This story by Ruth Ayres, from her new book Enticing Hard-to-Reach Writers, is a holiday gift to novice educators everywhere and to any teachers still wondering whether their students can ever learn to love writing so much they stop turning in incomplete assignments.
It's Not Easy Being Tween / Reading
by Cheryl Mizerny · Published 12/17/2017 · Last modified 12/11/2019
We know adolescents read far less than younger children. Classroom practices often don’t help, writes ELA teacher Cheryl Mizerny. By discarding strict regimes, she says, educators can increase the love of reading among tweens and teens and put the joy back into books.
Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome offer educators ways to rethink teaching, model risk taking for students, show students they are valued, push the boundaries that hold teachers back, take care of themselves, and develop leadership at a high level, writes Laura Von Staden.
How do your students react when you ask them to work together in groups? Cheers or groans? Teacherpreneur and author Patrice Palmer shares strategies to plan ahead and avoid group project pitfalls and to help students see the benefits of working with each other.
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.
Jennifer Taylor-Cox is back with a 2nd edition of Family Math Night K-5. If that’s your idea of a good time, you’ll find everything you need to plan and present an opportunity for your students and families to enjoy learning math together, says reviewer Linda Biondi.
The research-based Total Participation Techniques found in the second edition of the Himmele’s popular ASCD book can help boost student engagement and participation, and their retention of information, in just about any content area, says veteran educator Joanne Bell.
Read Alouds / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 12/03/2017 · Last modified 11/25/2019
Teacher read alouds work with middle graders, too. Literacy specialist and ELL coach Valentina Gonzalez describes why and how reading fiction, nonfiction, even picture books, aloud to young adolescents can advance learning. Included: specific strategies and resources.
Close Reading the Media / Literacy and Film
by Frank Baker · Published 11/28/2017 · Last modified 11/28/2019
Film, video and television media are powerful engagement tools for literacy teachers. Author and media consultant Frank W. Baker shares lots of ideas about using screenplays, closed captioning, and media-related projects to boost reading and other literacy skills.
Maps and mapmaking can help bring visual “connector points” to ELA lessons, says teacher Kevin Hodgson, serving as writing prompts, aids in teaching novels, reflection/assessment tools, and more. Learn some of the ways he uses both digital and hand-drawn maps in class.
