Hey there!  I’m Heather Renz and I’m sharing the teaching strategies, ideas, hints, and tips that worked for me with upper elementary students so you can make your lessons challenging, rigorous and exciting.

When students are actively engaged and taking charge of their learning, you are doing less classroom behavior management and more teaching.

Teaching 4/5 and 5/6 blended classes caused me to think differently about how to meet the needs of both grade levels plus meet the individual needs of all my students.  I needed to get my students actively involved working on projects so I could meet with the student groups without being interrupted by the other group. That’s when I began creating projects that fostered independence.

Lessons have to be fun and scaffolded for success.  You’ll get behavior problems when students don’t understand the task, or when it’s too difficult.  Your struggling learners also need to be successful while you’re meeting with groups of students.  Using projects and activities was the key to my success with students!

I am giving back by sharing what worked for me with you.

My ideas and tips plus teacher teacher file cabinet website collection is NO STRINGS ATTACHED and you will NEVER see me trying to email market to you.  If you love what I do, great!  I’m happy to help.

Just for Fun ~ Me By the Numbers:

• Grades Taught:  1, 4, 5, 6, 7-8 math, 9-12 computers, District Academic Achievement Specialist
• Number of Years Taught:  34 in Oregon public schools
• Favorite Grades to Teach:  4th and 5th
• Approx. Number of Students Taught:  1, 800 students
• School Districts Taught In:  3
• Schools Taught In:  7
• Number of Principals Worked For:  10
• Number of Higher Educational Degrees:  2  (B.A. and M.A.T)

Teaching Honors and Recognitions:

• Disney Teacher Award Honoree, 2006
• Microsoft’s First Worldwide Innovative USA Teacher, 2005
• Intel Innovative Teacher, 2002
• Dr. Bob Ballard’s JASON Project Teacher Argonaut, Panama Expedition, 2004
• Mount Vernon Teachers Institute Recipient from Oregon, 2010
• Mount Vernon Lesson Plan of the Year, 2010
• OnPoint Credit Union Excellence in Education Award, 2011
• Featured in the book, One-On-One with America’s Most Inspiring Teachers, 2011
• Featured in the book, Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times, 2004
• Redmond Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year, 2003

So that’s a bit about me.

P.S.  This is my old Blogger blog site.