How We Pumped Up Our Understanding of Math Vocabulary
By Kathleen Palmieri A rigorous math curriculum emphasizes conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency using multiple operations. But can we truly pose purposeful questions and facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse if students are unsure of the math terms? As the math curriculum advances, so does the…
Answers to the Five Biggest ELA Teaching Questions
Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Middle & High School ELA By Matthew Johnson, Matthew R. Kay, and Dave Stuart Jr.(Corwin Press, Five to Thrive series, 2022 – Learn more) Reviewed by Kelli Stuhr As a young teacher, I was overly optimistic when attending professional…
A Wise and Practical Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work
Start Here Start Now: A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School CommunityBy Liz Kleinrock(Heinemann, 2021 – Learn more) By Jeny Randall According to an Education Week survey, I am the current average teacher: “A 43-year-old [cisgendered] white woman with nearly a decade…
Preventing Burnout in the COVID Era
Educator and Psychology Today columnist Jenny Rankin’s 2017 book First Aid for Teacher Burnout was a bestseller. What advice does she have for us in COVID times? By Jenny Grant Rankin, Ph.D. Before we faced the COVID pandemic, we already faced a teacher burnout pandemic….
Teaching SEL-Infused ELA Lessons with the ‘The Shark Caller’
By Katie Caprino I picked up The Shark Caller by Zillah Bethell a little bit ago at a stop by one of my favorite beach bookstores. There was something about this novel’s cover that drew me in. When I opened it, I was magnetically drawn…
3 Literacy Champions Push Back on Book Ban and Censorship
If there’s ever been a time when Banned Books Week needs to be “Banned Books Month” that time is now. With that thought in mind, we’re publishing this post by Lynne Dorfman and her colleagues a few days after the official week ends. Consider it…
6 Ways to Help Students Achieve Full Media Fluency
Three leaders in the digital citizenship movement offer strategies educators can use to teach media literacy in highly effective ways. By Shawn McCusker, Richard Irvan & Tom Driscoll Shawn McClusker Most of us who follow politics across the globe are aware that the Age of…
Culturally Responsive Teaching in Gifted Education
Culturally Responsive Teaching in Gifted Education: Building Cultural Competence and Serving Diverse Student PopulationsEdited by C. Matthew Fugate, Wendy A. Behrens, Cecelia Boswell, and Joy Lawson Davis(Routledge, 2021 – Learn more) Reviewed by Megan Kelly I was immediately drawn to this book even though I…
The Power We Gain by Teaching Vulnerably
The Power of Teaching Vulnerably: How Risk-Taking Transforms Student Engagement By David Rockower(Heinemann, 2022 – Learn more) Reviewed by Amy Estersohn “I would like to apologize to all of my former students who endured the school uniform debate/persuasive writing activity, which I led for years,” confesses…
Try This Counseling Recipe to Change School Climate
By Jean Sunde Peterson Some years ago, John Littrell and I studied Claudia, a school counselor, who had changed her K-5 elementary school of 500 students from extreme acrimony to impressive harmony during her first three years there. Among Claudia’s key elements were listening and…