Professional community / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 12/15/2013 · Last modified 11/25/2019
While teachers often lead a vibrant learning community within their classroom’s four walls, those walls can also be professionally isolating, says 6th grade teacher Kevin Hodgson. “Being part of a larger network…is empowering in ways that is difficult to put into words. Connections make you feel anchored to a movement. Seeking help is a show of strength.” The Nerdy Resolutions (#nerdlution) hashtag community, he says, is a prime example.
Family & Community Outreach / Kids on the Cusp
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 12/10/2013 · Last modified 11/15/2019
A Thanksgiving visitor (a student from 16 years past) offers our Kids on the Cusp blogger – 4th grade teacher Mary Tarashuk – a good hook for her latest look at New Jersey’s mandatory self-assessment rubrics for teachers. This time she reflects on what Family and Community Outreach means to her teaching.
What makes Jim Burke’s The Common Core Companion so valuable to teachers? The layout, says reviewer Anne Anderson. The 2-page spread gives teachers a big picture view of standards, “what they say, what they mean, and how to teach them.”
Working Draft / Writing & Game Design
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 12/01/2013 · Last modified 11/14/2019
Middle school teacher Kevin Hodgson describes how his ELA unit on video game design helped inspire a very reluctant writer to become an eager scribe.
Co-Teaching / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 12/01/2013 · Last modified 11/23/2019
Johnny Cataffo, our first guest blogger at Two Teachers in the Room, has filled both the special and general educator role in the co-teaching partnership.
For the 2013 EduBlog Awards we’re defining “best” as among the “especially interesting & attention-worthy.”
Kids on the Cusp / Teacher Evaluation
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 11/19/2013 · Last modified 11/18/2019
It’s report card time. Mary Tarashuk puzzles over the disconnect between calls for authentic assessment & a culture mired in traditional A’s & F’s.
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.
Working Draft / Writing with Students
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 11/03/2013 · Last modified 11/17/2019
ELA teacher Kevin Hodgson often joins his students during freewriting time and sometimes shares his own messy work, as a way to model what writers do.
