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.
Imagine an activity that takes little class time but engages students in current events and encourages them to speak with their families about what’s happening in the world. Teacher Megan Kelly longed for just such an activity and finally found it in “fantasy geopolitics.”
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.
Bright Complex Kids by Jean Sunde Peterson and Daniel B. Peters is highly readable and highly evidentially rigorous in helping educators, families and health professionals identify and work with gifted children of all socio-economic backgrounds, writes educator Amy Estersohn.
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.
A safe and stable school is essential to a successful instructional program, write Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn. That’s why it’s so critical for school leaders to anticipate what may be needed in a crisis and develop plans with contingencies for anything that may occur.
8th grader Lily Strickland offers teachers a student’s perspective on homework. She knows her teachers care about kids, but she’s not sure they always understand the impact that assigning homework has on busy adolescents. Her six tips draw on the ‘good policies’ of some of her teachers.
Are you looking for lesson plans and ideas to engage your students as they learn to be confident writers? Lisa Eickholdt and Patricia Vitale-Reilly offer a step-by-step plan to develop writing clubs with variations to keep community interest high all year, says Dawna Brandt.
Digital literacy leader Brett Pierce lays out the elements of digital storytelling and shows how students can take the lead in using digital tools to collaborate, think critically, problem solve, and present publicly, creating digital narratives around core curricular goals.
Miriam Plotinsky asks for a mindset shift toward student autonomy and then focuses on creating deeper relationships so that students have a safe space to take risks. The goal? A less micromanaged, more student-directed learning environment, writes teacher Rebecca Crockett.
