Do you spend time every day doing repetitive email and typing tasks at school – time you don’t have to spare? If so, like Bill Murray in the classic comedy, you’re stuck in your own endless Groundhog Day cycle. Time management expert Frank Buck is here to break you out.
Responding to uncompromising resistance to change is always a challenge. Wise school leaders are inclusive in the planning stage, share information with everyone involved, and have a well-considered implementation plan. Williamson and Blackburn examine four kinds of objection.
Discover the ‘language’ of digital storytelling – imagery, music, sound, words – in Brett Pierce’s “Expanding Literacy.” In addition to describing the skills students can gain by developing stories digitally, Pierce offers excellent activities and projects, says Anne Anderson.
If students develop executive function skills – focus, planning and organizing, self-monitoring – classrooms will run more smoothly, there will be fewer interruptions and repetitions, and teachers will have successfully bridged the SEL/academics gap, writes Marilee Sprenger.
Having volunteered for her district’s PBIS Tier I committee, Dina Strasser looks into the current viability of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports with help from a new federally funded meta-study. She finds lots that hasn’t worked but also some potential.
If you are teaching in a low-performing, high-poverty school, Eric Jensen’s Teaching with Poverty and Equity in Mind is a must read, writes Anne Anderson. Jensen begins with the process of teachers adopting an equity mindset and offers proven tools to support all students.
After reflecting on her students’ decline in fluently recalling math facts and the lapses in her teaching flow, Kathie Palmieri knew it was time to make changes. First up: involving students in uncovering the roadblocks and taking a week to try out their fog-lifting ideas.
Even if middle school students have no idea what careers they want to pursue, computer science helps them acquire skills they’ll need to be successful. Learn how 7th and 8th grade CS teacher Crystal Kistler uses coding and project learning to broaden their knowledge base.
To make sure that kids, teachers, and families have what they need to be successful and joyful, Stephanie Farley details how assistant principals can show up, listen deeply, and chill out. To start, spend time with students during lunch and find ways to do some teaching.
Middle grades math teacher Mona Iehl applies five of author Gholdy Muhammad’s strategies to unearth joy as her students experience the December classroom scramble. Mona suggests activities to help realize each strategy with your students. Try musical math and much more!
