Teacher, author and adolescent literacy consultant Cris Tovani guides us through her 6Ts (Topic, Target, Task, Text, Time, and Tending) as she tells the story of her first virtual literacy workshop – with 7th graders who are studying the Sahara Desert. Engagement? CYA!
If you find yourself in a school situation where a parent or community member is unkind, unreasonable, or downright mean, principal and NBCT Rita Platt has tips to move beyond the hurt. Here’s what she does to make sure toxic remarks roll right off her back. Like a duck!
The pandemic distances between teacher and student require us to monitor the individual progress of learning even more closely. Teacher educator Curtis Chandler offers a crash course for doing just that – including tips on new apps and tools for summative assessment.
Instead of continuing our 130 years of running every public school student through the system in the same way at the same time, Alex Valencic believes we need to shift our efforts to acknowledging individuality, independence, and innovation through mastery learning.
Close Reading the Media / Internet Literacy
by Frank Baker · Published 01/26/2021 · Last modified 02/13/2021
New studies continue to reveal that many students cannot evaluate internet information for truthfulness, writes media literacy expert Frank W Baker. “It has become a crisis in American education,” he says, as disinformation becomes industrialized and “truth decay” spreads.
For five years Marilyn Pryle has begun every class with 10 minutes of choice reading, inside a Book Club model. Would in work in a hybrid classroom? Yes! Her experience this year “reinforces the truths I already know.” Students want to read. Escaping into a story feels good.
Borrowing books from class and school libraries is less common during the pandemic. Kathie Palmieri encourages her students to read using a Bitmoji Virtual Classroom Library, Virtual Book Tasting Rooms, Flipgrid, and Mentimeter. How-to tips and book sources included!
Purposeful gaming is a natural complement to learning, writes award-winning middle school history teacher Jennifer Ingold. She shares one of her creations – American Modernization Monopoly – in this fully illustrated “why and how” post, complete with SEL and assessment notes.
While the news about vaccines is promising, many students will continue to learn from home for more months to come. A big question then is how do we create and host energizing environments to sustain learning? Tara Lash and Sunday Cummins came up with this “club” strategy.
Future of History / US Constitution
by Sarah Cooper · Published 01/06/2021 · Last modified 10/13/2024
Overcoming the sense of intimidation she’d felt in the face of the US Constitution’s immensity and importance, Sarah Cooper has found fresh ways to draw her 8th graders into the power and complexity of our divided government during this year’s remote learning.
