Wondering how to set up your new classroom? Or just ready to make some changes in your familiar space? Creating Your Dream Elementary Classroom is the book for you, writes teacher educator Linda Biondi. It’s filled with ideas from pros to benefit newbies and vets in grades K-6.
David Niguidula goes beyond theory and provides a multitude of authentic examples, practical applications, and thoughtful considerations for the development and use of digital badges and portfolios to boost student mastery, writes teacher leader Jennifer Savery.
Low expectations and inequitable classrooms persist in many of America’s public schools, writes Regie Routman, author of Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence and Equity for All Learners. Here’s what Routman believes educators must do to address this moral dilemma.
Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp’s “Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids” is a must-read, writes principal, NBCT and veteran school librarian Rita Platt. Its 10 short chapters are power-packed with research, stories and strategies for building a strong reading culture.
Novels about school are rare and often feature a lone heroic teacher defying the odds. Instead, NBCT Roxanna Elden’s fictional account of life at a struggling urban Texas school – “Adequate Yearly Progress” – is funny, often moving, and always authentic. Read Chapter 2.
Rather than approaching differentiation as “making it easier” for some, Barbara Blackburn suggests a strategy that assures lessons will be rigorous while also giving struggling students the supports they need. Her example involves an informational reading lesson.
Students who love to read: that’s our goal! Rita Platt’s school makes open library access a top priority, with impressive results. She spent eight years as librarian before becoming principal and shares proven ideas to create an efficient and flexible kid-led operation.
Chris Weber’s useful book, Behavior: The Forgotten Curriculum, An RTI Approach for Nurturing Essential Life Skills, seeks to help schools implement MTSS for behavior in a systematic, practical way, with or without formal adoption of PBIS, writes principal Rita Platt.
Julie M. Wilson explains how to lead educators through change and also looks at how leaders can sustain their effort by taking her readers on a leadership version of The Hero’s Journey. Principal Michael Whisler particularly liked her Strengths-based Conversation script.
Systemic change is still needed to shift stereotypes and achieve equity and equality in STEM fields, writes middle school science educator Cristina Veresan. But educators can make a difference by exposing students to “everyday” science superheroes who defy typecasting.
