Maniacs in the Middle - A Teaching Blog by Josie Bensko

Josie April 19, 2020

How to Play Review Games Remotely with Your Students

Each week, I have an open Google Meet session with my students. Every teacher on my team is assigned a different day of the week so that every day the students can meet with a different teacher. This is NOT required & is just a time for them to ask questions, get feedback, hangout, and honestly just socialize with their classmates. We have around 140 students on our team and we have around 25 students show up to our virtual meetings. This is just reality! I have tried to have a plan of attack so it’s not just 30 minutes…

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Josie April 13, 2020

10 Tips to Start a Teacher Instagram

So You Want To Start a Teacher Instagram… Many people in my personal life have started teacher Instagrams after seeing my journey. These are the exact tips I have told every single one of them. You’re in on the secrets! My Instagram Journey Let’s go back to June 2016. I had just finished my first year of teaching. I was living with two of my best friends (Kelli & Lisa) who had also just finished their first year of teaching. This was the beginning of the teacher Instagram take-off. We were following two teachers, Hannah West (@misswestbest) & Brittany Briggs…

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Josie April 5, 2020

Everyday Teacher Makeup

Let me start by saying a couple of things. First, I am NOT a beauty expert!!! I am just a girl who loves makeup & has watched hours of Youtube videos. I find doing my makeup therapeutic & kind of like art. I enjoy waking up early, drinking my coffee, & listening to a podcast as I do my makeup in the morning. Second, I know this is a lot of products! This is what I like & what works for me! If you don’t wear makeup to school, good for you! If you wear makeup to school, good for…

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Josie April 4, 2020

My E-Learning Adventure: Week 1

I first want to start by saying I am NOT an expert! (Frankly, none of us are!) We are all navigating this for the first time and we are all doing the best that we can for our students. This post is all about things I have learned from the past week. This includes tips, tricks, lessons after failure, & a couple of products I have been loving! I just wanted to share my experience after my first week! I also know that SO MANY of you are getting ready to start week 4 of e-learning! Major props to you!…

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Josie March 18, 2020

Online Science Resources

Hey teachers! I don’t even know where to begin. My emotions are all over the place. I haven’t been to school in two days and I am going crazy. I miss my students, my coworkers, my routines, and everything else that is taken away from us for the safety of everyone! I live in Illinois and the governor declared no school from March 17-March 30th. Our district has declared these “Act of God” days, meaning we will not be making these up. These are NOT e-learning days either. We have not heard if or when we will be doing e-learning,…

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