Veteran educator Cheryl Mizerny is surrounded by committed teachers, but she knows that even the most well-intentioned can fall into bad habits that may make some students dread coming to their class. She shares the warning signs of five problem behaviors.
Expeditionary Learning’s free open-source curriculum is framed by Topics, Targets, Texts & Tasks. Co-designer Cheryl Dobbertin shares insights gained during the crowd-sourced development phase, arguing that inquiry learning begins with compelling curriculum.
Reading Linda Rief’s Read Write Teach is like sharing coffee with a master teacher. Her experience, advice and inspiration make it feel like a very helpful conversation. Reviewer Tyler McBride tries one of her activities and shares the successful results.
Kids on the Cusp / Teaching writing
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 03/11/2015 · Last modified 12/01/2019
Looking for a “standardized writing prompt” that will really engage her students, Mary Tarashuk hits upon favorite essayist Andy Rooney and his reflection on a favorite teacher, then fashions a multi-day practice assessment to get her 4th graders thinking and writing.
Urban ELA teacher Mackenzie Grate found mock trials to be the perfect vehicle to encourage reading, teach speaking & listening, and prepare her 6th graders for their first argumentative writing essay. How-to tips, downloads and lessons learned included.
In this brisk book in ASCD’s Arias series, Jane Bluestein reviews 7 popular classroom management practices that don’t work and then offers teacher behaviors that can build a positive learning environment. Reviewer Angie Grimes finds the 43-page book “short, sweet, and to the point.”
The authors of “Blended” clearly know their stuff, says principal/reviewer Matt Renwick, providing multiple examples of blended learning supported by technology. But Renwick questions the heavy corporate focus and one-sided citations he finds pervade the text.
Kids on the Cusp / Standardized Testing
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 02/26/2015 · Last modified 11/15/2019
Teacher Mary Tarashuk has reasserted her “Irish Zen” following the full frontal assault on PARCC testing in her last post. She describes how her fourth graders had fun learning about Chinese New Year while also practicing for the high stakes test in prescribed ways.
In “59 Reasons to Write” Kate Messner shifts from teaching writers workshop and writing books for tweens to helping teachers build their own writing skills, assisted by more than 30 published authors. Reviewer Wendy Moore plans to try out their strategies.
Book Reviews / Narrative for Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 02/19/2015 · Last modified 11/14/2019
Thomas Newkirk makes a convincing argument in Minds Made for Stories that narrative is the framework for all good learning experiences, says teacher-reviewer Jenni Miller. This insight about storytelling can be used by teachers to help students learn and retain more in any subject.
