Difficult Topics / Kids on the Cusp
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 05/09/2017 · Last modified 11/17/2019
As teens respond en masse to the Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why, the story of a girl who chooses suicide, Mary Tarashuk considers how difficult topics can be part of learning for her 4th graders and how their read-alouds and personal writing can build empathy.
After using Page-to-Stage Writing Workshop for Students with her 7th graders, ELA teacher Nicole Waychol is convinced that once you read the book, author Kwame Alexander is going to have you saying “yes.” Yes to jazz. Yes to writing. Yes to poetry. Yes to publishing.
Rigor is more than what you teach. It’s how you teach and how students show you they understand. After dispelling widely held myths about rigor in the classroom, author Barbara Blackburn describes a standards-friendly environment that supports rigorous learning and student success.
In science educator Anne Jolly’s mind, protests on behalf of science-based policy making are not about partisanship but about protecting jobs and the economy, our children’s health and prosperity, and ultimately our planet. That’s why she joined the March for Science.
Relating to Students / The Flexible Classroom
by Amber Chandler · Published 04/23/2017 · Last modified 11/29/2019
Fresh from her middle school’s Falcon Pride Day, Amber Chandler celebrates the joy of a pre-Spring Break event that’s one part competition, one part team building, and one part controlled chaos, noting that kids’ SEL needs are at least as important as curriculum.
Appropriate Education / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 04/18/2017 · Last modified 11/25/2019
Noting the recent Supreme Court decision affirming high expectations and educational opportunities for all students with disabilities, Elizabeth Stein looks at what’s needed in the classroom to ensure an enduring commitment to inclusion continues to move forward.
Resilience is the ability to effectively handle pressure and to overcome failure. It’s a characteristic that many of our struggling students do not bring to the classroom, yet it is one that we can teach. Barbara Blackburn shares five strategies that can help.
When spring fever rises and summer still seems far away, newbie and veteran teachers alike may feel they’re losing their focus and their students are drifting. Check out Elyse Scott’s five regrouping and re-energizing strategies and “do what’s right for the kids.”
Leila Christenbury and Ken Lindblom pack the voices of teachers and students, activities, stories, recommended reading, and references into the journey they lay out for new and novice ELA teachers. Forty-year veteran Linda BIondi recommends their book highly.
Jennie Magiera urges teachers to launch edventures, pursuing innovations that boost student engagement, build class culture, differentiate, promote digital citizenship and more. Laura Von Staden also likes Magiera’s plentiful ideas about professional learning.
