Community Building
It's one of the big paradoxes of literacy instruction - students best learn how to read and write independently when they have a strong community of support in classrooms. How teachers build those thoughtful, kind, and challenging classroom communities is explained in these resources.
Latest Content
The Language We Use and How It Strengthens Understanding
Suzy Kaback explores the importance of the way teachers use language and invite kids to use theirs. It is the key to knowing ourselves, tuning in to others, and understanding the larger world.
QuickTake: Grading Student Writing
Ruth Ayres shares a process for grading student writing that improves efficiency and accuracy.
Do the Hard Thing
Becca Burk reminds all of us that one of the important parts of being a teacher is helping students believe they are capable. Becca shares three practical ways to uplift student capability.
Rural Communities
Julie Cox explores the differences in her experiences of teaching in the city of Louisville and teaching in a rural community. All teens have similar universal experiences, yet Julie outlines some considerations for rural students.
Read Aloud Magic
Jen Court reminds us of the power of reading aloud to students and pushes us to remember the importance of planning to use books to engage students and hone teaching points.
Our Brains on Happiness
Molly James shares the compelling research about the happiness advantage by Shawn Achor and two practical practices to make it a reality in her kindergarten classroom.
Student Voices First
David Pittman offers practical ways to place student voices first in classrooms in order for their passions, interests, and identities to influence our teaching.
Our Words Matter: Developing Perseverance in Literacy
Becca Burk reflects on the power of intentional language to build perseverance in students. She shares a booklist designed to give students scripts they need to become brave learners.
Informal Conversations Give Insight for Instruction
Melissa Quimby encourages informal conversations with students to get insight into their personalities and lives.
Building a Classroom Library with Students (and Navigating the Tricky Parts)
Tammy Mulligan leads us through the process of giving primary students the reins for building and organizing the classroom library . . . and offers tips for navigating the tricky parts.
Nourish a Sense of Belonging
Dana Murphy shares ways to nourish a sense of belonging in all students.
Lifting the Quality of Hands-Down Conversations
Tammy Mulligan leads us through troubleshooting the difficult parts of launching hands-down conversations. This is the third installment of a three-part series about launching hands-down conversations.
How to Begin a Community Circle
Bitsy Parks gives direction in beginning a community circle with primary learners.
Holidays: Where Do They Fit in the Classroom?
Bitsy Parks shares the inspiration and practical ways she celebrates and honors holidays from many cultures in her classroom.
QuickTake: Chronicling Learning All Year
Tammy Mulligan shares a beginning-of-the-year routine where second graders create an identity frame. This becomes a place to highlight photographs of their learning each week throughout the school year.
QuickTake: Leave Space for Personalization
Melissa Quimby advises leaving space for students to personalize the classroom when they arrive to start the new school year.
Quick Take: Listen to Create a Sense of Belonging
Stella Villalba encourages all educators to listen to students to understand how to create a culture of belonging.
Using Daily Attendance Questions to Build Community and Communication Skills
Gretchen Schroeder is surprised to find benefits of a stronger community and communication skills through a practical attendance practice in her high school classroom.
What I Am Reading the First Week of School
Jen Court plans to fill the first days of first grade with experiences around books. Selecting books carefully to create a sense of community in the classroom from the very beginning is the goal of this first-week booklist.
Poems to Start the Year
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share poems to start the year that touch a variety of needs, from building community to connecting with colleagues to hosting parents for back-to-school night.
Honoring Student Identity (Download a Survey)
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share their authentic process for expanding their beginning-of-the-year student survey to make it more open for all students.
Creating a Classroom Emotional Intelligence Charter
Mandy Robek outlines the process for creating a class Emotional Intelligence Charter. She includes a booklist to help students expand their vocabulary of different emotions.
Join a Reading Community
Jen Vincent invites all educators to join a reading community by participating in the kidlit version of It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
Bedtime Stories with a Mystery Reader
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share a wonderful school-wide and home read aloud experience: Bedtime Mystery Reader. They outline all of the details to bring Bedtime Mystery Reader to your school.
Take a Chance
Julie Cox invites us to take risks in order to encourage students to try new things with their writing and reading. Julie concludes that when teachers are professional risk-takers, we are more available to students, and know how to help them when they fail.
Student-Planned End-of-Year Celebration
Josie Stewart and Hannah Tills know the end of the school year is full, yet they take the time to reflect and celebrate what learners have built throughout the year by asking students to create a plan for a final celebration.
Presence Required
Christy Rush-Levine reminds us that it requires presence to sit alongside young readers and writers. In two examples, we find resilience for meeting students at their points of need and then teaching them as readers and writers.
Keeping Unity
When students feel safe then they are positioned to learn. Julie Cox shares ways to create a learning environment that brings unity to her high school classroom.
What is Communication? A Mini-Inquiry Project and Booklist
Bitsy Parks leads her first grade class in a study about communication in order to strengthen their social distanced and muffled-by-masks community. Included is a booklist.
Creating a Community of Care: Beyond the Classroom Walls
Stella Villalba outlines three ways to cultivate a community for students beyond the classroom walls. There is comfort for teachers and students in knowing that a larger community is rooting for them.
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