Incorporating the odd and unusual into everyday instruction can capture students’ attention. And middle graders do enjoy knowing something bizarre! Anne Anderson shares calendar celebrations (Artichoke Day?) from March, April and May to surprise them. Teaching ideas included.
Students continue to struggle with the effects of trauma from the pandemic and their lives outside of school. To help school communities support healing and growth, four authors suggest strategies and policies based in research and their own experiences, writes Brenda Yoho.
5th grade teacher Kathie Palmieri has been exploring ways to better infuse mathematics in other subject areas and help students gain a more positive attitude about math’s central place in their lives. She shares some ideas about SEL and two examples from her science lessons.
“In my classroom, sticky notes earn top honors for Best Multipurpose Teaching Tool,” writes literacy teacher Kelly Owens. She displays 15 ways to use the tacky squares to chunk large tasks into manageable clusters and empower students to contemplate, coordinate, and connect.
Deciding when – and how much – to help our students can be difficult, writes new-teacher educator Curtis Chandler. It requires both a self-assessment of our own preconceptions and the ability to strike a delicate balance between high expectations and full support for all.
In an authentic math community students understand their ideas are valuable and their participation is necessary to grow the community’s collective understanding. One way to facilitate this, writes author Gina Picha, is by having regular math conferences with your students.
Whether you’re a principal facilitating a change initiative or a teacher leader facilitating a content-level team, it’s essential to set clear parameters with adult learners upfront so that neither goals, nor trust, nor people’s hard work is compromised. Elisa MacDonald shows how.
We cannot continue to subject students to practices that are clearly not working. In Collective Leader Efficacy, former principal Peter M. DeWitt shows how to move forward in a team effort, empowering educators to center on students, writes district HR leader Brian Taylor.
We’ve accomplished so much this year and we still have another big stretch to conquer, write teachers Maggie and Piers Blyth. We’ve reached the peak – we’re ready for the downhill race. It’s important to chart our path and stay alert for the obstacles and opportunities ahead.
Is bullying in schools a social pandemic we need to take more seriously? Middle grades teacher Laleh Ghotbi makes a compelling case that educators and parents can do more to protect students being harmed by religious, cultural, racial and gender prejudice and animosity.
