We’re always talking to students about study habits, writes Roxanna Elden, but sometimes teachers need better methods for managing our own daily responsibilities. Good news! Embedded in some of the very lectures we give to our students are tips that can work for us, too.
The Unstoppable ML Teacher / Vocabulary
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 03/12/2018 · Last modified 03/07/2025
To create classrooms where vocabulary learning thrives, Valentina Gonzalez recommends an interactive word wall – a large graphic organizer displaying critical vocabulary with related ideas and visuals added by students. Great across subjects, for ELLs and everyone else!
Calling on her background as a researcher specializing in authentic math for all students, Ilana Seidel Horn provides detailed explanations of why detached students resist engagement and offers thoughtful responses that teachers in any subject can use, says reviewer Patti Mosko.
You’re entering the final stretch of teaching your 2017-18 students. The school year is more than halfway through, winter vacation breaks are over, and you might be feeling a tinge of burnout. Jenny Grant Rankin shares strategies to help you thrive before summer arrives.
Drawing on her national survey of 1500 students, Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s “Just Ask Us” brings their voices to the challenges of engagement. Adding teacher interviews and research, she offers a strategy-filled resource that belongs in every teacher’s hands, says David Bever.
How can teachers help students become deep thinkers and creative problem solvers – skills needed to solve the pressing challenges facing global societies? STEM provides a pathway. Expert Anne Jolly poses 11 questions that can help teachers design effective STEM lessons.
It’s difficult to learn from someone we don’t trust, writes literacy consultant Regie Routman. Bonding with individual students and their families builds that trust. Routman offers 10 ways to make sure that none of our students ever become “mostly silent and unseen.”
Diverse Reading / Heart of the School
by Rita Platt · Published 02/18/2018 · Last modified 11/29/2019
How can we help students build understanding and empathy for people and cultures outside their own experience? Librarian Rita Platt launched the Books Without Borders reading challenge at her school. See how she does it. Materials and tips on acquiring books included!
Photos, zipper baggie quilts, stick puppets, story time capsules and more – all add to the learning in Simmons and Guinn’s collection of hands-on activities for kids in K-5. Educator Elizabeth OBrien says activities can be easily adapted from one subject area to another.
Close Reading the Media / Media Literacy & History
by Frank Baker · Published 02/13/2018 · Last modified 11/17/2019
The tumultuous and difficult year of 1968 is getting lots of media attention during 2018 because it marks the 50th anniversary of so many newsworthy events in America. Media literacy expert Frank Baker says the anniversary focus offers many teaching opportunities.
