Kelly Owens suggests ways to promote more engagement and motivation in class by using a HEAD, HEART, HANDS lens. She includes her team’s strategies for creating a student-centric learning environment, increasing opportunities for self-reflection, and decluttering the classroom.
As educators search for the best instructional approaches and resources to address the effects of disrupted and unfinished learning, they should reject remediation and identify strategies that accelerate the learning experience of students, write Sonya Murray and Gwen Turner.
When we give students time to read a book they’ve chosen, time to practice skills and strategies they’ve been taught, time to read for pleasure and intellectual growth, time to talk about what they’ve read, they build reading stamina and endurance, write Dorfman and Krupp.
Articles / Back to School / Mentoring
by MiddleWeb · Published 08/20/2023 · Last modified 07/17/2024
How can seasoned educators improve teacher retention rates? By helping new colleagues address two retention factors – student behavior and classroom climate – says middle grades veteran Sharon Ratliff. “Let’s show them how to manage their school of fish without being a shark.”
I Will Screw This Up / Mental Health
by Dina Strasser · Published 06/28/2023 · Last modified 06/30/2024
Our students are struggling with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues in response to financial instability, hate speech, anti-trans laws, mass shootings, pandemic impacts and other issues that can’t be minimized as the effects of social media, writes Dina Strasser.
As we close the 2022-23 school year many educators are asking, “How do we reset the positivity and passion we once had in our profession?” It’s a good question, writes educator and speaker Dr. Debbie Silver, author of Deliberate Optimism. She shares four rallying principles.
Williamson and Blackburn highlight four good reasons to be optimistic about the future of America’s public schools. Community approval is the highest in nearly 50 years; teachers are better prepared for the future, and the resilience of public educators remains remarkable.
School leaders and leaders-to-be will find a rich resource in Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey’s Leader Credibility. The authors and their co-authors use research, anecdotes and their own experiences to help readers engage, inspire and transform their schools, writes Jeny Randall.
Is reading a treat or a chore? The answer depends on the reader’s experience. In preparation for summer reading opportunities, literacy interventionist Kelly Owens suggests some favorite strategies teachers and parents can sneak in to give under-motivated readers a reboot.
Teachers are feedback machines – “we do it all day long!” – writes classroom teacher and popular blogger Larry Ferlazzo. Here he focuses on ways to give feedback that’s particularly effective at enhancing students’ sense of competence and encouraging intrinsic motivation.
