Doing Poorly on Purpose by G&T specialist Dr. James Delisle explores how to help smart students who do poorly in school. Many of the ideas can be effective with any student, says teacher Elizabeth OBrien. Strategies include reaching underachievers and “selective customers.”
Being mindful of what is driving the decisions we make as educators is valuable. A good place to start is by defining our own core values. New principal Rita Platt shares a method for distilling those values and tells how she applied hers to several school decisions.
Whatever you know, sharing it outside school walls can inform policymakers, journalists, the public, other teachers, researchers, and professors – who can use your classroom discoveries to better serve students. Educator and writer Jenny Grant Rankin shows how.
Responsive Literacy’s 400 pages are well worth the read, writes Linda Biondi. Each of the contributing teacher educators present a theoretical framework and practical tools to apply in the classroom and guidance on how to help young students develop a love of literacy. Five stars.
International Mindedness / Wide Open Learning
by Megan Kelly · Published 10/28/2018 · Last modified 11/25/2019
Having taught internationally since 2003, Megan Kelly loves to share her experience and enthusiasm with her students in hope they’ll become more globally minded and curious people. Here she shares strategies she uses in her classroom to open the world up to middle graders.
Co-teaching Conversations / Two Teachers in the Room
by Elizabeth Stein · Published 10/23/2018 · Last modified 11/24/2019
Co-teaching and UDL coach Elizabeth Stein has found a tool that has the potential to break down communication barriers that get in the way of what co-teachers really need to do. She recommends the Four A’s Text Protocol to energize co-teacher dialogue and collaboration.
With the “let’s be nice” novelty of the first weeks of school fading, you’re tired and the kids are restless. It may be time to refresh your systems for maintaining positive behavior. Discover ways to overcome the challenges of DEVOLSON in Rita Platt’s resource-rich post.
Articles / Classroom Discussion / Talking about Race
by MiddleWeb · Published 10/15/2018 · Last modified 02/03/2024
In his powerful book “Not Light, But Fire” teacher Matthew Kay shares three rules of discussion – each centered around listening – that he teaches his students. His goal is to transform the classroom into a true “safe space” for difficult conversations about race and life.
Assets Based Mindset / The Unstoppable ML Teacher
by Valentina Gonzalez · Published 10/07/2018 · Last modified 11/26/2019
The phrase “student assets” is heard a lot in education circles. But what does it truly mean to take on an assets based teaching mindset? What does that look like in our classrooms and lesson plans? ELL expert Valentina Gonzalez shares strategies to make it real.
Most guided reading programs emphasize daily ability grouping with too little emphasis on developing self-directed readers who love to read for pleasure or enrichment, says literacy leader Regie Routman, who points out equity issues revealed in recent research.
