram!   Show notes available at www.madlylearning.c

Do you get stressed about writing report cards? Do you wish that it didn’t take so long to do?   In today’s episode, we are talking about how you can prepare yourself to write your report cards by developing a comment bank.    We are also covering how to use this bank to write personalized comments for your students that reflect them individually and systematizing this process so that you don’t have to spend so much time and energy on your report cards.    I know that this process can be time-consuming if you don’t have a solid process down, so the purpose of this episode is to help you simplify your process.   Remember, expectations for writing report card comments vary from school board to school board, school to school, or principal to principal, so think about how this applies to your specific circumstances as you listen to this episode!    I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram!   Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/183To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our

If you don’t love IEPs, that’s okay. I don’t either!   Luckily, I am talking to someone who does in this episode!   Today’s guest, Stephanie DeLussey, is talking all about teaching students with special and complex educational needs.    She is an absolute pro at all things IEP, so she is sharing some of her best tips and resources for those of us who find them to be a bit more challenging.    Stephanie is a dual-certified special education teacher, Master IEP Coach®, children's book author, and teacher mentor. She has a passion for creating engaging, adapted resources for teachers and students with special needs, and is a self-proclaimed #datanerd. You can connect with her at Mrs. D's Corner and The Intentional IEP.   Stephanie is also a huge mental health advocate, sharing her experiences and struggles to let others know that you can survive the dark seasons and thrive in life and teaching with a mental illness.   If you hate writing IEPs or struggle to work with them, Stephanie is here to help us

Are you looking for a new teaching position? Do you need to brush up on your interview skills?   Lucky for you, I am diving into the topic of interviewing in this episode.   Mostly, I am sharing with you how I recommend prepping and applying to a new position. This is something that I have done enough times, and I feel like I have really refined my process.    I also interview candidates for Madly Learning, so I am able to give the interviewer’s perspective as well which I think you will find to be very beneficial.   Whether you are looking for a change, you’ve been forced to find a new position,  or you’re looking for your first teaching job, I want to give you my specific tips and tricks to prepare for that interview so that you can knock their socks off and get offered the job you really want.    I assure you, you will feel more prepared to land your dream teaching job after listening in to this episode.   I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram! Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/181T

Are you looking for new ways to build connections and boost the confidence of your students?    In this episode, we are talking all about morning meetings and closing circles.    If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you're in for a treat.    My friend Monica Dunbar recently wrote a book all about how to start implementing them in your classroom to increase student engagement and create a positive learning community, so she’s joining us to tell us all about it!   She breaks all of this down, makes it really practical, and gives you easy to implement activities so that you too can have fantastic, well-organized morning meetings and closing circles.   Monica is an enthusiastic educator with a passion for making connections with her students. Her love of education has led her to teach in the Canadian Arctic; creating educational materials for teachers around the world; and sharing her opinions, insights, and experiences on her blog at www.iheartgrade3.com. When she’s not in the classroom, Monica enjoy

Can I tell you a secret? In my junior classroom, I don't want a word wall.   I don't want to take up all the space that a word wall requires when there are so many things I could be putting up there.   However, there are definitely still uses for subject-specific word walls, so we are going to talk about what those might look like and how you can make word walls more appropriate for a junior classroom.    In this episode, I’ll give you some ideas for different types of word walls, and how you can make them more accessible to your students.    I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram!   Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/179To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB

Do you use inquiry in your math classroom? Perhaps you should be!   In this episode, we're going to talk about how you can use inquiry pedagogies in your math classroom to build a better math class.   We will mostly focus on the following questions:   Was your math program student-centered? Did your math program harness your students’ choice and voice? Did you support your students in learning differently based on their strengths and needs as learners? Were your tasks open-ended and allowed for the widest variety of students in your class to access the learning?    I am going to go through all of these questions in this episode and give you some ideas on how you can have more inquiry-based pedagogy in your classroom if you aren’t able to answer all of these questions with confidence!   I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram!   Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/178To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeChec

Does the thought of assessing inquiry keep you up at night?   I totally get that! There is a lot to prepare!   You might feel like you have a lot of extra work during this time because you have neglected some papers or you feel like you need to justify the marks you give by finding evidence.   The good news is that you actually don’t need to be overwhelmed by assessment!   In this episode, I am talking all about how you can assess inquiry effectively without doubling or tripling your workload.   I am going over the ideas, tips and tricks that I recommend using for assessing inquiry in your classroom, and I think you are going to get a lot of value out of them.   If you are ready to release the overwhelm and start assessing inquiry more effectively, tune in!   I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram!   Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/177To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers s

Are your inquiry-based lessons effective and engaging?   In this episode, I am walking you through the exact process that my team and I use to plan out our inquiry units for grades 3-6.    I have spent the last 8 years developing this systematic process so that you don’t have to, and I even include a downloadable to make it easier for you to get started.   I am covering why including a variety of activities is important for students, where and how to define your focus, how to decide when you will add these lessons into the curriculum and more.   After listening to this episode, you will have a better understanding of how to effectively and creatively combine curriculum expectations and inquiry units for your students!   If this is something you want to try, this episode is an awesome place to get started, so tune in!   I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram! Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/176To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www

Do you feel unprepared to teach your students coding?   You’re not alone!   When coding was added to our curriculum, I knew that I needed Dena from Miss Tech Queen to help me and all of you understand how to teach coding.   Dena has such amazing and practical ideas about how to use coding, computers and all things stem in her classroom, so she is sharing that with us today in this episode.   We cover where to start if you’re totally new to coding, how to explain coding in basic vocabulary, why you don’t need to be an expert in coding to teach it and more.   After listening to this episode, you will have a whole new level of confidence because you will be more prepared to take complicated coding language and make a practical lesson for your students.   Tune in for helpful advice and tips from Dena!   I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram!   Show notes available at www.madlylearning.com/175  To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.co

Are you having fun in your science classroom yet?  You should be!   Science is supposed to be full of problem-solving, exploration and discovery. Yet too often we simply skip all that in favour of trying to get it all done quickly using dull worksheets lesson after lesson.     Science class shouldn’t be about worksheets   So It’s time we level up our science lessons. Creating a science unit that is chock-full of a variety of lessons rooted inquiry-based learning, doesn’t have to take more time.  Stop wasting time waiting at the photocopier, managing bored kids or marking pages and pages of worksheets.  In the same amount of time, you can create an easy STEM unit that has you excited about teaching science, without additional prep, planning and marking time.  Let me walk you through some simple ideas you can use for low prep science experiments in your classroom.   If you are ready to say YES to transforming how you teach science then join me for my free workshop  Ditch Those Boring Worksheets For Good and Lev

Sometimes when teachers think of using inquiry in their classroom they think of the most impossible situation.  Something that most teachers would struggle to accomplish.   But Inquiry can be simple.   In this episode, let's look at breaking down what we think inquiry should look like and challenge our thinking to see that inquiry can be simple.  To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB

Hello, hello!   I wanted to share with you a little about my time teaching split grades (which has been the majority of my teaching career!). Unlike probably the majority of teachers I actually do enjoy teaching split grades and over the years I’ve picked up a few tips & tricks along the way to make it more enjoyable and easier!   So here are my strategies that make teaching split grades more manageableTo find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB

Hello, hello!   Today I wanted to share some ideas about leveling up your science and social studies lessons using four different methods!   Let’s get to it.   These subjects can be two of the most difficult for teachers to wrap their heads around because there's SO much content to cover. So, sometimes we think, let’s just grab a workbook so students can work through that and hit all the expectations.   Sure, you can do that and hit all the expectations. But you’ll also probably end up creating a rather boring, uninspired science and social studies program.   Luckily I’ve got four ways for you to create a fun and engaging curriculum...To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB

Hello, hello! Let’s talk today about differentiating. Specifically with ELL students. We’re gonna look at the planning, implementing, and assessing stages of your regular classroom and how you can modify and plan lessons that simply and easily integrate your ELL’s. One of the things I do not support is a complete separate program for ELLs in the classroom. These students need to be integrated as much as possible.To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB

Hey, hey! Today I wanted to talk a little about books. Particularly picture books. Or really any material we are reading in our classroom. My challenge for you is to think about fitting the literature in your room into 3 different categories: Windows Mirrors Prisms If you’re looking for more book examples go to: https://www.ml-go.com/ilbooklistTo find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB

Hello, hello! I hope everyone is having a fantastic week so far! Sooo raise your hand if you use choice boards…

  Hello, hello!   I hope you are all having a fantastic week so far! Today I wanted to talk a little about assessing student’s work in this digital world.   Most of us are probably marking or grading work that students have completed remotely. That means we may be using new tools to grade the completed work.

Hello, hello!   So, it looks like we’re in this whole remote teaching thing for the long haul. Whether that’s a month, two months, I’m not sure. But I don’t want you to wait a second longer when it comes to getting some of your time back.   That means I am going to do everything I can to support you and help make your remote teaching experience less stressful. We’re all in this together.   My guess is you’re probably spending more time prepping and planning as a remote teacher than you were in the classroom? (I can say that is definitely the case for me).   I wanted to share my 4 strategies to reduce some of the prep that you are experiencing right now. Basically, we need to make sure remote teaching doesn’t completely consume us.   Here are the 4 areas that I think are key to helping you reduce your remote teaching workload.To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook communi

This week I want to talk all about your home teaching space! Because the reality is, I think we’re going to be doing this whole remote-teaching thing for just a little bit longer. There are 3 areas we’re going to want to look at in the home classroom. Tech Space Demo Let’s jump in!To find our highly effective, time-saving resources Checkout our Madly Learning Store at www.madlylearning.com/storeCheckout our Teachers Pay Teachers storeJoin our FREE Facebook community for teachers here: https://bit.ly/IYT-FB