“Groupthink” can happen if team members are afraid of the consequences of sharing their real thoughts and feelings. When divergent thinking is left of of the school improvement discussion, writes leadership coach Elena Aguilar, positive and lasting change isn’t likely to occur.
Involving parents and families in a partnership with schools has a positive impact on students. What can principals do to ensure the partnership is sustained, vibrant and diverse? Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn suggest strategies to build connections.
Articles / It's Not Easy Being Tween / Whole Novels / Whole Novels
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 04/17/2016 · Last modified 07/07/2024
Whole-class novel study is one curricular tradition that’s taken a huge beating in the last several years, writes ELA teacher Cheryl Mizerny. But not in her classroom, where Cheryl works to balance indepth novel study with student book choice and read-alouds.
With plentiful humor Gerald Aungst shows how to address math problem solving in powerful and realistic ways, helping students become innovative mathematical thinkers. Middle school math resource teacher Maia Fastabend plans to revisit his book frequently.
Writing comes alive in Paula Bourque’s book “Close Writing: Developing Purposeful Writers.” Bourque supports her strategies for engaging youngsters in writing, revising and editing with classroom stories, study guides, and videos, says teacher Linda Biondi.
Self-Advocacy / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 04/12/2016 · Last modified 12/10/2019
Many students with disabilities struggle to gain the language, social, or pragmatic skills they need to be self-advocates. Elizabeth Stein shares resources that can help co-teachers empower students to truly take charge of their learning and their lives.
When students struggle to write coherent essays or can’t explain their evidence well enough, it often boils down to this: they need help learning to build strong paragraphs. Literacy expert Sarah Tantillo takes us step by step through her construction process.
Paid ads and social media give lots of exposure to Presidential candidates. They also get free visibility from magazines, though they don’t always like what they see. Frank Baker offers a magazine-cover activity to help students build media literacy skills.
What considerations do teachers of English Language Learners need to keep in mind as they help students “close read” complex texts and meet Common Core standards? Veteran ELL teachers Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull Sypnieski share ideas from their classrooms.
In The Zen Teacher Dan Tricarico helps teachers move from a frazzled, overwhelmed existence as “the living dead” to focus on the moment, allowing us to free our creativity and be better educators. Stressed teacher Laura Von Staden found the book very helpful.
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