Given the high level of anxiety among teens today, teachers need to focus more on students’ need for safety. Gravity Goldberg suggests ways to use what we know about the body-brain connection to help kids experience the kind of regulation needed for any learning to happen.
Artificial Intelligence / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 05/20/2025 · Last modified 06/28/2025
Every student needs to understand AI basics, including its potential and problems. They need to be aware of current AI tools and understand how to use them. Perhaps most important, they need to understand the social and ethical issues AI can create. Anne Jolly shares ways to get students started.
Teacher Michelle Russell likes to have some short activities on hand, in case she needs to fill extra time during math class. Here she shares several fun fillers that are easy to access, don’t require prep, and increase students’ math fluency, logic skills, or number sense.
Artificial Intelligence / Artificial Intelligence / New Teacher Tips / Technology
by Curtis Chandler · Published 04/15/2025 · Last modified 05/01/2025
Just like Top Gun Maverick had to trust his jet’s tech while employing his instincts and training, teachers are learning how to fly with AI as a co-pilot. The responsibility lies with us to adjust AI’s suggestions. Curtis Chandler offers dozens of teacher-tested prompts to get started.
By revealing and humanizing stories from the past, historical fiction fosters curiosity, inspires empathy, stimulates critical thinking, and helps develop understanding of complex issues. Kasey Short shares questions, activities and titles to help students benefit from the genre.
Women’s history is no longer in hiding, thanks to scholars who are documenting women’s impact on society. Middle grades teachers can help their students trace that history with these resources, just updated and expanded, for Women’s History Month and beyond.
I Will Screw This Up / Real Self Care
by Dina Strasser · Published 02/08/2025 · Last modified 02/09/2025
When teacher Jay Wamsted tweeted about why and how teachers should leave school on time and not work at home or on weekends, he lit up social media as teachers took sides for and against his proposition. In Dina Strasser’s interview, Wamsted explains and expands on his thinking.
When U.S. history teacher Lauren Brown realized how little her 7th graders knew about the 50 states, she resorted to memorization. “Knowing more about our country’s geography will help students as they go on to learn its history and politics.” Elementary teachers need to help.
Creative writing exercises offer low stakes, high engagement opportunities for students to build writing skills while also having fun. Kasey Short shares a rich collection of character, plot and setting activities to help kids develop their voices as writers through the year.
Authentic STEM projects integrate technology seamlessly, so that it plays a genuine role in helping students research, solve and communicate the results of their challenge. STEM expert Anne Jolly suggests ways to include artificial intelligence tools in the learning process.
