Many teachers are frustrated by Common Core directions to ignore prior knowledge when teaching students to analyze texts, says literacy coach Laura Robb. She recommends a proactive approach: show students how to do it for themselves. Tips included!
Reviewer and middle grades teacher Judi Holst strongly recommends Troy Hicks’ Crafting Digital Writing to any teacher who uses writing in their classroom and is ready to more deeply engage today’s digital-savvy students. It’s easy to read and full of ideas, she says.
In Part 2 of her article on conferencing with student writers, teacher-author Marilyn Pryle tells how she manages multiple conferences with each student during a class period. The key: give students small manageable tasks they can do on their own.
Kids on the Cusp / Passion-based Learning
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 01/23/2014 · Last modified 11/19/2019
Storytelling, in its richest form, has an incredible impact on children, writes 4th grade teacher Mary Tarashuk. As her students explore the world of August Pullman in R.J. Palacio’s novel Wonder, she witnesses passion-based learning in full flower.
Our chief guideline is the same for articles, book reviews and interviews: Tell our visitors what YOU would want to know if you were the reader, not the writer, and you are looking for ideas, practical tips, inspiration and collegiality.
Don & Jenny Killgallon show how students can begin with basic structures and add more layers & nuances as they create sentences and then paragraphs. Reviewer & 6th grade ELA teacher Jenni Miller says the Killgallons’ use of engaging mentor texts & a 65-pp teacher guide makes this an essential reference for writing instruction.
For the 2013 EduBlog Awards we’re defining “best” as among the “especially interesting & attention-worthy.”
Media literacy consultant Frank W. Baker considers some of the ways that media arts intersect with STEM and present STEAM learning opportunities.
Common Core / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 11/04/2013 · Last modified 11/28/2019
Special educator Elizabeth Stein has championed higher Common Core standards for her inclusion students but is beginning to question the relentless pace.
After visits across the US, Maia Heyck-Merlin, author of The Together Teacher, highlights 10 characteristics of together schools that support teachers well.
