Teaching and learning in grades 4-8
There are too many demands on instructional time in the Covid era to waste very much of it teaching at the lowest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. ELA/ENL teacher Dina Strasser recommends taking a fine-tooth comb to those sometimes necessary TPT plans and removing the fluff.
Principals are the creators of school culture. Through their words, actions, and policies they can assure ELLs’ success. The work teachers need to do with language learners can’t be done without principal support. Tan Huynh offers 4 principles for school leaders to adopt.
With at least half her math students learning virtually, Michelle Russell found it necessary to slow down and focus on critical standards. To her surprise, both her quarantined kids and her face-to-face students are learning and retaining more by going at a slower pace.
For years teachers have used the gradual release model to shift ownership and responsibility by degrees from themselves to students. In a remote setting, gradual release is often even more important, as students need structure to learn. Barbara R. Blackburn shows how.
Rigor in the Remote Learning Classroom is a valuable guide that will help teachers and schools reframe the conversation about remote teaching. The book’s tips and strategies can make a remote approach both robust and rigorous, writes middle school head Michael McLaughlin.
Inviting students to analyze fact-based data about topics that interest them will not only lead to greater engagement, it will grow their ability to investigate first and then draw conclusions that are well reasoned and supported. Teacher educator Curtis Chandler shares tips.
Amid pandemic learning, we must address virtual PD experiences for teachers, write experts Barbara Blackburn and Ron Williamson. By considering our purpose, the content, and the appropriate platforms to engage teachers, leaders can assure effective professional learning.
As middle graders face increased responsibility and learning challenges in virtual, hybrid and distanced classrooms, grade 6 teacher Cheryl Mizerny offers strategies in 3 key areas: supporting their need for organization, adapting our methods, and modifying our curriculum.
For the past two and half years, assistant principal DeAnna Miller has been on a leadership journey, seeking insights into a school career she’s already come to love. So far, the former teacher-coach writes, “I’ve discovered one profound ‘a-ha’ and two recurring truths.”
The Civically Engaged Classroom can be read on multiple levels: with tips and ideas that can be incorporated into class tomorrow, but also big picture thinking about rebooting the whole system of civic education, writes ELA and social studies teacher Megan Kelly.