Summer offers time for middle schoolers to select books they’ll enjoy. Media literacy facilitator Jennifer Sniadecki sees a role for picture books to engage them. Diving into several genres, she describes books that will catch their attention. Spiders and memory jars, anyone?
Educators tend to fill every moment with our voices, writes teaching coach Patty McGee. Yet the most powerful learning can happen when we are silent, making room for student-to-student communication, customized feedback, and a trusted space for students to reveal what they know.
If we can teach kids to think about their futures with more specificity and positivity, then we can have a significant impact on not only their self-image but their well-being – critical work in our anxiety-ridden, social media-saturated times, writes teacher leader Stephanie Farley.
As new teachers and other educators in schools with many struggling readers search for equitable instructional approaches that will accelerate (not remediate) student learning, metacognition and reciprocal teaching strategies can help, write Sonya Murray and Gwendolyn Turner.
As the school year ends, it’s easy for students to lose their momentum. One way to help ease students into summer mode, but still sneak in some math review, is to find engaging activities. Kathleen Palmieri shares favorites from Jo Boaler that can also be saved for fall warm-ups.
A Year for the Books is, in equal parts, about love of reading and how to organize a student-centered classroom environment for elementary and middle school students. ELA teacher Laurie Miller Hornik especially likes “Turning Beliefs about Teaching and Learning Into Actions.”
When teachers create a welcoming, safe, inclusive learning environment with their students, the chances increase that students will have a sense of belonging and “calm increase,” freeing them to learn. NBCT Elizabeth Stein shares ways to use restorative practices and UDL.
Whether you’re a recent teacher ed graduate, newly emergency certified, or an experienced teacher who’s suddenly learned you’ll be teaching STEM this year, you’re in good hands with veteran STEM teacher and curriculum designer Anne Jolly. Here are her five “do this first” tips.
Whether school leaders network using traditional methods like books and conferences or virtual solutions using social media tools and platforms, it’s vital to be a learner and to model learning in your organization. Ron Williamson and Barb Blackburn explore the PLN option.
In MATH-ish, youcubed.org co-founder Jo Boaler brings together real-world math, neuroscience, equity awareness, and classroom experiences to forge a powerful multi-faceted tool to encourage students’ collaboration and engagement, says math teacher and NBCT Kathleen Palmieri.
