The Next Step Forward in Word Study and Phonics offers resources that will convince even the most skeptical that word study can be done quickly if done intentionally. Teacher Michelle Voelker likes the lessons targeting multiple reading levels and the many how-to videos.
Where were the authors of color in Dina Strasser’s recent recommended list of speculative fiction for YA readers? Dina revisits her December post and considers why she overlooked women of color. Her commitment to being more inclusive includes new titles and future reviews.
Social Emotional Learning / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Tan Huynh · Published 01/20/2020 · Last modified 01/21/2020
To help our English learners leave our classes and schools not only with greater language command but with more emotional control and awareness of others’ perspectives, Tan Huynh suggests storifying SEL, building social-emotional skills into lesson planning, and more.
This term Mary Tarashuk’s 4th graders will be ranging through time and cultures to expand their grasp of what the world is like beyond their suburban lives. She intends to help her future citizens, and herself, become more historically, racially, and culturally literate.
Although we have always known the importance of teaching vocabulary, there’s been a recent surge of interest in teaching academic vocabulary across the content areas. Author Barbara Blackburn describes three strategies she recommends to help make the new words stick.
Do your students know how much you care? Especially those students who have built a wall or may face difficult situations at home? How can you connect? Principal Liz Garden found sticky notepads, a favorite book and regular one-to-one time can make all the difference.
Every chapter of School Improvement for All starts with commentary about how to determine vision versus reality, outlines ways to get from one to the other, and then provides concrete tools and steps to follow as a plan of action, writes NBCT Kathy Pham. A true guide to PLC success.
Future of History / US Constitution
by Sarah Cooper · Published 01/06/2020 · Last modified 04/17/2024
Sarah Cooper is always searching for ways to strengthen her eighth grade unit on the Constitution. This year she deepened her exploration of iCivics and found visually appealing readings and games her students enjoyed. She added sparkle with video and other fun activities.
Principal Rita Platt is learning to sign, both to communicate with a new student and to renew her empathy for the hard work we ask students to do every day. She also has a fresh appreciation for learning targets. “Seeing the purpose of our work is critical to motivation.”
When we give in and teach students to “write for the test,” Brent Gilson says, we force them into a writing box that many kids come to hate. Learn how he’s reinventing his writing instruction so students discover their truth, expressed through their own words and ideas.
