Teaching and learning in grades 4-8

Sharing Your Expertise with the World

Jenny Rankin writes that sharing teachers’ individual wisdom and expertise with the world is necessary, and, more importantly, possible. Read Rankin’s book to feel encouraged and inspired in your quest to expand your impact on the world, says teacher-reviewer Kathleen Palmieri.

The Skills That Matter for College and Careers

Are you tasked with preparing students for college and careers? “The Skills That Matter: Teaching Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Competencies in Any Classroom” by Noonan and Erickson can help, writes consultant Anne Anderson. The book gives teachers and administrators a place to begin.

Helping Kids Travel the Bridge to Joyful Reading

Reading teachers work hard to meet the needs of individual students in small groups. Yet many students struggle while reading self-selected books. Meghan Duermit and Sunday Cummins offer ways to build stronger bridges of support from guided instruction to joyful independent reading.

When Elections Bring Controversy to Class

How might you bring the 2020 presidential election into your fall classes? Learn how Emily DeRiso transformed her 4th grade social studies curriculum into a successful election immersion experience in 2016, setting clear boundaries in support of participatory democracy.

Can Genius Hour Help Improve the World?

Education isn’t about what the teacher does, it’s about what the child learns, write Genius Hour innovators Denise Krebs and Gallit Zvi. Learning happens in every subject when students have a purpose and are given autonomy and time. And their learning can benefit the world.

This Social Studies Compendium Is a Keeper

The authors of the Social Studies Teacher’s Toolbox have constructed a research-based “honest, human guide” to helping students understand and care about what they learn. You will dig through and dog-ear it, and your students will be the richer for it, writes Sarah Cooper.