Educator Sarah Cooper finds herself gravitating to teaching books that call our social consciences awake, as Sara K. Ahmed’s Being the Change does as it asks teachers to be even more human in the classroom and thus impel your students to share their humanity with you.
There is no perfect method for shared decision-making among principals, teachers, staff and families, but it’s most successful when involvement is authentic, time is adequate, and agreed-upon norms are in place. Authors Ron Williamson and Barb Blackburn share strategies.
Whatever you know, sharing it outside school walls can inform policymakers, journalists, the public, other teachers, researchers, and professors – who can use your classroom discoveries to better serve students. Educator and writer Jenny Grant Rankin shows how.
As models for inquiry-based education, the book’s science activities offer strategies, tools, and procedures for designing and implementing lessons. Teacher Jeny Randall finds the book has changed the way she teaches science, despite some layout and standards glitches.
Responsive Literacy’s 400 pages are well worth the read, writes Linda Biondi. Each of the contributing teacher educators present a theoretical framework and practical tools to apply in the classroom and guidance on how to help young students develop a love of literacy. Five stars.
Current Events / Future of History
by Sarah Cooper · Published 11/06/2018 · Last modified 11/17/2019
After three hate crimes in one week in late October, 8th grade teacher Sarah Cooper came in on Monday ready to talk, “to imagine how we could react in healing ways.” Yet, as her first class began, “I realized this conversation would be different. As a Jew, I felt shaken.”
Future of History / Teaching strategies
by Lauren S. Brown · Published 11/05/2018 · Last modified 08/06/2024
Lesson plan improvement notes written a year ago may not be as useful as you now wish they were. That’s what Lauren Brown discovered when she tried to decipher scribbled comments on materials from last fall. Learn some of her ideas to lessen the need for total recall.
One of the most common concerns Sarah Tantillo hears from ELA teachers is “I want to teach grammar, but I’m not sure how to fit it in.” Her new MiddleWeb post explains a systematic approach that blends grammar into narrative reading and writing classes, day by day.
Meaningful Math / Online Resources
by Michelle Russell · Published 10/29/2018 · Last modified 11/25/2019
Michelle Russell is always looking for new resources for her math classes. But before she spends time incorporating new tools, she wants to know what the resources can do. Here she shares what she and her students think of two online math platforms – IXL and Delta Math.
Combining anecdotes, research and common sense, school psychologist Ben Springer walks you through what doesn’t work and what you can try instead when you encounter aggressive behavior in students. Alex Valencic recommends reading about the author’s happy kid formula now.
