Guest posts by expert educators
Educators can build children’s love of listening to stories and improve students’ reading skills by transforming teacher read-alouds into an instructional tool, writes literacy leader Laura Robb. Here she demonstrates how “think-alouds” make visible what good readers do.
Differentiating is a heavy lift for teachers and often gets pushed down our long to-do list. But we can’t call our most advanced students “learners” if they’re not actually advancing in class. Gifted education leader Kim Rensch shares four tips that simplify differentiation.
One of the biggest challenges facing school leaders is pushback from teachers and staff that goes beyond the kind of disagreement that can be resolved through civil discourse and compromise. Consultants Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn share tips for managing toxic staff.
The question isn’t whether principals should observe classroom instruction, writes regional principal coach Matt Renwick. “It’s whether we can observe it with curiosity rather than judgment – as learners alongside our teachers rather than as evaluators standing apart from them.”
Teacher leader Kasey Short lays out a convincing argument that educators can use middle grades and YA fiction to build background knowledge and make curricular connections across the content areas. She includes teaching strategies, guiding questions and book suggestions.
Learning scientist Karin Hess shows how STOP and THINK activities taught through collaboration and critical thinking before, during, and after each lesson can build a deeper, more meaningful understanding of skills and concepts than traditional end-of-class exit cards.
Too many take-home tasks focus on repetition instead of reasoning – quantity instead of quality. Curtis Chandler imagines homework as food for the brain. When it’s rich in quality and purpose, it nourishes understanding. When it’s routine busywork, it’s educational junk food.
Helping math students doesn’t mean showing them the next step – it means giving them the confidence and space to find it. If our goal is to create independent problem solvers, we cannot always be the ones doing the solving, writes teaching coach Mona Iehl, author of Word Problem Workshop.
Kathie Palmieri’s fifth graders loved her gummy bear activity. It transformed a standard lab into an opportunity for authentic inquiry. It shows that even the simplest materials can lead to big scientific thinking – especially when paired with a question that invites wonder.
There’s something pleasingly counter-cultural about going analog with map construction, writes teacher Stephanie Farley. It helps students make connections they wouldn’t otherwise make, provides an entry point to deep conversations, and invites them to exercise their creativity.
