This January, donβt hastily jump on the bandwagon with the latest decorating fad. Design a place where students want to learn and grow. Your classroom environment may be one of the most powerful tools in your teaching toolbox, writes teacher and former marketer Kelly Owens.
The question Tan Huynh hears most often from English language development (ELD) colleagues is βWhat can we do when our co-teacher is resistant to collaborating?β After many years of failing with persuasion, Tan has developed a βTraffic Lightβ approach that works much better.
In a time of unprecedented teacher criticism, burnout, and flight, National Board Certification offers an opportunity for teachers to feel empowered and inspired, writes NBCT Marilyn Pryle. Best of all, the challenging, self-directed process helps good teachers become even better.
Megan Kelly writes about improvements in her student relationships after trying out strategies adapted from Zaretta Hammondβs Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain. One key insight: talking with kids about their lives and personal interests can boost in-class learning.
Kasey Short recommends offering middle schoolers YA novels with multiple narrators as a way to enrich opportunities for content instruction and SEL. They’re also really engaging and fun for kids to read. Included: sample questions and activities and lots of suggested titles.
Lauren Buellβs 8th grade ELA team works with students on a comprehensive unit that helps all participants develop speaking, listening, writing, reading and life skills as they prepare end-of-year TED-style talks. She shares the unitβs impact once students enter high school.
This fall with some tweaks and fresh online tools and resources, Halloween can be fun and packed with learning. Check out MiddleWebβs updated resource collection for ideas across the content areas.
With examples from all levels of education, The New Classroom Instruction That Works is a useful tool for beginning teachers and lifelong educators alike. Goodwin and Rouleau capture proven researched-based strategies for every classroom, writes teacher leader Hannah Mickey.
Where there are challenges, there are also opportunities for creativity, novelty, and adventure to put a barricade between us and burnout. Stephanie Farley offers strategies to help teachers avoid or at least soften the sense of emotional exhaustion that leads to collapse.
Patty McGee invites teachers to infuse some “Harry Styles magic” into social-emotional learning. In countless ways, Styles’ lyrics can be surprisingly fun and effective to build emotional IQ, acting as springboards for exploring and learning about our emotional landscape.
