This year Katie Durkin and her fellow ELA teachers will add a Question of the Day – built from state assessment stems – to their whole-class novel unit. As 7th graders discuss best answers they’ll learn to think collaboratively AND prep for mandated tests. See how it works!
A Teacher’s Guide to Mentor Texts offers a winning combination – a structured lesson approach, a range of suggested mentor texts, and an overall message adaptable to specific students. Teachers at multiple levels of experience will find it invaluable, writes Sara Pennington.
Using formative assessment effectively is key to becoming a reflective practitioner who can adjust literacy instruction to meet students’ needs and interests, write Lynne Dorfman and Brenda Krupp, who share their ideas for “breathing life into reading and writing lessons.”
Pull-Out Models / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 01/17/2022 · Last modified 01/24/2022
Co-teaching is the preferred way to serve multilinguals, but it’s not the only way to collaborate with colleagues. Language specialist Tan Huynh shows how we can make pull-out services more impactful with co-planning that emphasizes both grade-level content and language skills.
Active listening is a key skill for school leaders, especially when faced with the need to mediate complex or volatile issues. Consultants Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn describe 5 barriers to effective listening and 10 tips to help every leader become more successful.
A former English teacher, Megan Kelly is eager to discover how she can incorporate the learning power of storytelling into history units. As a first step she created a transmedia storytelling experience that had summer camp students exploring where ‘history’ comes from.
Middle grades teacher Mona Iehl wants students to be able to “see themselves in math” and be represented in the work they do together. Learn how she uses the images and words of Black Mathematicians to empower and inspire her classes to welcome and master math challenges.
Close Reading the Media / New Vocabulary
by Frank Baker · Published 01/09/2022 · Last modified 01/10/2022
Metaverse? Prebunking? Zombie claims? The rapid evolution of digital technology and methods of persuasion has unleashed a flood of words and phrases that need to be in students’ vocabularies. Media literacy expert Frank Baker offers examples from across current culture.
Writing is often overlooked as a positive way to help students and educators relieve stress, explore inner feelings, process their thinking and stretch their imaginations. Everyone at school is busy, writes Jeremy Hyler, but reflective writing is too powerful to put aside.
In Giving Students a Say principal Myron Dueck details key research-based reasons why students should have a say in assessing their progress. Dueck’s helpful tools and strategies can be used to effectively create student-centered assessments, writes reviewer Jennifer Wirtz.
