After using Page-to-Stage Writing Workshop for Students with her 7th graders, ELA teacher Nicole Waychol is convinced that once you read the book, author Kwame Alexander is going to have you saying “yes.” Yes to jazz. Yes to writing. Yes to poetry. Yes to publishing.
In Handbook on Teacher Portfolios, longtime education researchers Tucker, Stronge, and Gareis present a comprehensive case for using teacher portfolios for teacher evaluation and professional learning. Highly recommended by writing project director Diana Grady.
Integrating performance-boosting Social Emotional Learning requires educators to broaden school goals beyond pure academics. Debbie Silver shares four tips for teaching “Thrive” skills that lay the foundation for healthy, centered, and successful young adults.
Jennie Magiera urges teachers to launch edventures, pursuing innovations that boost student engagement, build class culture, differentiate, promote digital citizenship and more. Laura Von Staden also likes Magiera’s plentiful ideas about professional learning.
Kevin Hodgson’s sixth graders experience systems thinking when they explain Rube Goldberg contraptions, design interactive stories, and diagram sports plays. Hodgson offers many examples of student work and shows how the approach addresses Common Core objectives.
Class Apps / Emotional Learning
by Curtis Chandler · Published 03/14/2017 · Last modified 11/15/2019
How students feel about what is being taught and what they’re being asked to do works either as a catalyst or a deterrent to learning. Curtis Chandler shares activities and digital resources to help boost engagement and achievement by ’emotionalizing’ learning.
MS librarian Rachel Grover’s favorite role is instructional partner, working with teachers across disciplines to extend and enhance the curriculum. Using examples from her practice, Grover describes how skilled librarians can boost student (and teacher) learning.
Teachers have lots of justifiable reasons to complain about their jobs, says author-educator Jenny Rankin. But “loving your work and experiencing peace and success on a daily basis are certainly within your reach.” Attitude isn’t everything, she says, but it helps to avoid toxic thinking.
Calculators in Class / Meaningful Math
by Michelle Russell · Published 02/26/2017 · Last modified 12/10/2019
Math teacher Michelle Russell is rethinking her open-use policy toward calculators in her classroom. Is ready access hindering students’ grasp of the fundamentals? She’s decided to be more intentional about timing and helping her students recognize reasonable answers.
Student Change Agents / Working Draft
by Kevin Hodgson · Published 02/19/2017 · Last modified 12/05/2019
“We want our students to pursue the possibilities of a better world,” writes Kevin Hodgson, and not just “hope that a better world appears.” He shares the inspiring story of the international student-run Kids Tales program and what kids in his own school are doing.
