In Jay Wamsted’s 8th grade math class he chooses to go right for the conversation on race and culture when the opportunity arises. “After all, why not try to know each other a little better?” Learning happens, he says, when students and teacher can be authentic with each other.
Kasey Short shows how nontraditional fantasy books can be used to address difficult topics, provide real world commentary, counter stereotypes, allow students to see kids that look like them as heroes, and inspire new ways of thinking and imagining. Lots of titles included!
Deciding when – and how much – to help our students can be difficult, writes new-teacher educator Curtis Chandler. It requires both a self-assessment of our own preconceptions and the ability to strike a delicate balance between high expectations and full support for all.
Find out how adopting a lawyer mindset can help all students develop critical thinking skills and dispositions in Thinking Like a Lawyer by Colin Seale. NBCT Kim Rensch likes that the book is a quick read and offers reasonable ways to integrate thinking skills with curricula.
We cannot continue to subject students to practices that are clearly not working. In Collective Leader Efficacy, former principal Peter M. DeWitt shows how to move forward in a team effort, empowering educators to center on students, writes district HR leader Brian Taylor.
Is bullying in schools a social pandemic we need to take more seriously? Middle grades teacher Laleh Ghotbi makes a compelling case that educators and parents can do more to protect students being harmed by religious, cultural, racial and gender prejudice and animosity.
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.
Students in the middle are facing a perfect storm of stress, anxiety and overwhelm. Educators Trisha DiFazio and Allison Roeser share ways to help them grow a sense of connectedness and belonging with easy to implement SEL strategies for all content areas. Start with Battery Life!
Bright Complex Kids by Jean Sunde Peterson and Daniel B. Peters is highly readable and highly evidentially rigorous in helping educators, families and health professionals identify and work with gifted children of all socio-economic backgrounds, writes educator Amy Estersohn.
Do you invite student talk? If we want kids to engage in the lessons we’re teaching, they need to see us valuing what they have to say. Kelly Owens shares tips for creating a “two-way” classroom community and home connections that encourage authentic dialogue and build trust.
