Amid all the other challenges of pandemic education, principal Rita Platt has noticed an uptick in communication breakdowns between teachers and parents this year. Platt relates several stories that prompted her to share some parent/teacher do’s and don’ts with staff.
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.
What’s the best way to boost student success and excitement for learning? Jackie Walsh believes the answer is to develop kids’ capacity as questioners by strengthening their skill and creating classrooms where learners experience the thrill of asking questions that matter.
Many myths surround math instruction and language learners. Dr. Jim Ewing singles out three that often hold language learners back from high levels of achievement in math class. In his recent talk with Tan Huynh, Ewing described a framework for success that Tan shares here.
After a year of teaching to blank Zoom squares, Lauren Brown reflects on pre-pandemic days and the rich, face-to-face experiences she always had with kids. Will her profound sense of loss change in May, with all her students back in physical class? Will school feel like spring? September?
Peg Grafwallner’s Ready to Learn is packed with ah-ha moments and resources to help any teacher up their game using FRAME: Focus, Reach, Ask, Model, and Encourage. Rita Platt feels the common sense approach to framing lessons will build student buy-in and deepen learning.
When students try to write a short response to a fact-filled passage they’ve read, some will likely lose their grounding. How do we help them leap the gap between reading and writing? Alicia Genchi and Sunday Cummins share an essential scaffold for building the bridge.
What if a STEM project became a product kids make for actual use? Anne Jolly shows how industry’s Product Design Process (PDP) expands upon the familiar engineering design popular in STEM classes, giving students new skills as they move from prototypes to the marketplace.
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.
In Active Literacy Across the Curriculum Heidi Hayes Jacobs focuses on the crucial function of literacy in all learning regardless of age or content area. 7th grade teacher Theresa Wood says Jacobs knows what works and shows how to move forward without losing what we value.
