Core Academy

I'm not totally sure how other states are training their teachers with the new Core, but this summer Utah is gearing up for their second set of the Core Academy.  I facilitated at the last one and get to facilitate at this one as well.  The Academy this time is more advanced and will be focusing on helping teachers understand performance tasks and assessments as well as online resources for informational texts.  Utah is one of the frontrunners and has trained facilitators on a national level.  If your district or state is interested in having some facilitators come out and teach your teachers then, please let me know and I'll speak with my supervisor.  I know that we're looking at going over to Delaware, but that's all that I'm aware of.  If you live in Utah then, make sure and sign up for a session in your area.  I hope to see you there!

Holiday Unit

I'm adding a Holiday unit for middle school on Teachers Paying Teachers.  It's a fun unit for just before the Holiday Break.  The focus is on Dickens and his story A Christmas Carol.  Enjoy!

Huge sale

I will be participating during the huge sale on Teachers Pay Teachers.  The sale is on November 26th and 27th, so make sure that you get on and check out all of the great products!

Nouns/Possessives unit

Posted a Noun/Possessive mini-unit on my store. It's more for lower grades such as 5-7, but a great intro into a more complex unit. Enjoy!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/M-Hennessy

The Lightning Thief unit

I just added a knew unit plan to my teacherspayingteachers store.  The unit is a complete plan on teaching the novel The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  It's a fun, 7 week unit that's packed with a group competition, worksheets and examples, and information on the gods/goddesses to get you started.  I loved teaching this book and the kids loved it too, so go and check it out!

Poetry Lesson

I've just added a poetry lesson for the 6-8th grade band.  It's an awesome in depth unit that lasts about 2 weeks.  It incorporates all four strands of the Common Core and will be sure to help your students get a firm understanding of the required poetry.  Within this lesson I've included a performance assessment, which is what the end of level exams are going to look like.  I am one of the writers for the Smarter Balance Consortium, so I know what they look like.  Enjoy!

Narrative lesson plan

I just added a great Narrative lesson plan for the 6-8th grade band.  I also changed the pricing on my argumentative writing lesson.  I felt like teachers were going to need that for the upcoming year, so I lowered the price!  Hopefully it helps you.

Official Store site

Here is my official store site in order to find those awesome lesson plans!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/M-Hennessy

Added unit plans to teacherspayingteachers.com

I just uploaded three awesome unit plans:  Argument Writing in the Common Core, Informational Writing in the Common Core, and Short Story Writing in the Common Core.
Check them out!

Professional Development opportunities

The school district that I work for has online professional development courses that are free for teachers.  The classes are excellent and help teachers receive pay raises.  The courses usually last 3 weeks and educators receive a half credit toward semester hours.  Here's how to take some online courses:
Go to the following website:  www.davis.k12.ut.us
Click on the tab at the top that says Curriculum and Instruction
Scroll to the bottom
Click on PD Pro Online Homepage
Pick the classes that you want and register on OnTrack. 

Free Lesson!

I just posted an awesome lesson on teacherspayteachers.com that is FREE.  The lesson focuses on bringing argumentative writing into a 6-8th grade band.  The Common Core standards were used in the creation of this product.