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Latest from the Blog

8 Photographs of Wuhan, China: A Free Resource

I wasn’t planning on writing another blog post about China but I’ve been obsessively reading and watching the news about the coronavirus that began in Wuhan, China.  Because, you see, I used to live and work in Wuhan – in the early 1990s, I spent 2 years teaching at a

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How to Make Glutinous Rice Balls for Chinese New Year

(This post was updated January 7, 2023.) Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s known in China, starts soon so I’d like to wish you Xin Nian Kuai Le — Happy New Year!  (In Mandarin, that’s pronounced: sheen nee-en kwhy luh.)  This year, Spring Festival ushers in the Year

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Happy New Year Freebie: Goals for Students!

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing vacation at the end of December and beginning of January.  As you gear up for the new decade in 2020, I would like to offer a freebie you can use with your students.  It’s traditional to make New Year

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Why You Should Teach Your Students About Impeachment

It is hard to escape politics these days.  Brexit in the United Kingdom, impeachment in the United States, democracy protests in Hong Kong, upcoming elections again in Israel, mass protests in Chile and India – all provide numerous opportunities for teachers to discuss current events with their students.  And all

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23 Books that Honor Diversity and Have Anti-Racist Themes

This is a follow-up and conclusion to my 2 previous posts about the #itstimetotalkracism campaign, which you can read HERE and HERE.  The organizer, Chrissy from Buzzing with Ms. B, has put together a list of books with anti-racist themes and books that honor diversity that teachers can use to

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Learning How to Decenter Whiteness in a TV Show

When I was asked if I’d like to participate in the #itstimetotalkracism campaign, at first I wasn’t sure what I could write about because I’d never really taught an explicit anti-racism lesson.  But after thinking about it, I realized I could present a lesson I’d implemented when I was a

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22 Helpful Anti-Racism Blog Posts for Educators

The #itstimetotalkracism campaign is a 22-day effort by teachers to help other educators and their students discuss racism, bias, and related issues.  Please click HERE to read how and why it got started.  I was honored to be invited to participate and hope you will share these blog posts and

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5 Reasons Why Round Robin Reading Is Ineffective

Learning to read is important.  So is understanding information that is read aloud.  But it is not realistic to expect students to read a text out loud in class and simultaneously comprehend what was read.  It doesn’t matter if they are the students doing the reading or they are just

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The Norsemen are Coming and so is a TpT Sale!

Spending my senior year in Sweden as an exchange student meant attending a Swedish-language high school.  I had wanted to learn another foreign language and was thrilled when offered the opportunity to go to Scandinavia because I was interested in Viking history. It was a wonderful year! A few months

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Introducing TpT ClassFund and Why You Should Use It

Have you heard of TpT ClassFund?  Read on for an explanation, links for more info, and a time-sensitive offer. Find out more HERE TpT ClassFund is a new program from TeachersPayTeachers that gives people an easy way to purchase TpT resources for educators.  There are other online programs that offer

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