Michelle Russell typically has her classes do an end of the year survey. 2020-21 was unique and she knew her survey needed to be different, too. After sharing some of her students’ feelings and insights, Russell highlights lessons she’s learned and actions she’ll take.
Helen Keller was real, despite what some TikTok’ers posted in 2021. Help history students uncover and affirm actual history using gaming techniques to spur engagement. Rochelle Melander shares how she has tweaked research to include questing with allies, power-ups and more.
Discover solutions to common class and school challenges in Education Write Now, Volume III, which brings together the expertise of ten writers. It’s a perfect book for right now as teachers deal with extra stress and search for quick and effective solutions, writes Linda Biondi.
Class Apps / Measuring Engagement
by Curtis Chandler · Published 05/11/2021 · Last modified 06/12/2024
Education stakeholders agree that student engagement is essential. The challenge arises when we’re asked to define and measure it. Curtis Chandler shares a number of free methods and tools educators can use to measure three types: behavioral, emotional, and cognitive.
Cultural Literacy / Kids on the Cusp
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 05/09/2021 · Last modified 05/10/2021
Back in her beloved Room 4T after eight months of virtual teaching, Mary Tarashuk considers how The Jetsons cartoon show influenced her nine-year old self decades ago – and what she needs to teach her mostly white, suburban 4th graders about life in the real future.
Showcasing Robyn R. Jackson’s Buildership Model of leadership, AP DeAnna Miller describes how leaders can move beyond “showing the way” to including teachers in a process that will transform not only our staff and schools but also our way of thinking. DeAnna is ready to start!
Reflective and restorative practices are not new, writes middle school administrator Sara Johnson, but the pandemic has created an even greater need to view discipline as a tool to guide and support the social-emotional learning of tweens and teens. Here’s how Sara does it.
When the goal of argumentation is to learn from each other, the task becomes less competitive and more enriching. SS/ELA teacher Megan Kelly uses games to help students build socratic skills as they consider perspectives, identify their audiences, and argue with insight.
Alex Valencic began his career sending work home with his students without much thought. Over the years he came to question the need for homework at all – until parents rebelled. Then he invented the Homework Menu. And embraced the D.E.L.I.B.E.R.A.T.E ideas of Erik Youngman.
Coteaching / Learning Styles / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 04/20/2021 · Last modified 08/02/2023
When it comes to learning preferences, NBCT Elizabeth Stein recommends finding a flexible balance. Encourage students to let teachers know how they feel they can best learn in a given situation, while also challenging them to strengthen their ability to learn in other ways.
