Middle grades math teacher Mona Iehl applies five of author Gholdy Muhammad’s strategies to unearth joy as her students experience the December classroom scramble. Mona suggests activities to help realize each strategy with your students. Try musical math and much more!
Richardson and Dufresne’s The Next Step Forward in Word Study and Phonics helps educators differentiate and imbed phonics and word study skills within a variety of literacy contexts. Reading specialist Beth Hassinger shares how she plans to use the book’s resources with real success.
Michael McLaughlin reviews Brad Johnson and Hal Bowman’s Thank You, Teacher, a collection of 100 letters written by educators for educators with the aim of uplifting, affirming, and celebrating “the incredible work of our profession.”
Instead of giving middle graders the right answer after they cling tenaciously to their misconceptions, devise processes that lead them to discover the fallacies on their own. Literacy interventionist Kelly Owens shares some cross-curricular tools and strategies that can help.
Serena Pariser and Victoria Lentfer answer teachers’ questions about how best to establish dynamic classrooms, offering practical ways to build routines, minimize off-task behaviors, and engage students in truly meaningful ways. A great resource, says NBCT Kathie Palmieri.
Traditional vocabulary strategies are passive exercises that have little impact in the long run, write Lynne Dorfman and Aileen Hower. Students need lots of exposure to a word before they can fully understand and apply it. They need frequent, engaging and meaningful encounters with words.
When teacher Jay Wamsted tweeted about why and how teachers should leave school on time and not work at home or on weekends, he lit up edutwitter as teachers took sides for and against his proposition. In Dina Strasser’s interview, Wamsted explains and expands on his thinking.
Learn how middle grades teacher and NBCT Kathie Palmieri is using the upgraded and rebranded Flip video tool (formerly Flipgrid) on a daily basis to engage her students, show quick lesson reviews, and get them talking about what they did and didn’t understand. Helpful tips included.
In Identity Affirming Classrooms: Spaces that Center Humanity, Erica Buchanan-Rivera provides teachers with the background knowledge, reflection tools and actionable practices needed to create identity-aware, student-centered environments. For all educators, says Katie Durkin.
Do you invite student talk? If we want kids to engage in the lessons we’re teaching, they need to see us valuing what they have to say. Kelly Owens shares tips for creating a “two-way” classroom community and home connections that encourage authentic dialogue and build trust.
