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Seeking Personal Relevance
Christy Rush-Levine has to figure out how to engage a class of students that is compliant and dutiful, but shows little passion for reading and writing.
The Year’s First Read Aloud
From length to heart, Tara Smith provides seven criteria for selecting the first read aloud of the year that can engage students right from the start.
Flipping Negative Teacher Emotions
Gretchen Schroeder struggles to understand the meaning and value of her teaching when two former students overdose and die, another pleads guilty to murder, and yet another is arrested for domestic violence. She also looks at the corrosive effects of both apathy and envy. The result is a deep reflection on how teachers can move beyond sadness and other difficult emotions.
Three-Word Meditation
Mark Levine depends upon a simple meditation strategy during the required moment of silence in his classroom to begin each day with a calm sense of purpose.
Recharging with My Tribe
Stella Villalba uses the inquiry and reflection skills she has developed as a teacher to pore through her planner and journal for clues to why her energy flagged in the winter and spring, and what she can do differently next year.
Getting to the Heart of Theme
Tara Smith shares many strategies for helping her sixth graders get to the heart of understanding themes in literature.
Splashing Around to Find Themes
Christy Rush-Levine moves from emphasizing theme to teaching strategies for understanding text, and finds it’s a much better way to get her eighth graders to grapple with theme in natural, organic ways.
Writing Routines: Drafting Autonomy
Justin Stygles questions his conferring routine during writing workshops, and the value of interrupting students early in the drafting process.
Refugees: A Children’s Booklist
There is probably no population more misunderstood or vilified than refugees. Stella Villalba shares a booklist to help young students understand the refugee's plight and experiences.
Comics and Graphic Novels for Tweens
Comic books and graphic novels are genres tweens adore, but teachers sometimes struggle to embrace. Ruth Shagoury creates a booklist with engaging books in the genre any teacher would enjoy.
Conference Records That Stay with Kids
Ruth Ayres explains why conferring records that stay with kids are useful for teachers.
Conferring Notes
When it comes to conferring notes, form needs to follow function. Dana Murphy quit looking for the perfect template, and started focusing on what kinds of notes are most helpful.
Launching a Historical Fiction Genre Study
Tara Smith finds her sixth graders love historical fiction, but they often lack the background knowledge to understand texts fully. She launches her historical fiction unit with a careful mix of discussion, anchor charts, and shared texts.
Content and Context
Melanie Meehan considers content and context for students who struggle to master new skills because of a lack of background knowledge.
Rethinking Spring Assessments
It's May, and teachers everywhere are preparing for final assessments of students. Jennifer Schwanke explains why it might be time to rethink or even ditch some of those plans.
More Scholarly Discussions in Middle School
“Eat my shorts!” Christy Rush-Levine overhears a student comment in a literature group, and begins a quest to teach her students strategies for more appropriate and thoughtful conversations around texts.
Know and Wonder: Deepening Reflection at the Start of Texts
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills use a know-and-wonder activity to encourage curiosity and independence as their seventh graders begin a new text.
Independent Project Hiccups
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills conclude their series on independent projects with advice on how to handle issues that often crop up as students design and work through writing their projects.
Improving Turn-and-Talks
Melanie Meehan shares questions and reflection prompts to make the turn-and-talk strategy more effective.
Compass Points and Empathy
Andrea Smith uses the “compass points” strategy to provoke better whole-class discussions and reflection during read alouds.
My World Maps
Creating “world” maps is a great way to explore the territories beyond school that matter most to everyone in your classroom. Suzy Kaback explains how to create them with students early in the year as a way to get to know them as learners and community members.
Authentic Reading in Kindergarten
Dana Murphy realizes the best way to introduce students to reading in kindergarten is to apply the principles that work at home with her own children.
One Child, Many Stories
Asking the right questions of family members can get you far more valuable information than anything from an assessment, especially when you are dealing with English language learners. Stella Villalba explains why initial meetings with new families are crucial.
Spreading Love with Compliments
Tara Barnett and Kate Mills close out the year in their eighth-grade classroom with a compliments activity.
Summer Reading
Bitsy Parks reflects upon her own not-so-successful experiences as a parent in getting her four children to read during the summer months. She uses these parenting lessons to help students take the initiative for summer reading by writing down commitments and goals in her first-grade classroom.
Looking Forward with Students
Melanie Meehan uses reflective questions and video to build a library of materials at the end of the year to use with next year's class.
Puppy Chow
How do you know an assignment is authentic and worthy of your students' time? Suzy Kaback explains why you need to try it out yourself first.
Using Tech to Find Authentic Audiences for Student Writing
Matt Renwick discovers technology provides many authentic audiences for student writing.
Reimagining Reading Logs
Reading logs have fallen out of favor in many classrooms because they often become a rote activity for recording pages read. Tara Barnett and Kate Mills find authenticity with the logs comes when they move from emphasizing recording to goals and reflection.
Weeding a First-Grade Library
Bitsy Parks has a simple seven-step process for a hard day’s work of weeding out her first-grade classroom library.
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