Controversial Content / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 10/07/2019 · Last modified 11/13/2019
Assigning The Hate U Give as a summer read for history and English eighth graders seemed like a slam dunk to Sarah Cooper and her colleague. Looking back, she weighs the experience to better understand how she can prepare to teach, and then lean into, difficult topics.
Grownups get to go to conferences. Why not kids? Rita Platt’s school offers an all-day gathering featuring a professional author as keynoter, concurrent sessions, and time to network with peer writers and authors from the community. See Rita’s how-to’s and budget tips.
It's Not Easy Being Tween / Social-Emotional Learning
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 09/23/2019 · Last modified 12/11/2019
Fred Rogers is the embodiment of what Cheryl Mizerny considers the ideal educator. This year her school is celebrating the teachings of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood as it focuses on “Community.” She shares her 6th grade classroom takeaways inspired by America’s most-beloved neighbor.
Class Discussion / Heart of the School
by Rita Platt · Published 09/09/2019 · Last modified 11/27/2019
Students love to talk! And that’s mostly a good thing, if teachers can harness the natural social drive of tweens and teens “and use it to pull the wagon of content learning through whole-class discussions.” Try Rita Platt’s proven step-by-step map to discussion success.
Family Engagement / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 09/02/2019 · Last modified 11/24/2019
Middle graders, especially ELs and newcomers eager to blend in, may not want to involve families at school. Yet partnering with families leads to greater achievement, lower absenteeism, and better behavior. EL expert Valentina Gonzalez shares her favorite strategies.
Limiting feedback to final drafts means lots of teacher work and little student learning. What if, Sarah Cooper wondered, she could give students enough scaffolding – using an outline organizer and peer response – that their rough drafts included everything she wanted?
If we want our students to be readers, we have to let them read, writes principal and reading teacher Rita Platt. We have to give them time for the kind of reading that is guided by curiosity, joy, and love of story. Platt shows exactly how her school made this work.
Close Reading the Media / News Literacy
by Frank Baker · Published 08/07/2019 · Last modified 11/20/2019
With the 2020 election underway fake news and deceptive social media posts and imagery are expected to become commonplace. Media literacy expert Frank Baker offers a lesson to help our always-connected students acquire some of the “healthy skepticism” skills they’ll need.
6th grade teacher Amanda Xavier was skeptical when colleague Rose Reissman suggested a Mary Poppins book study, but their multimedia approach was a hit. “If a very old fashioned nanny can bring smiles and make modern kids sit up in class and take note, I say, ‘Cheerio’!”
Bridging the gap between “real STEM study” and how school stakeholders may understand it is a doable task for teachers, says expert Anne Jolly. She offers some elevator-speech essentials to get you started (and perhaps avoid that virtual lab that could be in your future).
