Office Hour Meeting Confirmation
Thank you for creating a new meeting with me. I will get an email from Calendly, and I will send you a Google Meet link via email. At that point, please put the link on…
Author Archives: joncay
Eight Skills Every Middle-Schooler Needs
Occasionally, I find myself distracted by lists that pop up in my news or Facebook feed. There’s always a catchy title like “Twenty Places to Visit Before You Die” or “Top Ten Foods That Everyone…
Book Review Project – Fall 2016
Welcome! Thanks for writing a review that will help other people to know more about your amazing summary and comprehension skills. Writing and publishing a book review satisfies multiple Common Core standards. Here’s our new…
Change Is Good
I used to work at a school where each student needed an electronic portfolio. The teachers came together to design an idea that would make sense. Sure, we could organize it by subject area or…
About Over-Parenting…
When I read this article about the problem of over-parenting, and saw this video with a former Stanford University dean, I felt compelled to share from conversations with students and parents over the years. Every…
“Free Range Parenting” (from NYTonline)
Illustration credit: Rebekka Dunlap. I saw this article in The New York Times online, and I thought it was an interesting opinion piece. Recently, I drove through a part of San Jose near Willow Glen,…
Is Your Pencil Grip Causing Problems?
Fifteen years ago when I started teaching, it was very rare to find a student struggling with an ineffective or “incorrect” pencil grip. Lately, it seems that nearly every student is using an “incorrect” grip,…
Life Skills Matter
Every year, I begin the school year with some simple tasks to get a “read” on my students. I even give good and bad examples of how to hole punch a paper or an easy…
Past Student Perspectives
I get emails throughout the year from past students now attending various high schools or colleges or even students who are married with kids! It is my hope to share some of their thoughts to…