For five years Marilyn Pryle has begun every class with 10 minutes of choice reading, inside a Book Club model. Would in work in a hybrid classroom? Yes! Her experience this year “reinforces the truths I already know.” Students want to read. Escaping into a story feels good.
Many media literacy initiatives start with skills – teaching kids to fact-check and dig for information. Instead, Angela Kohnen and Wendy Saul urge us to guide students as they assume the identity of Generalist – “sifters” who are curious, skeptical, accurate and persistent.
On her first day back Michelle Russell surveyed her students, looking for ways to improve her online teaching and – most of all – to find out how they’re doing in these difficult times. Some of their answers surprised her, and she’ll be more aware and proactive going forward.
Borrowing books from class and school libraries is less common during the pandemic. Kathie Palmieri encourages her students to read using a Bitmoji Virtual Classroom Library, Virtual Book Tasting Rooms, Flipgrid, and Mentimeter. How-to tips and book sources included!
For teacher Tan Huynh, nothing is more powerful than having students fall in love with reading. He shares ways to nurture readers, garnered from his podcast chat with Book Love author Penny Kittle. Start with self-selected books and in-class reading, guided by conferencing.
While the news about vaccines is promising, many students will continue to learn from home for more months to come. A big question then is how do we create and host energizing environments to sustain learning? Tara Lash and Sunday Cummins came up with this “club” strategy.
In a time of great uncertainty and ambiguity school leaders are often left to grapple with the impact of decisions made elsewhere and to support teachers and staff in every circumstance. Ron Williamson and Barbara Blackburn offer strategies to maximize those efforts.
Browse our 15 most-read articles of 2020 and see what you missed! Some (no surprise) speak to the unique teaching and learning circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other top reads include some how-to (and “don’t-do”) stories that teachers rediscover year after year.
Kids in the middle need independent reading time too, writes author Lynne Dorfman. Time to read a book they have chosen, time to practice skills and strategies, time to talk about books and reading with their teacher and friends. Time to be immersed in the joy of reading.
The 2016 Gallup Poll of Students asked nearly a million tweens and teens in grades 5-12 about engagement in learning. The results were not encouraging, writes author Patti Drapeau. Teachers need to move beyond the “what” of engagement to focus on the “why.”
