The Big List of Instructional Strategies for Teachers There are a LOT of instructional strategies out there. If you have been teaching for any length of time, you have probably encountered quite a few of them already—sometimes under several different names. Education does seem to have a special talent for… Continue reading
Every job has hard parts. I know that. Most teachers know that. In fact, a lot of teachers have worked plenty of other jobs before they ever stepped into a classroom. Retail. Restaurants. Offices. Warehouses. Summer jobs. Night jobs. Jobs where customers were rude, managers were clueless, schedules were unfair,… Continue reading
If you want to know the quickest way to lose a classroom, it’s simple. Give directions the wrong way. I learned this during my second year of teaching, right in the middle of a science lesson where thirty fifth graders were supposed to rotate between three stations. I explained everything… Continue reading
You know the moment. One second the room is focused, pencils moving, kids actually working. You give the signal to switch activities, and instantly it’s like someone hit the “loud” button. Chairs scrape. Conversations explode. A kid who has been silent for twenty minutes suddenly has something critically important to… Continue reading
As a teacher, I’ve always wanted my students to not just read but to truly engage with texts. Yet, so many of them go through the motions—reading the words without really thinking about what they mean. That’s why Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters by Kylene Beers and Robert… Continue reading
The First Days of School: A Must-Read for Every Teacher When I first started teaching, I was overwhelmed with questions. How do I set the tone for the year? What routines should I establish? How can I ensure my students are engaged from day one? Thankfully, I discovered The First… Continue reading
Personalized learning adjusts parts of a student’s learning experience around current needs, goals, progress, and—in appropriate places—interests or choices. It does not require a separate course for every student, and it is not the same as putting students on educational software. A practical personalized classroom still has shared curriculum, common… Continue reading
A traditional assessment usually asks a fairly straightforward question: What can this student do right now? Dynamic assessment asks another question that can sometimes be just as useful: What happens when I give the student some help? That sounds like a small difference. It really isn’t. Suppose two students miss… Continue reading
As a teacher, I’ve learned that each school year brings its own unique set of challenges. This year, that challenge arrived in the form of a new student – the kind of arrival that makes every educator take a deep breath and prepare for the unexpected. When I received that… Continue reading
As a classroom teacher, I’ve noticed a recurring theme in education: the disconnect between those who develop educational strategies and those who implement them. Nowhere is this gap more evident than in the current push for personalized learning technology, particularly in mathematics. The Promise vs. The Reality The sales pitch… Continue reading
Every morning as I walk through the doors of my classroom, I can feel the weight of our school’s challenges. Teaching in a Title I school has always been demanding, but recent years have brought an unrelenting set of pressures that test even the most dedicated educators. This isn’t a… Continue reading