Educators who read “Best Practices at Tier 1” will look at curriculum differently, says ELA teacher Mark Domeier. With its tight focus on grades 7-12, the book clarifies how differentiation can work in classes characterized by student collaboration and group work.
If there is one thing that will influence voters more than anything else during Campaign 2016, it is the image. More than ever, what the voters see, not what they hear, has become paramount in getting elected. Frank Baker shares ad techniques students need to know.
Summer offers a rare opportunity for principals to devote ample time to their own professional learning, say Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn. The leadership consultants offer four summer strategies to help assure continuous growth as an effective leader.
As product placement ads invade more of our visual space, educators can use the trend as a hook to engage students in critical thinking about what it means to be media literate. Expert Frank Baker uses the NBA’s 2016-17 plans for jersey advertising as an example.
Book Reviews / Vocabulary Instruction
by MiddleWeb · Published 06/09/2016 · Last modified 11/25/2019
Joanne Billingsley’s Making Words Real provides specific, detailed instructions for teachers to use when introducing a vocabulary strategy. Anne Anderson recommends her systematic approach to card sorts, sample lessons, sentence starters/stems and more.
The Co-Teaching Relationship / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 06/06/2016 · Last modified 11/11/2019
Summer is a good time for co-teachers to revisit the meaning of “CO-“, says instructional coach Elizabeth Stein, and discover definitions like joint, mutual, common. Stein offers tips to prepare for a co-teaching year marked by CO-creation for student success.
In “Text Structures From the Masters,” educators Gretchen Bernabei and Jennifer Koppe did the hard work for English and social studies teachers of grades 6–10 when they collected 50 quality, nonfiction mentor texts and created an easy-to-follow lesson structure for each one.
Current Events / Future of History
by Jody & Shara · Published 05/31/2016 · Last modified 11/29/2019
Jody Passanisi, an eighth grade teacher and author of “History Class Revisited,” uses a three-step scaffolding process to help students raise their awareness between events currently taking place and the historical events they study in the social studies curriculum.
Every principal needs to lead a coordinated schoolwide effort to interact with families in ways that support students, the school and the larger community. Former principals Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer a rich set of strategies to accomplish this goal.
In Who’s Doing the Work? Jan Burkins and Kim Yaris ask important questions about how literacy teachers should approach reading instruction for a new generation of students. Reviewer and former literacy coach Nancy Chodoroff has high praise for their insights.
