Thursday, November 28, 2013

It's that time of year again! Everyone's looking for a great sale. Just through tomorrow, all products in my Teachers Pay Teachers store is on sale. View my store at www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/martha-hach Like my products, follow my store to receive notice when I post more classroom items.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Newest Creation

One of my newest teaching creation is my Character Questioning Tags. I'm uber excited to use these with my students! I'm hoping to use these with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." We're already focusing on character analysis, and these questions will make them go back to the text to support their ideas.
My "Character Questioning Tags" are available in my store. www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Martha-Hach Happy teaching! Martha

I love my job!

Can I just say that I love my job? I haven't been able to say that for the past few years, but I have fallen in love with the small, rural, private school that God led me to this year! Yes, I'm still busy with preparing for another "first" (first year at a new school with new curriculum). If you're a teacher, you know what that means - starting from scratch, again. But, I'm happy. I have the freedom to teach, to create lesson plans that engage my students and teach them to think for themselves, and the freedom to talk with them about what really matters in life: their relationship with God. Right now, I'm having a blast teaching reading. We're reading C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Most of my students have already seen the movie, and some have read the book. I thought about not reading it, but then realized that my students haven't discussed the book - discussed the characters and their motives, discussed the differences and connections between the external and internal conflicts, and, most importantly, haven't discussed the obvious symbolism that Lewis intended the reader to pick up on - the Gospel! So, we're traveling through Narnia with Peter, Susan, and Lucy, searching for their lost brother, Edmund, and hoping with them that Aslan can save Edmund and set Narnia back to its original state. My kids can't wait for reading! Another "job" that I love is my "curriculum designer" job. I have an online teacher's store (www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/Martha-Hach). I've thoroughly enjoyed creating my own units and posters and games and... (the list could go on). Most of these things I use in my classroom, many on a daily basis. My unit plans for "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" will be posted on their soon. God's used this store as a blessing to my husband and I. Making me think more about a Curriculum and Development degree, but with Common Core and all that goes with it right now, I'm not sure (that's for another "soap box" post). I plan on updating about what I'm doing in my class often. Hope my love for teaching helps you love what you're doing. Life's too short to do something that we don't feel passionate about.