Everything you learned about teaching, you learned in Kindergarten. Explicit instructions, patience, manners and more. Channel your inner Kindergartner and bring your teaching to the next level.

Arriving early, leaving late -- what is your preparation routine to make the most of classroom instructional time while maintaining a reasonable personal balance of work and home life?

From handshakes to interview questions and communications skills to leadership oppportunities, there are many ways to prepare students for the real world, no matter the grade level. How to connect the classroom to the world.

Its easy to blame the pandemic for every current classroom challenge, but the reality is most of these challenges have been present for a long time. Becoming more deliberate in helping students improve their working memory with consistency, multi-sensory cues, and other techniques can go a long way to make the classroom "normal" again.

As the adult in the room and subject matter experts, it's easy to make teaching all about the teacher, but students surprise us every day with their insights, gifts and talents. Finding ways to connect with every student -- even the tough ones -- can open the door to not only inspiration, but lifelong impact through recognition and strength-based learning.

Every teacher has a unique, go-to lesson or activity to capture the imagination of their students and many times it can involve animals or insects. Tapping into God's creations can be a powerful lesson about life, death and the environment we all need to share, but it can also lead to funny and unpredicable experiences for all!

Practice makes perfect, but so does self and peer review. How to effectively use peer to peer reviews of student writing to help everyone improve.

Assigning group work can be a recipe for disaster no matter the age of the kids. However, disciplined assignment of roles and responsibilities can successfully help students navigate this critical, real world skill set.

In a world dominated by social media and electronic communication, facilitating classroom discussion that includes peer to peer eye contact, active listening, and mutual respect can be a significant challenge as you bridge the socratic method of yesteryear with the digital habits of today.

Electives and specials can be few and far between for some Catholic schools, but there is a concerted effort to make specials a bigger priority to help elevate kids in new ways by doing new things outside traditional academics.