In this brisk book in ASCD’s Arias series, Jane Bluestein reviews 7 popular classroom management practices that don’t work and then offers teacher behaviors that can build a positive learning environment. Reviewer Angie Grimes finds the 43-page book “short, sweet, and to the point.”
The authors of “Blended” clearly know their stuff, says principal/reviewer Matt Renwick, providing multiple examples of blended learning supported by technology. But Renwick questions the heavy corporate focus and one-sided citations he finds pervade the text.
Dan Feigelson makes the case for reimagined reading projects and goes on to share conversations, student notes, and teacher conference plans. The result, says reviewer Linda Biondi, is a fresh approach to having students think for themselves and helping teachers take conferring to a new level.
Culture building is a powerful method for shaping the behavior of those who work in a school because it helps establish important values and underlying assumptions about learning. Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer 3 tips for middle grades leaders.
Initial failures can produce big breakthroughs, as ELA consultant Sarah Tantillo found when students she was supporting failed to translate PARCC practice prompts into viable essays. Check out the tools Tantillo, teachers & tutors used to solve the problem.
Inclusion Classrooms / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 03/01/2015 · Last modified 11/28/2019
Elizabeth Stein gives readers a look inside an inclusive classroom as Mrs. Rhodes and Mrs. Copeland share their love for learning with students while putting UDL techniques into action. Elizabeth shares five co-teaching tips that come alive in the two teachers’ high energy classroom.
Getting Started with STEM / STEM By Design
by Anne Jolly · Published 03/01/2015 · Last modified 11/24/2019
STEM curriculum expert Anne Jolly invites students to consider how to get the most out of the engineering design challenges they will be asked to solve in their middle school math and science classes, using innovative thinking, analysis and teamwork.
Kids on the Cusp / Standardized Testing
by Mary Tarashuk · Published 02/26/2015 · Last modified 11/15/2019
Teacher Mary Tarashuk has reasserted her “Irish Zen” following the full frontal assault on PARCC testing in her last post. She describes how her fourth graders had fun learning about Chinese New Year while also practicing for the high stakes test in prescribed ways.
In “59 Reasons to Write” Kate Messner shifts from teaching writers workshop and writing books for tweens to helping teachers build their own writing skills, assisted by more than 30 published authors. Reviewer Wendy Moore plans to try out their strategies.
Reading Nathan Barber’s book, educators can apply a sports coach’s perspective to communicating effectively, harnessing the power of teamwork, making work meaningful, embracing technology, building a winning tradition, and more, says reviewer Joanne Fuchs.
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