Blog for Brevity

The Problem By the time students reach upper elementary or middle school, many struggling readers have spent years working with the same phonics materials—often without making meaningful progress. The problem isn’t that they can’t learn to read. The problem is that many intervention materials weren’t designed for older students. Young learners may enjoy cartoon characters and primary…

If you’ve ever taught middle school students who can recite “numerator” and “denominator” but can’t explain why 1/2 is larger than 1/4, you’re not alone. After nearly twenty years teaching in a middle school self-contained special education classroom, I’ve learned that many older students don’t struggle with fractions because they “aren’t math kids.” They struggle because somewhere along the…

Do your students mix up Tuesday and Thursday? Struggle to sequence the months after July? You’re not alone. For older students in SPED, Life Skills, and intervention settings, mastering the calendar is more than a basic skill—it’s a cornerstone of independence. Yet, finding resources that are both effective and age-appropriate can be a challenge. Click below for your FREE WEEK OF…

If you teach older students in SPED, intervention, or ESL, you face a unique challenge: closing major reading gaps with materials that respect your students’ age. The scramble to find connected, multi-level, and engaging resources can eat up your precious planning time. I design complete, differentiated literacy systems to solve exactly that problem. Forget piecing together mismatched…

Finding age-appropriate phonics materials for older learners is a challenge. You need resources that respect students’ maturity while providing the explicit, structured instruction they need. That’s why I’m offering two free, comprehensive samples from my bestselling Short A line. Try a full week of lessons and a supportive word deck with zero commitment. Sample 1: A Free Week of Structured…

Let’s be honest: teaching human body systems in a diverse classroom is a challenge. Between adapting complex texts, creating engaging activities, and meeting a wide range of learning needs, it’s easy for planning time to spiral out of control. What if you could try a proven, ready-to-use lesson that does the heavy lifting for you? I’m offering a free, complete sample from my…

Do you teach older students with major reading gaps? I’m offering a FREE week of my most effective resources to help. This isn’t just a random sample—it’s a complete, connected system designed to build foundational skills without the babyish work. The key is using a simple short vowel spelling list to drive a week of integrated learning. Students see, decode, read, and use the same words across…

Transform your classroom into a serene, supportive learning space with these pastel-themed, dual-format banners—designed with Science of Reading principles, UDL (Universal Design for Learning), and structured literacy in mind! Perfect for special education (SPED), ELL/ESL students, and intervention groups, these banners feature clean, minimalist designs with two versions: words only and words…

Let’s be real—teaching fractions is challenging for most students. For years, I watched my students (especially my SPED and EL kids) glaze over at the sight of a number line or shut down at the words “mixed numbers.” The traditional drill-and-kill approach wasn’t just boring—it was leaving kids behind. So, like any stubborn unionist-turned-education-disruptor, I threw out the script and built…

The Struggle Is RealRaise your hand if you’ve ever spent hours prepping a ‘fun’ digestive system lesson… only to be met with blank stares when you say ‘villi’ or ‘peristalsis.’ You’re not alone! Teaching anatomy can feel like an uphill battle when: Diagrams in textbooks look like spaghetti diagrams Students can’t connect organs to their own lives Differentiation means creating 3 separate…

Do you feel like you’re constantly putting out behavior fires in your classroom? You give consequences, but the same issues keep happening day after day. The truth is, traditional discipline often fails because it doesn’t teach students to reflect on their actions or make better choices. That’s exactly why I created this FREE Love & Logic Behavior Reflection Sheet – a simple but powerful tool…

Multiplication fluency is one of the biggest hurdles in elementary math, but it doesn’t have to be a struggle. As a veteran special education teacher and labor activist, I know firsthand how hard it is to juggle differentiation, engagement, and skill mastery. That’s why I created a color-coded, chunking-based multiplication system designed for real classrooms, where time is short and every…

Constant productivity is draining our kids and us. Rest isn’t laziness—it’s a radical act of self-care and growth. Discover why embracing quiet in classrooms and life matters for mental health. Read more!

Photo by Jennifer Murray on Pexels.com Why Rest Is a Radical Act “Sitting quiet is a sinful activity.” That’s the message society sends us every day. If we aren’t constantly doing, producing, or achieving, we’re wasting our lives—or so we’re told. This relentless pressure to stay busy has seeped into our classrooms, workplaces, and homes. It’s no wonder mental health struggles are at an…

Every year, the majority of my self-contained sixth grade students enter my classroom unable to tell time on an analog clock.  I notice most students struggle with correctly identifying the minutes because they are confused with the hours. This  unique “sticky” teaching strategy uses two color-coded  clocks (hour clock/red and minute clock/blue).  As skills progress, the practice does too. The…

My district is a heavy user of technology and it has been a tremendous benefit for our students.  Even though our district encourages teachers to make the most of the technology, I stubbornly hung onto my classroom binder system and opted to use technology as support. I find the binder system supports executive functioning. I also found it emphasizes traditional handwritten work, which seems to…

Have the pressures of modern educational demands forced teachers and districts to abandon invaluable practices? Read my blog to find out how reintroducing a student dictionary to my classroom impacted my student's learning.

In my youth, I used to hate the condescending-sounding response “go look it up” when I’d ask how to spell a word.  Fast forward to the age of technology and I see my students struggle to spell basic words consistently or accurately.  I feel our kids have become overly-dependent on easy-to-use accessibility features like spell check, speech-to-text, etc. That over-dependence seems to have cost…