As the new school year approaches, explore a selection of digital tools recommended by teacher educator Curtis Chandler that can help you streamline lesson planning, create secure class websites, connect with families, and gather information on how your new students like to learn.
Building classroom community through fun and engaging activities is important at the beginning of school and throughout the year. Author/educator Walton Burns urges teachers to be sure you’re setting students up for success by communicating your expectations clearly.
Future of History / Learning Spaces
by Sarah Cooper · Published 07/30/2017 · Last modified 12/05/2019
Amid a near-universal celebration of collaborative, interactive work as a 21st century reality and ideal, teacher Sarah Cooper investigates something we so often forget in our classrooms and our schools: the need for quiet space and the challenges of achieving it.
First Days of Math Class / Meaningful Math
by Michelle Russell · Published 07/23/2017 · Last modified 12/12/2019
Michelle Russell anticipates her math students will arrive in a few weeks with predictable gaps in their understanding of operations involving fractions and equations. To be more proactive, she’ll offer some refresher activities during the first week of school.
The School Climate Solution serves as a blueprint for increasing positive climate from the classroom to the staff room, says reviewer Rita Platt. Jonathan Erwin provides practical guidelines for building a safe environment where relationships and SEL foster learning.
How can school leaders help Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials in the same building work side by side collaboratively? Jennifer Abrams and Valeria A. von Frank define the challenges and offer suggestions Linda Biondi finds essential.
Close Reading the Media / Tobacco Advertising
by Frank Baker · Published 07/18/2017 · Last modified 11/26/2019
What works to discourage adolescents from smoking? Media literacy expert Frank Baker suggests taking on Big Tobacco’s pervasive and persuasive marketing tactics, involving students in creating their own anti-tobacco ads. Baker provides the background and resources.
Every school has unique procedures, traditions, and personalities. What if new and transitioning teachers, starting fresh in an unfamiliar space, had a checklist to make induction easy and systematic? Author-consultant Frank Buck supplies that tool!
To break through the complacency that often slows positive school change, author and middle level leader Ron Williamson turns to Harvard Business School professor John Kotter for four strategies school leaders can use to create urgency within their organizations.
This year Curtis Chandler’s son set a new one-week record for announcing he was bored by summer. How do we encourage kids to take a break from school, but not from learning? Chandler shares online resources across subject areas to spur some vigorous brain activity.
