Articles

Using Humor to Teach Language Standards

Teaching parts of speech is viewed as dreary work for most teachers. Melanie Meehan shares how you can infuse some fun into it with a little bit of humor.

Supporting Students as They Exit Intervention with Series Books

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills write about the power of series books in helping young readers build skills and independence as they exit intervention programs.

Engaging Students with Humor

Mark Levine finds humor is the “secret sauce” in engaging middle school students and including introverts in the classroom community.

Read Alouds in Content Classes

Mark Levine explains the many ways read alouds can enhance and deepen learning for middle school students in content areas like social studies and science.

Digital Interactive Read Alouds

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share everything from useful prompts to the best tech tools for moving interactive read alouds to digital platforms during remote instruction.

Issues Overload

Shari Frost finds that the issues students may be dealing with in some children’s books can be overwhelming. She shares some of her favorite books for grappling with one troubling topic at a time.

Changing How I Teach Small Groups

Tammy Mulligan listens to students and adapts her small-group instruction as they share how they learn.

Learning Standards: No Best Way

Jen Schwanke provides some critical questions for teachers to ask when they are interpreting a standard and bringing it to life with students.

Data That We Can Trust

Matt Renwick finds the data closest to the students we serve is more helpful to teachers than many benchmarks or screener scores.

Preparing for Book Club Discussions

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills find that book clubs succeed when students are given thoughtful tools to prepare for them.

See Your Students

Shari Frost explains why the simple act of “seeing” students can have such a potent effect in building a community of learners.

Using Picture Books for Rhetorical Analysis

Gretchen Schroeder finds that picture books are the perfect tool for rhetorical analysis with her high school students.

Picture Books for Mental Wellness

Mandy Robek learns a lot about worry from her daughter, and discovers a treasure trove of picture books to promote mental wellness and help students cope with difficult emotions.

Choice in Literacy Workshops

What makes choice authentic in literacy workshops? Christy Rush-Levine grapples with this tough question that leads to changes in her instruction.

Nurturing Independent Reading Lives in Middle School

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills share their favorite strategies for building a classroom community of readers where everyone has several options for choosing their next book.

Fostering Cultural Awareness Through Book Clubs

Gretchen Schroeder’s students are almost all white and live in a rural community. She finds book clubs are a wonderful tool for expanding cultural awareness.

Meet Someone New Monday: Using Picture Book Biographies to Bring Marginalized Voices into the Classroom

Melissa Quimby creates the “Meet Someone New Monday” to inspire students with picture book biographies of little-known artists, activists, and citizens who accomplish remarkable feats.

Flipping Literature Discussions

Gretchen Schroeder realizes her experiences from decades ago as a student are clouding her perspective on “flipped” literature discussions. Once she gets over her biases, she finds that online discussion of literature is a powerful equalizer for student voices.

Building Online Writing Groups

Leigh Anne Eck lists critical questions teachers might ask themselves as they build online writing communities where everyone is comfortable giving and receiving feedback.

Using Photographs in Remote Learning Communities

Bitsy Parks shares how she and her first-grade students used photography to bridge the distance between home and school this spring, learning lessons she is using this fall in remote learning contexts.

Three Things Digital Tools Have Taught Me About Feedback

Christy Rush-Levine discovers that a move to digital feedback reveals many important truths about her middle school students, including insights about the effect of grades on how learners view response to their work.

Sustaining (Not Just Building) Community Online

Poetry Resources for Remote Learning

Poetry can be the glue that holds many virtual classroom communities together. It works for quick morning meeting openings, transitions, or even a bit of laughter when energy is flagging. Cathy Mere shares her favorite poetry resources for remote learning.

Fact or Fiction?

Suzy Kaback works with students to create a “fact or fiction” class book to explore the boundaries between truth and fantasy.

Letting Students Organize Informational Books

Mandy Robek is a little nervous about setting her students loose to organize informational texts, but she couldn’t be more pleased by what they learned in the process.

Routines for Building Gratitude

Bitsy Parks finds even the dreariest days in her first-grade classroom are infinitely more enjoyable because she’s built in routines for expressing gratitude.

Management and Middle School Workshops

Christy Rush-Levine lowers the tension level in her class over management issues by moving from irritation to curiosity, using her “inner chimpanzee” voice.

Lessons and Minilessons: What’s the Difference?

What’s the difference between a lesson and a minilesson? Christy Rush-Levine finds that flexibility is just as important as length in making minilessons work well.

Varying Workshop Structures to Meet Student Needs

Tara Barnett and Kate Mills give guidance and support for varying the structures and routines in literacy workshops.

Picture Books for Persona Poems

Gretchen Schroeder uses picture books to help her high school students understand and write persona poems.