School leaders often find themselves coping with unexpected events that create turbulence and uncertainty. During the pandemic, these challenges have expanded and intensified. Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn share six researched steps to help leaders respond effectively.
While supervision has a place in schools, the purpose is not to improve instruction, writes principal and author Matt Renwick. Leading like a coach supports teaching and learning, and principals will be in a prime position to do this vital work if they develop three coaching skills.
Staying abreast of cutting edge research is challenging for busy educators. Curtis Chandler spotlights two areas of current study that really impact student success – Trauma Informed Pedagogy and Collective Teacher Efficacy – and shares his own wish list for future inquiry.
The new edition of Debbie Silver’s Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8 is an essential handbook for adults who want to help kids become committed, continuous learners. NBCT Kathie Palmieri finds the book’s attention to self-motivation, ZPD and growth mindset particularly helpful. Highly recommended.
Involving your students in creating public service announcements (PSAs) not only promotes media literacy, writes Frank Baker, it builds teamwork skills, energizes kids to conduct research into authentic social issues, and gives them opportunities to write with real purpose.
Novels in verse offer quicker reads with instant character connections, vivid imagery, pathways to complex issues, strong narratives, and much more. ELA teacher Kasey Short shares how to use them in class and introduces lots of titles for your middle graders.
Using Google Sheets is an efficient way to keep track of student data and meet other progress monitoring needs, writes NBCT Kathleen Palmieri. Once the initial set up is completed, you’ll find many uses for this quick data check that justify your time investment. Here’s how!
When Dina Strasser feels at a loss or stymied in something she is trying to do for her students, she often turns to her list of options to gets things done – developed during her 20 years working with school districts and their occasionally labyrinthine bureaucracies.
Being a STEM teacher in 2022 will likely be a new experience every day, even for veterans, writes curriculum designer Anne Jolly. To help out, she suggests ways STEM teachers can care for themselves and ways to sustain kids’ STEM skills, sharing many resources that can help.
A Teacher’s Guide to Mentor Texts offers a winning combination – a structured lesson approach, a range of suggested mentor texts, and an overall message adaptable to specific students. Teachers at multiple levels of experience will find it invaluable, writes Sara Pennington.
