Navigating the Principalship offers real insight into a principal’s work, spending equal time on the rewards and challenges of the job. Teacher leader and aspiring principal Michael DiClemente says new and soon-to-be school leaders will benefit from the book’s many profiles.
Coteaching / Engagement / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 12/09/2020 · Last modified 08/02/2023
Whether you’re online, hybrid, or wholly in person – teaching solo or co-teaching – the Community of Inquiry “three presences” framework creates the supportive structure you and your students need to stay focused on learning, writes instructional coach and NBCT Elizabeth Stein.
Using homemade surveys can help you become a better teacher and leader. They can boost our understanding of student, parent and staff perspectives on issues that impact teaching and learning. Principal and NBCT Rita Platt shares ways she uses them – with tips and resources.
Literacy specialist Sunday Cummins shares her “explode to explain” technique, using a Newsela story about shark-spotting aerial drones along the beaches of Australia. It’s one more tool to help students develop a skill set for understanding and retaining informational text.
As kids around the world face natural disasters and a pandemic, teachers can help them develop a sense of agency as they develop specific STEM skills by exploring a local or global engineering challenge. Anne Jolly has ideas and resources, including a viable Covid mask.
Meaningful Math / Pandemic Teaching
by Michelle Russell · Published 11/23/2020 · Last modified 05/17/2021
With at least half her math students learning virtually, Michelle Russell found it necessary to slow down and focus on critical standards. To her surprise, both her quarantined kids and her face-to-face students are learning and retaining more by going at a slower pace.
For years teachers have used the gradual release model to shift ownership and responsibility by degrees from themselves to students. In a remote setting, gradual release is often even more important, as students need structure to learn. Barbara R. Blackburn shows how.
Inviting students to analyze fact-based data about topics that interest them will not only lead to greater engagement, it will grow their ability to investigate first and then draw conclusions that are well reasoned and supported. Teacher educator Curtis Chandler shares tips.
Amid pandemic learning, we must address virtual PD experiences for teachers, write experts Barbara Blackburn and Ron Williamson. By considering our purpose, the content, and the appropriate platforms to engage teachers, leaders can assure effective professional learning.
For the past two and half years, assistant principal DeAnna Miller has been on a leadership journey, seeking insights into a school career she’s already come to love. So far, the former teacher-coach writes, “I’ve discovered one profound ‘a-ha’ and two recurring truths.”
