Writing short form stories is all about revising and playing with your ideas, Kim Culbertson told the sixth graders. “Move things around. Cross things out and add others. See where the exploration of it takes you. The most important part is that you’re finding your own voice.”
Turning It Around by Todd Whitaker and Courtney Monterecy provides both a conceptual framework and a tactical approach for educational leaders committed to creating schools truly worthy of their students through a dual lens of incremental improvement and systemic change.
Author and middle level educator Jennifer Ciok offers a weekly calendar of strategies to increase student engagement. Her ideas for sparking more meaningful learning include storytelling, arts infusion, and activities that help connect classroom lessons to the real world.
For our students to be well educated, activist citizens who lead fulfilling lives, they need schools where fostering a culture of belonging becomes the character of the school, writes Regie Routman. It’s a place where every student feels safe, cared for, seen, heard and empowered.
Are you ready to accept that you are the learning key for each student you teach? Barbara Blackburn has experienced the multiple challenges teachers face each day. Here she offers strategies and inspiration as we reach beyond the negatives to center students and their learning.
The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox 2.0 is a thoughtful update to Ferlazzo and Sypnieski’s widely used first edition. Fresh ideas and resources support the learning culture they helped create – one of belonging, inclusivity and working together, writes teacher and coach Melinda Stewart.
“Turn and talk” has become a common practice in classrooms. But what’s really happening in those conversations? Alma Ortiz-Agib and Sunday Cummins have found that students, including English learners, benefit from using collaborative language frames to make the talk meaningful.
When Enrique Santana Carballo started teaching science in a bilingual setting, he quickly realized that many of students weren’t struggling with science but with reading. To support ELLs and students with disabilities, he introduced literacy strategies which he shares here.
Anne Jolly’s STEM By Design 2nd Edition is a well-organized and practical resource to help students respond to a wide range of real-world problems in the classroom. The book is complemented by a resource-filled companion website, writes middle school teacher Heidi Braden.
Just back from a week-long workshop on the U.S. Constitution, Sarah Cooper shares five things she learned about being the student, not the teacher, in the classroom. The event underscored that human connection is paramount for creating the conditions necessary to learn content.
