To infuse classrooms with meaning, relevance and lots of fun, Stephanie Farley suggests ways to keep teaching student-centered: develop essential questions, make connections, and assess for learning not just grading. A super summer read, writes consultant Cathy Gassenheimer
High interest text sets tied to essential questions and in varied formats help emergent bilinguals stick with a particular topic as they learn how to read strategically. Elizabeth Hagan and her colleagues brought Malala Yousafzai to students’ attention with a range of sources.
While the news about vaccines is promising, many students will continue to learn from home for more months to come. A big question then is how do we create and host energizing environments to sustain learning? Tara Lash and Sunday Cummins came up with this “club” strategy.
Kathryn Caprino and Sean Ruday encourage you to include inquiry in your teaching this fall, whether it’s face to face, in remote settings, or a blend. The literacy educators share 5 tips with cross-curricular application to engage kids in the pursuit of essential questions.
To foster social studies students who are more curious, collaborative and invested, Katie McGrath worked with a district team to hone essential questions and develop a process of “micro-progression” that leads each student to understanding. Steps and examples included!
Class Apps / Student Questioning
by Curtis Chandler · Published 12/10/2017 · Last modified 12/03/2019
Curtis Chandler has been guilty of ping-pong teaching that “merely bounces information back and forth between my students and myself.” Kids learn more from a volleyball approach where they work together “to set up the shot” through inquiry activities. App tips included.
CommonLit.Org is a nonprofit organization building a growing collection of supplemental texts, curated by teachers, for teachers, writes founder Michelle Brown. The free and open resource is cross-curricular, organized around themes and essential questions.
Living the Questions: A Guide for Teacher-Researchers by Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Miller Power can help educators analyze, reflect upon and improve their practice, says reviewer Amanda Wall.
