LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

CEU courses open for enrollment

A Crash Course in ESL
Grasp pedagogy, policy and procedure for teaching and working with English language learners. This course provides a concise overview of strategies and best practices for all teachers, administrators, and support staff working with English language learners.
Take this course: Begins April 7.

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The First Year
Essays on the author's experiences in her first year of teaching: the mistakes she made, what she learned from them, and how she used them to become a better teacher — and how other first-year teachers can, too.
Format: book (multiple pages)
I know who they are, but who am I?
In The First Year, page 3.10
In your efforts to build relationships with your students, be sure to maintain your status as their teacher.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Noodles away
This lesson will assist students to see angle relationships and the relationship of parallel lines and transversals. This exercise is good for visual and tactile learners since it is of a concrete nature. Students of all academic levels can enjoy this.
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Mathematics)
By Melda Bullock.
Mix and match ecology: Symbiosis
In this high-school biology lesson, students gain an understanding of the three kinds of symbiotic relationships by creating relationships between imaginary animals.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 )
By MaryBeth Knight Greene.
Constructing a food web
Students will construct food chains and food webs in order to recognize the relationships between organisms.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Science)
By Lynn Pearson.
Polyhedra: Faces, edges, and verticies (3-D marshmallow models)
Students will review the names of 3 dimensional shapes, create the shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks, and find relationships among the faces, verticies, and edges of different 3-D polyhedra.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)
By Julie Little.
New beginnings
In The First Year, page 2.11
Treat January as an opportunity to start fresh, in your relationships with students and colleagues and in your classroom management and instruction.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Cause and effect writing: What it looks like and who reads it
Students examine the causes and effects presented in a brochure called “Ozone: The Good and the Bad.” They also examine the language of the brochure with regard to audience appropriateness. Students then write their own brochures examine their classmates' brochures for cause and effect and for audience appropriateness.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)
By Michelle Roberts.
Three weeks and counting: What winter break might really mean
In The First Year, page 2.9
Your students might not be looking forward to a break in their routine as much as you think.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Why inquiry?
The rationale for using discovery learning methods in teaching science.
Getting to know them
In The First Year, page 1.5
Getting to know your students as real people makes your classroom a more effective learning environment.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Connecting with colleagues: No tricks, all treat!
In The First Year, page 2.4
You're busy, but making time for conversation with colleagues will pay off in the long run.
Format: article
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
March Madness and relationship-building
In The First Year, page 3.9
Taking time away from instruction to build relationships with your students can pay off in the long run.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Creating a safe space for students to take academic risks
In The First Year, page 1.6
A classroom culture that encourages students to take academic risks starts with the teacher.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Our students: Not just ours, and not just students
In The First Year, page 3.7
Often, your difficulties with students will have nothing to do with your actions, your classroom management, or your school.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Meaningful mathematics: using balances for problem solving
Using balances to represent equations forces students to find their own meaning in mathematical problems.
By Grayson Wheatley and George E. Abshire.
Welcome back!
In The First Year, page 3.1
Many of my friends are in professions other than teaching, and one January evening I listened as one of those friends described how much he loved the first day back at work after the winter holidays. He detailed that day, depicting a slow morning devoted to...
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Communicating with parents at the beginning of the year
In The First Year, page 1.3
Start communicating with parents at the beginning of the year, to establish a relationship before you have anything negative to say.
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Picture this
In The First Year, page 4.5
I have one picture of my students that I absolutely love. In the background of the photo, you can see the west wall of our classroom. That wall was covered in positive messages I had posted throughout the year, all intended to help students stay focused and...
By Kristi Johnson Smith.
Learn to communicate
Students will try to duplicate a pattern based on verbal directions from a partner.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Healthful Living)
By Danetta Samuels.