Heart of the School / Stress Avoidance
by Rita Platt · Published 05/20/2018 · Last modified 12/12/2019
As the school year winds down and heightened emotions proliferate, it’s easy for teachers to lose their cool. Student (and parent) behavior that would have been met with patience earlier suddenly ratchets up teacher frustrations. Rita Platt shares her coping strategies – laughter included!
With leadership from the Western Massachusetts Writing Project, teachers regularly share classroom stories in their local media. Offering tips and lessons learned, Kevin Hodgson shows how adding educator voices to community discussions increases understanding and support.
Book Reviews / Social & Emotional Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 05/10/2018 · Last modified 11/21/2019
SEL is a hot topic in education circles today, and it should be, writes reviewer Rita Platt. If you are looking for lesson plans and ideas to help you boost social and emotional learning, Boost Emotional Intelligence in Students will be a great addition to your toolkit.
Close Reading the Media / Pop Culture
by Frank Baker · Published 05/07/2018 · Last modified 11/21/2019
One way to reach and connect with today’s adolescents is to bring their pop culture into the classroom. Fads and favorites can be hooks to boost media literacy – from a hip-hop song to a clip from a popular TV show, a trending commercial or snippet from a current movie.
Among the books educator Lisa Signorelli has read about teaching children in high poverty schools, she finds Disrupting Poverty: Five Powerful Classroom Practices is the easiest to understand and contains very impactful strategies to use in the classroom.
Encouraging Quality / Heart of the School
by Rita Platt · Published 04/30/2018 · Last modified 12/01/2019
There is a growing flood of poor quality work being turned in by students. How can teachers turn the tide on rushed assignments filled with errors and unclear thinking? Teacher and soon-to-be principal Rita Platt shares her strategies for encouraging excellent writing.
Communication is central to an educator’s role as an advocate. Of particular importance, say the co-authors of Advocacy From A-Z, is the ability of school and teacher leaders to communicate with the school board to advocate for an issue. These nine principles can help.
Research-based essays help our students fluently build, develop, and expand on their ideas. But in the real world, not every research process ends in a full-blown essay, says Angie Miller, who shares eight fun ways for students to practice and incorporate research skills.
Among the ways educators can support and promote acceptance of LGBTQAI+ youth is by providing access to literature that features the challenges and joys these students experience. Librarian and author Christina Dorr suggests fiction and nonfiction titles for YA readers.
Student Civic Action / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 03/25/2018 · Last modified 11/12/2019
If ever there was a time to think about how to prepare our students for the larger stage of the public civic sphere, it’s now. Teacher Kevin Hodgson interviews author and educator Steven Zemelman who has been working with teachers to move kids from inquiry into action.
