Once you begin Reading & Writing with English Learners, you wonβt want to stop. Better yet, youβll begin looking at your lesson plans, figuring out how to fit in all the fresh ideas you’ve gathered, writes high school EL teacher Emily Francis, who recommends it for K-12.
A newcomer is a student who has immigrated from another country. Their experiences are quite different than those who are citizens of immigrant parents. Tan Huynh shares key ideas from author Louise El Yaafouri to both welcome newcomers and create a system that empowers them.
Examining the human impact of climate change through texts allows students to connect climate science to the human cost of climate change, develop empathy for communities impacted by climate change, and discover more about climate justice, writes ELA teacher Kasey Short.
In social studies we want students to visualize the relationships between historical events and be able to think chronologically. Megan Kelly has 6th graders begin with personal timelines. Other teaching tools include videos, a history card game, memes and manipulatives.
Articles / Questioning / remote learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 11/02/2020 · Last modified 11/29/2020
Effective questioning during remote learning doesnβt require new strategies. Consultant Barbara Blackburn suggests building questions with higher order thinking models; including questioning stems; adding cubing for student choice; and having students source their answers.
As you work with your students on grammar instruction, Sean Ruday recommends emphasizing that grammatical concepts are key parts of writer’s craft toolkit. An understanding of the precise purpose of each tool will help them become thoughtful and artful communicators.
It took the pandemic to convince Lauren Brown to finally check out Edpuzzle as a teaching tool. Sheβs quickly become a fan. Whether you are teaching live, online or in a hybrid model, Edpuzzle can be a helpful way to engage students in video content that you select or create.
After learning virtually for some weeks, many of Michelle Russellβs math students got in the habit of writing down little or no evidence of how they reached their conclusions. Which got her thinking. βWhat does it really mean when you tell students to show their work?β
You donβt have to be an ELA teacher to teach academic content to English learners. The goal is to guide students in using language βlike an expert in a particular field would use it,β writes Tan Huynh, who shares a 4-step process used by international consultant Beth Skelton.
For any educator interested in offering student choice but unsure of how to begin, Laurie Westphal’s Differentiating Instruction With Menus approach offers a strategy that will ease fears about loss of control and assure quality work, writes teacher Erin Corrigan-Smith.
