One Extra Degree - a literacy blog by Amanda Nickerson

       If I teach and explain everything well to my students, but don’t love, I am nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I am fluent in the latest best practices in contemporary education, but don’t have love, I am nothing– my efforts are in vain...

The older I get and the longer I work in education, the more I realize that I am a bibliophile. Bibliophile (n.) a lover of books; one who loves to read, admire, and collect books.  I am convinced that I will never read every book on my “to-read list...

When I started writing on this blog in 2010, I was a third grade self-contained teacher, and I just wanted to have a way to share my passion for literacy and give other teachers a window into my classroom.  Over the years, I switched school districts...

While playing with my son recently, I had an epiphany!  Vintage Little People are perfect for a mini-lesson on inferring.  Why?  They are fairly ambiguous, but they have features that allow us to draw conclusions about them.  Carefully consider the inferences...