While the news about vaccines is promising, many students will continue to learn from home for more months to come. A big question then is how do we create and host energizing environments to sustain learning? Tara Lash and Sunday Cummins came up with this “club” strategy.
Capitol Riots / Future of History
by Lauren S. Brown · Published 01/09/2021 · Last modified 01/10/2021
As U.S. history teacher Lauren Brown prepared for her classes to resume following winter break, she considered what she would say to her students about the Capitol riots. “To say nothing says way too much.” See her full discussion of teaching ideas for now and later.
Overcoming the sense of intimidation she’d felt in the face of the US Constitution’s immensity and importance, Sarah Cooper has found fresh ways to draw her 8th graders into the power and complexity of our divided government during this year’s remote learning.
Copious fiction and nonfiction reading can make most teachers better teachers, writes principal and former reading specialist and librarian Rita Platt, by modeling the joy and power of reading in our own lives. Rita shares two dozen multi-genre favorites she read this year.
A school is an ocean of words, and many language learners are drowning in academic classes when content-specific words (Tier 3) are not explicitly taught. Tan Huynh shares an effective process to teach these specialized words from author and EL educator Stephen Fleenor.
Small Changes, Big Impact can guide educators in making 10 research-based changes that will have a significant positive impact on the culture and learning in a school, writes middle level teacher Kristen Donnelly, who says the ideas are aimed primarily at schoolwide reform.
The 2016 Gallup Poll of Students asked nearly a million tweens and teens in grades 5-12 about engagement in learning. The results were not encouraging, writes author Patti Drapeau. Teachers need to move beyond the “what” of engagement to focus on the “why.”
Principals are the creators of school culture. Through their words, actions, and policies they can assure ELLs’ success. The work teachers need to do with language learners can’t be done without principal support. Tan Huynh offers 4 principles for school leaders to adopt.
For the past two and half years, assistant principal DeAnna Miller has been on a leadership journey, seeking insights into a school career she’s already come to love. So far, the former teacher-coach writes, “I’ve discovered one profound ‘a-ha’ and two recurring truths.”
Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 11/04/2020 · Last modified 01/05/2021
Here’s how Sarah Cooper taught her 8th grade social studies class today, as the nation went about determining a presidential winner. Unlike the day after the 2016 election, “I’m feeling not so much shock as the need to shore up my teaching and once again dig into difficult topics.”
