Posts by Courtney Hanes
Shifting from Persuasive Writing to Argumentative Writing: Where do you start?
By: Courtney Hanes. We are asking our students to do much more challenging and meaningful writing. There are many ways to start. In the Riverside Unified School District in California we began with purposeful argumentative essay writing.
How To Start the New School Year Feeling Fresh
A new school year is on the horizon. Here are some back to school tips to starting the school year feeling fresh and ready to rock!
Success: If We Can’t Define It, How Can We Expect It?
What would most help all students (in -- fill in your district) to be successful? How many times have you heard this question? My response is -- how do you measure success? What is success? And, how do we know we have achieved it?
Teaching Common Core Through Integrated History and Language Arts
We will walk participants through the websites to highlight how we use them in our integrated History/Language Arts model, focusing specifically on the Zoot Suit Riots and Scopes Monkey Trial. As an English teacher, it is my responsibility to support literacy across the disciplines. If History is an account of the past, Language Arts is how we tell the stories.
Teaching the Common Core Standards Means Designing Real and Engaging Learning Experiences
Regardless of what you call it, good teaching is good teaching. The Common Core Standards are not new when you look at them carefully. They are refreshing. There, I’ve said it.
Riverside Unified School District Gooru Pilot Project
RUSD has created small pilot groups consisting of teachers and Instructional Services Specialists that will assist in supporting and training teachers to integrate technology into the classroom, and contribute to the RUSD “Build Your Own School” initiative.
What is the Problem With Professional Development?
Courtney Hanes explains the idea of shifting from professional development to professional growth.
Creating Curriculum with Meaning and Purpose
I have come to realize when it comes to curriculum, nothing is more important than the child, and the willingness to remain flexible with the planning process. This creative process is art, and contributes to what Seth Godin refers to as becoming indispensable in his twelfth book, Linchpin.
What Guides Your Work? And, Why Do You Teach What You Teach?
In my last post, Why do you teach? And, why do you stay?, I hoped to start a conversation about teaching -- why in the world are we here, and what keeps us here? I now want to look at what guides our work, and why we teach what we teach. For most of my teaching career, I did not know why I taught what I taught, or I thought I knew, but didn’t.
Why do you teach? And, why do you stay?
Some enter the teaching profession because of an amazing teacher, or several amazing teachers. Some feel teaching is simply what they were meant to do. Some become teachers to contribute to the common good. Others become teachers because of one, or many, bad experiences.