I read a social media post the other day that made me stop and think for a moment. I don't recall the exact quote but the educator posting was basically saying that children can only learn from teachers they like. At first glance, I thought, "Yeah, I can see her point there". But of course my brain didn't just stop there. I started thinking of all the teachers I learned from the most. I know for a fact that I did not like my 7th grade Social Studies teacher. But when I think back to her methods and what her students didn't like about her was that she taught them how to be organized, to make their notes visually effective, to not let their learning be distracted by chewing gum, or sitting wherever they chose in the class. Yes, she was strict and you didn't mess around in her class. I didn't like her but I did great in her class. I still organize my binders in a similar way to what she taught me. I color-code when teaching. In fact, it is a practice I rely on to help visual learners differentiate spelling patterns. I liked all of my other teachers, so maybe Ms. Allen was an exception to the rule. I loved school and even if I didn't like everything about a teacher's class, I knew they cared, and I think that's what matters more than being liked. If a child knows you care, they are open to learning from you and taking some risks. I agree that students engage more with teachers they like. But engagement doesn't equal learning does it? The class could engage in "fun Friday" games every week but that doesn't mean they are learning more than students in classes who don't. What do you think? Can students learn from teachers they don't like?

It has come to my attention that some members have received unsolicited DMs. If this happens to you, please screenshot the message and report it to me right away. So now we have an additional rule: Do not DM members to pitch, sell, recruit, or promote anything unless they explicitly asked you to. If you want to share a resource, post it in the group so everyone benefits. Members who ignore this will be removed.

Echo reading is a structured literacy strategy where a skilled reader (teacher/parent/tutor) reads a short chunk of text aloud with great pacing, expression, and accuracy—then the student immediately echoes the exact same words back. Why it works - Builds fluency (smooth, accurate reading) - Improves prosody (expression + phrasing) - Boosts confidence for emerging or struggling readers - Supports comprehension because the brain isn’t working overtime decoding every word How to do it (simple) - You read one sentence or phrase with strong expression. - Student reads the same segment right after you. - Repeat, keeping chunks short and successful. Try it with a short paragraph. Thirty seconds at a time beats a 30-minute struggle!

Encourage the student to improve their reading comprehension by visualizing what they are reading. Explain that this is thinking in pictures, like making a movie. Select a paragraph that uses descriptive language and is at an appropriate reading level. After the student has read the content, ask what images come to mind.

Here's an intervention for spellers who are frustrated with words that don't follow the rules. I usually add one or two of these to each week's spelling list as "bonus words" or "challenge words". Explain to the student that irregular, or exception words have a part that doesn’t follow the usual sound-symbol correspondence rules. Many common words like said, are, and was, are examples. Draw attention to the irregular part of a word by writing the letters larger and/or using a different color. For example, in the word said, print the ai larger or in a different color.