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
One concern in the original version of this article still feels honest and important: as a teacher, I want students to do more than move their eyes across a page and complete an assignment. I want them to understand what a text says, notice what it makes them think, and… Continue reading
When I began teaching, I felt overwhelmed by questions that seemed small until I had to answer all of them at once. How should students enter? Where should they put their work? What happens when someone needs help? How do I set expectations without spending the entire first day talking… 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
A new student joined one of my classes after several difficult school experiences. I knew some of the history in advance, including suspensions and conflicts. I also knew how quickly a reputation can enter a classroom before the student has had a chance to do so. The transition was not… Continue reading
As a classroom teacher, I keep running into the same uncomfortable space: the distance between a good educational idea and the conditions required to make it work. The idea may be thoughtful. The evidence behind it may be useful. The presenter may understand the strategy well. Then the classroom door… Continue reading
Teaching in a Title I school can be demanding, meaningful, frustrating, or all three at once. But the words Title I are often used as shorthand for assumptions they cannot support. Title I is not a rating that says a school is bad, that its students behave poorly, or that… Continue reading