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Detours: A Reminder of the Humanity of Students
Gretchen Schroeder reminds us of the importance of checking in with students and gauging how they are feeling—and then responding with authenticity and joy.
Increasing Student Choice
We want students to be lifelong learners, eager to grow, and equipped to face challenges. For this to happen, we have to let the classroom be a place that reflects these qualities. Julie Cox offers three innovative ways to leave choice in the hands of students. In turn, they learn to trust themselves and their learning, and believe that they are capable of finding answers.
Plagued by Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an age-old issue, but with the emergence of AI tools, it’s plaguing our classrooms again. Vivian Chen offers three practical (and essential) approaches when working with writers.
Anchor Charts: A Tool for Every Classroom
Leigh Anne Eck reflects on the importance of anchor charts and the way they help students be more independent.
Considerations for AI in the Classroom
Gretchen Schroeder considers the positive ways AI will influence her high school English classroom.
My Teaching Toolbox (Part 1)
Every now and then we make the classic teaching mistake: assign rather than teach. Dana Murphy curated her favorite teaching tools that help her stay inspired to continually teach students. This is part one of a two-part series.
Considering Positionality and Developing New Sight Lines
Gretchen Schroeder shares a powerful approach to reading response to help students consider their positionality in a scene. Your identity, your thoughts, and your experiences influence the way that you relate to a text. This is your positionality as a reader, and it’s important to consider your positionality within a text because it explains how and why we come to certain conclusions as we read.
How Long Does This Have to Be?
Students often question how long a piece of writing needs to be. Gretchen Schroeder shares a strategy that changed the focus of writing projects from length to meaning.
From a Blank Canvas to a Community Space
Jodie Bailey approaches setting up her math classroom as a blank space with an invitation for students to engage in establishing identity, creativity, and collaboration.
Emoji Book Talks
Jen Vincent outlines a twist on book talks—the Emoji Book Talks. This is a fast and fun way for students to share books and build their Books to Read lists.
Middle School Reading Routines
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share ways to establish middle school reading routines. They share two downloads to help support reading routines in all classrooms.
Small-Group Conversations About Independent Reading
Jen Vincent scaffolds conversations to help students discuss their independent reading books in small groups…even when everyone is reading a different book! Download and print a copy of the guide to support students in their small-group conversations.
It’s Time to Admire: Sharing in the Beauty of Students’ Writing
Heather Fisher shares a process to help teachers learn to admire student writers and find the beauty in their work.
QuickTake: Choice in Making Plans for Writing
Ruth Ayres shares the importance of giving students choice when planning their writing projects.
Writing from the Heart
Kate Mills and Tara Barnett pour their hearts into teaching writers, but when Tara loses her family dog, she is reminded that writing is the thing that helps us understand what’s most important.
Centering Students’ Brilliance (Booklist)
Stella Villalba is passionate about centering the beauty, brilliance, and genius of all students in our classrooms. She shares an inclusive booklist to inspire and support other educators in doing the same.
Three Ways to Engage Your Students in Reading and Writing Poetry This Spring
Gretchen Schroeder offers three poetry writing activities to take the pressure off of the writing process by using another poet’s structure and/or words as a starting point. You’ll be amazed by how deep and personal the resulting poems can become. Download a PDF for students to collect lines for a cento poem.
Student-Generated Questions to Promote Problem Solving and Modeling with Mathematics
Mallory Messenger shares a process for students to engage and solve a type of intriguing question called Fermi Questions.
Authentic Audience
Julie Cox offers three questions to determine authentic audiences for high school students to share work.
Teaching Students to Be Teachers
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share a process for empowering students to be teachers in partnerships and small-group instruction.
It’s the Final Countdown: Using Chunking and Timers to Scaffold Reluctant Writers
What do you do when students won’t write during class? Gretchen Schroeder offers a creative, practical, and effective solution.
Building Independence in Problem Solving
Mallory Messenger shares the intentional moves needed to help students build independence in problem solving.
Exploring Rural Literature—A Middle-Grade Booklist
Leigh Anne Eck was named the Indiana Rural Teacher of the Year and shares the way she rethought her library through the lens of reflecting her students’ rural identity or revealing rural stereotypes. This middle-grade booklist is an excellent place for us all to begin expanding our classroom libraries.
Rural Matters: Revealing Perceptions and Celebrating Roots
Gretchen Schroeder addresses the negative and positive perceptions of rural people with her high school students through readings, discussions, and analytical writing. Download a guide for Critical Rural Perspective Analysis to use with your students.
Assessing High School Readers
Secondary instructional coach Holly Wenning shares ways to assess high school readers.
Assessment in Classroom Book Clubs
In this third installment about classroom book clubs, Leigh Anne Eck shares options for robust assessment as well as answers to some frequently asked questions.
Letting Informational Mentors Lead the Way
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share a practical process for using an informational mentor text to support students as readers and writers. Download a note sheet to support students in noticing text structure.
One-Page Reading Response: A Simple Approach to Complex Assessment
Christy Rush-Levine uses one-page reading responses as a simple culminating activity to provide closure for book clubs. However, the data they offer about readers is far from simple.
Implementing Classroom Book Clubs (Part Two)
In this second installment about book clubs, Leigh Anne Eck shares procedures for book club meetings, as well as discusses the importance of standards and instruction. Download a discussion guide.
Teaching Readers Rather Than Teaching Books
Secondary instructional coach Holly Wenning shares her own paradigm shift of teaching readers rather than teaching books, and encourages all teachers to consider the importance of putting students before books when planning literacy instruction.
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