Whether your school year ends in May or you teach into the hot days of June, student engagement begins to fade. How do we liven things up? For math class, NBCT Kathie Palmieri recommends a pair of hands-on geometry activities that sparked curiosity and excitement as summer beckons.
Curious about what students may have learned this year that traditional assessment may not uncover? Deep learning expert Dr. Karin Hess shares five activities and explains how two key elements of learning – metacognition and reflection – can team up to reveal hidden understanding.
In Unjournaling by Dawn DiPrince and Cheryl Thurston, students will find the book’s 250 prompts interesting and challenging, and teachers will appreciate the flexibility and variety this second edition brings to class. Everyone will have fun too, promises Anne Anderson.
Co-teaching Strategies / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 04/26/2023 · Last modified 05/01/2023
As he develops new co-teaching relationships, language specialist Tan Huynh focuses on two essential strategies: establishing schedules and making “relationship deposits” that build the teacher to teacher connections needed to assure the classroom works for all students.
Math teacher Michelle Russell remembers her own anxiety each year when the time came to teach statistics to middle schoolers. She shares two fun activities she’s discovered that address 6th and 8th grade standards: cup stacking and the candy grab! Student handouts included.
Learning Transformed offers a still timely blueprint of practical ideas to reinvent schools so all students receive a useful education, all teachers are treated as professionals, and all families and community members are welcome and value the role schools play, says teacher Theresa Wood.
Teacher and coach Mona Iehl loves ending the school year with a choice-driven math fact fluency challenge. Students solidify their fluency before the next grade while also engaging in a fun initiative. Discover her simple 4-step process and check out the resources she shares.
When students learn to identify and name the ideas and emotions in poetry and share their own emotions through writing poems, they better understand their feelings and build empathy and understanding for others. Teacher leader Kasey Short shares methods and lots of poems.
Ramp up poetry positivity with the Peel the Fruit activity from Project Zero. Throughout the year NBCT Kathie Palmieri helps her fifth graders uncover layers of poetry understanding and then invites them to write their own. Their current favorite: the Intimate Object Poem.
Many problems that emerge in the ‘wonder years’ might be alleviated with a high quality puberty education program, writes health educator Wendy Sellers. “You will benefit from cultivating a more productive classroom climate and knowing you are meeting your students’ needs.”
