Teaching and learning in grades 4-8
Evernote is a 21st century day planner. In Part 4 of his productivity series for school leaders, organization consultant and former principal Frank Buck singles out Evernote as a must-have for collecting school and home information in an easily accessible way.
ELA co-teaching team Rachel Wysocki Kent & Genevieve Federick share a successful independent reading strategy they designed around a challenging group goal (read 500 books) and a teen-friendly focus question: “What does it mean to be a young person in 2015?”
Even before you view the lessons and become acquainted with the many cross-curricular strategies the authors of Smuggling Writing share, you’ll discover a matrix that unifies the strategies, literacy strands, samples, lessons, digital applications and CCSS.
In The Gift of Failure, teacher/writer Jessica Lahey calls on parents to value failures along the way to help children build growth mindsets. She also effectively describes how educators can work with parents, reports retired principal Mary Langer Thompson.
Project-based learning in history class can be challenging as teachers juggle a content-laden curriculum and limited class time. Shara and Jody and their tech colleague Doug Hinko set out to find practical ways to make PBL work with a unit on medieval China.
During March Madness we have to ask: what can teachers learn from great coaches? Cheryl Mizerny reflects on the words of basketball coaching legends and considers how their insights carry over into classrooms and the work teachers do with their own learners.
Education leaders Ruth Ash and Pat Hodge examine how middle level principals, working with teachers and students, are creating high performing learning cultures using five key leadership practices. It’s not magic, they say, but method, logic, perseverance, and heart.
Wordl clouds are everywhere, in every color and size. Middle grades teacher and Scholastic author Marilyn Pryle shows 10 ways word clouds made from free generators on the web can be crafted into powerful literacy teaching tools, using the right prompts and directions.
Hands-on learning can spark students’ imagination when school moves outdoors. It can also increase engagement & improve academic performance. Teachers and administrators from coast to coast are finding ways to open doors to Nature.
Reviewer Sherry Drake has already tried the questioning strategies suggested by Jackie Walsh and Beth Sattes to involve middle schoolers of varied abilities in a mini research project. The authors offered just what she needed to engage her students in deeper thinking.