You need your break! Don’t fill your summer ruminating endlessly about lessons and classes to come. Instead try the “habit stacking” strategy and prepare for the next school year without getting mired in the weeds. Teacher and coach Miriam Plotinsky shares nine possibilities.
When asked to help implement health/biology curriculum, the authors decided to focus on active learning strategies that succeeded in exciting and engaging the adolescent girls in their classes. They conclude that well-designed hands-on learning is worth the extra time and effort.
Taking time to reflect on current practices and explore fresh ideas can be invigorating for educators and provide students with new opportunities. Teacher leader Kasey Short shares ways we can plan for informal professional learning this summer and during the school year.
If we can teach kids to think about their futures with more specificity and positivity, then we can have a significant impact on not only their self-image but their well-being – critical work in our anxiety-ridden, social media-saturated times, writes teacher leader Stephanie Farley.
In Humans Who Teach, Shamari Reid tells many stories to lift the veil on the weights of expectation placed on teachers, by themselves and society. Reid centers “love in our work as humans who teach,” offering ways to jump-start ourselves if action seems difficult, says Sarah Cooper.
A week into summer break, teacher Michelle Russell looks back at how she adjusted the last weeks of class to lower her stress and make sure she would face less stress in the fall. Included: imposing order on packing away supplies and making time to check in with kids.
As the school year ends, it’s easy for students to lose their momentum. One way to help ease students into summer mode, but still sneak in some math review, is to find engaging activities. Kathleen Palmieri shares favorites from Jo Boaler that can also be saved for fall warm-ups.
Facing current education’s false head/heart dichotomy and with the concept of what it means to be a teacher – so stressed in recent years – now stretched to the breaking point, veteran educator Dina Strasser is searching for truths toward which she can strive.
Education professor and researcher Julie Hasson has spent years interviewing people about their memorable teachers. Read what three former middle school students told her about the teachers whose actions and interactions in the classroom made a lasting impact on their lives.
Whether school leaders network using traditional methods like books and conferences or virtual solutions using social media tools and platforms, it’s vital to be a learner and to model learning in your organization. Ron Williamson and Barb Blackburn explore the PLN option.
