A week of sitting in a teaching seminar has left Sarah Cooper inspired but also thoughtful about how students experience daily classroom life. “I felt new empathy for having to follow teachers’ instructions all day long.” Read her 10 takeaways.
Embracing Technology / Kids on the Cusp
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 07/16/2014 · Last modified 11/16/2019
This summer middle grades teacher Mary Tarashuk is diving into the deep end of the technology pool, accepting a challenging online leadership role. Yet she’s determined to protect the beach time she needs for family and reflection on the school year ahead.
The new book Motivation to Learn doesn’t just talk about the theories behind motivating learners. Using a fresh metaphor (river rafting), it gives new & veteran teachers “concrete strategies for creating a classroom culture that maximizes student engagement,” says reviewer Tasha Kirby.
While most students understand how to operate smart phones, they understand far less about what they see on their digital devices. Learning visual literacy in school is a vital skill today, says Frank W. Baker.
Looking for lessons to support a Common Core standard? Want to see what other teachers have crafted in your grade or content area? Amber Chandler recommends AFT’s vast ShareMyLesson website to meet these needs and connect with fellow educators.
Summer is upon us and we hope you’ll soon be able to settle in with a stack of books you’ve been looking forward to reading. Some fiction perhaps. And then a couple of books to grow on. Here are a dozen we’ve selected from among our MiddleWeb reviews.
The 3rd edition of The Morning Meeting Book (K-8) is a well-researched, easy-to-read and ready-to-apply guide to one of the Responsive Classroom’s core strategies, says teacher Linda Biondi, who recommends it for both new & ongoing Morning Meeting practitioners.
When sixth grade ELA teacher Kevin Hodgson’s students were asked to help pilot new paper circuitry learning tools developed at the MIT Media Lab, they chose to illuminate haiku poems about light. The technology draws on the work of Jie Qi, a mechanical engineer and MIT doctoral student known for her work with electrified paper.
Kids on the Cusp / Standardized Testing
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 05/11/2014 · Last modified 11/15/2019
Now in her 16th year of teaching – and administering standardized tests – Mary Tarashuk questions their value in measuring student learning or judging teacher performance. She does not question their ability to suck the joy out of Springtime. Thank goodness for Miss Bonkers and Dr. Seuss.
The topic of dictionaries came up in assorted conversations in the past few weeks, reminding Kevin Hodgson both of the power of those esteemed books of words as symbols of thought and scholarship, and the ways in which technology is completely altering the ease and means of how we find information when we need it.
