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The One Hexagonal Thinking Template That Changed My Classroom—for the Better
You know that time of year—when everything starts to unravel a bit. Students get more restless, patience runs thinner, and the quality of work starts slipping. You’re doing more managing than teaching, and by the end of the day, you’re wiped. Sometimes a break helps, but often, it’s not enough. That’s when it’s time to…
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Make It Count: 5 Engaging Student Activities to End Big
Whether it’s the end of term or the end of the school year that is just around the corner, students can feel it—and let’s be honest, so can we. The classroom walls feel a little closer, attention spans a little shorter, and the energy a whole lot wilder. The worst part, often it can seem…
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The Ultimate Hack: Gamify Teaching Figurative Language
Teaching Figurative language is one of those things that can either be super fun or super boring to teach—it all depends on how you do it. In my classroom, I’ve learned that if I want my students to really get it, I need to go beyond the typical worksheet drills and actually get them engaged.…
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How to Foster Positive Peer Compliments in Teams
One of the key beginning-of-year goals in classrooms is to establish a positive classroom culture with strong relationships and teamwork skills. As teachers, we do all sorts of games and activities to focus on this. However, in the myriad of activities and skill development, I think two skills are often missed or underdeveloped: positive peer…
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Frustration to Breakthrough: Elevating Learning with Productive Struggle Activities
Imagine this: your students are huddled around a puzzle in your latest escape room activity. They’re frustrated, brainstorming wildly, and testing ideas. One student suggests a breakthrough idea, and suddenly, the entire group erupts in cheers. Moments like this are why productive struggle activities matter. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, serious post…
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Frustration to Triumph: The Magic of Gamified Lessons and Productive Struggle
Gamified lesson success on day three of a new school year? Yup, it happened, and it was EASY! We’re at the start of a new school year here in Australia, and with a new school year comes a whole new class. Every year I tell myself that the beginning of the year is a big…
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Unlocking Student Potential: Strengthening Teamwork Exercises in a Post-COVID World
Full disclosure here, I teach grade 5/6 so this is my first year of students who started school during Covid. So they have never known anything but the whiplash of working from home – sit in rows far apart – no group work etc. to the slow trickle return to normal. So at least half…
