By blending social emotional learning into writing workshop, we can spark student confidence and commitment. Author and ELA educator Lynne Dorfman describes a class where students feel safe to express themselves, celebrate writing achievements, and self-identify as writers.
Efforts to improve your school will only be successful with widespread support and ownership. This means involving all stakeholders: teachers, staff, families, and community voices. Leadership consultants Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer some helpful guidelines.
Want to help middle school students improve their reading skills? Mark Weakland suggests providing direct and explicit spelling instruction. Emphasizing syllables – roots and affixes – offers lots of building blocks for students. Weakland includes differentiation tips and activity ideas.
Teaching and instructional coaching weren’t all the prep DeAnna Miller needed when she signed on as a new middle school assistant principal last fall. A year later she looks back at the challenges she faced and the solutions she discovered as she preps for another year.
Raised in rural Alberta, Canada, Brent Gilson set out to broaden his understanding of racial and cultural diversity, both to improve his teaching and to raise awareness among his mostly white middle grades students. Taking part in the #31DaysIBPOC Twitter project has been a revelation.
Umpires focus on the correctness of the game. Coaches concentrate on the growth of their players. Teacher Courtney Rejent and consultant Patty McGee show how to shift the focus from correcting writing to helping students develop good writing strategies through coaching.
Is it ever possible to do everything needed to be a consistently effective teacher? Look over Barbara Blackburn’s strategies to develop circumstances where you can thrive: avoid perfectionism, try incremental change, peruse helpful time management resources, and more.
The ideas behind place-based education are being discussed in more schools and communities, as years of test-driven instruction have many looking for better ways to learn. Fieldwork coordinator Sarah K. Anderson shares the inspiring program at public Cottonwood School.
To move beyond the usual data reports that crowd admin inboxes, Ronald Williamson and Barbara Blackburn recommend shadow studies that gather insights into how students experience daily school life in and out of class. Learn how it’s done and why it’s worth the time.
Before she finally produced a successful manuscript, Dr. Malayna Evans had to think long and hard about how to integrate ancient Egyptian history into a story that would appeal to today’s kids. So she turned down her “scholar” and turned up her passion for the subject.
