Teaching and learning in grades 4-8

What Makes Some Teachers So Memorable?

Education professor and researcher Julie Hasson has spent years interviewing people about their memorable teachers. Read what three former middle school students told her about the teachers whose actions and interactions in the classroom made a lasting impact on their lives.

Continuous Learning: Develop Your Own PLN

Whether school leaders network using traditional methods like books and conferences or virtual solutions using social media tools and platforms, it’s vital to be a learner and to model learning in your organization. Ron Williamson and Barb Blackburn explore the PLN option.

What MATH-ish Can Add to Your Math Classes

In MATH-ish, youcubed.org co-founder Jo Boaler brings together real-world math, neuroscience, equity awareness, and classroom experiences to forge a powerful multi-faceted tool to encourage students’ collaboration and engagement, says math teacher and NBCT Kathleen Palmieri.

3 Tips Help Teachers Make Good Use of Time

It pays to be strategic when managing time, writes teacher Kelly Owens. Without compromising good practice, educators can learn to ditch time drainers and invest those precious minutes in time savers. Reduce, reuse and recycle to work more efficiently and effectively.

Value and Success Can Build Student Motivation

We cannot make students be intrinsically motivated, writes teaching coach Barbara Blackburn. But we can create a classroom culture that focuses on the building blocks of value and success. When we do, students are more likely to grow resilient and take chances on learning.

Give Students Writing Feedback That Works

Laurie Miller Hornik describes what happened when English department colleagues got together to improve their responses to student writing. The collaboration produced a feedback protocol for reading, coaching and evaluating assignments that’s still in use five years later.

Coaching That Builds GT Teacher Capacity

Coaching in Gifted Education by Emily Mofield and Vicki Phelps is a rich resource for educators looking for ways to meet the needs of exceptional learners. The authors are the partners GT coaches need to be the partners that classroom teachers need, writes NBCT Kim Rensch.

Try This UDL Higher Order Thinking Strategy

Teachers Samantha Layne and Susanne Croasdaile introduce a new UDL-friendly tool to promote higher thinking, using a model-building strategy. TPRY helps students break down visual content, analyze it, and even build their own visual texts. See a food web modeling example.

Math: the Perfect Place to Teach Character

In math class students can be challenged to build both their character and their math proficiency if we adopt the roles of cultivator and guide. Mona Iehl calls on teachers to follow the principles of ECHO and help each student embrace a leadership role in the learning journey.