Article Content Type: Article
Results
Lessons from a Multitasker
Harvard Business Review reports that multitasking leads to as much as a 40% drop in productivity, increased stress, and a 10% drop in IQ. Peter Bergman I was getting...
Mentor Reader: Words
It is the beginning of our morning literacy block in my fourth-grade classroom. A bit of text is being projected onto the whiteboard screen for the students to see. As...
Hear It, Clear It Up, and Steer It
A couple of years ago I was in charge of sending out emails two weeks before our scoring workshops in writing. The first time, I was caught off guard by...
Coaching Minute: Principals and Professional Development
In this brief video, Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan talk about the challenges of getting busy principals involved in professional development given how packed their schedules are.
Taking a Fresh Look at PLCs
These days, the initialism PLC is so common in teaching vernacular that it is almost to the point of being cliche. But what does it really mean? What does a...
Meaningful Transitions During Professional Development Sessions
No matter the age or composition of a group, transitioning a large number of people from one activity to the next can be difficult. During large-group professional development sessions, it...
You Are Not My Mentor
Sociologists and psychologists have long observed our deep desire to participate in reciprocal behavior. The fact that humans feel obligated to return favors has been documented in virtually all societies...
Coaching Minute: Teachers First
In this brief video, Ruth Ayres explains why listening and asking genuine questions are essential when mentoring teachers.
Cultivating Teacher Leadership
The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership. Harvey S. Firestone For the past year I have been entrenched in curriculum development with grade-level teams...
Expanding the Literacy Classroom with Flipped Minilessons
When I first heard about the “flipped” classroom learning model, I was absolutely against it. I could not wrap my mind around the idea that watching a video at home...
Poemfields
I have felt the hard knuckle of winter, have gorged myself with the intoxication of nothing to be done. Among the circling rituals of work and the pileup of...
Word Observations
I am racing down the highway, traveling from Phoenix, Arizona to San Diego, California. Jagged mountain peaks, desert fauna, the Mexico/California border fence and periodically a town provide a backdrop...
Katie DiCesare on Word Learning (PODCAST)
Katie DiCesare chats with Franki Sibberson about word learning in Katie's first-grade classroom. A full transcript is available below the player. Franki Sibberson: Katie, you’ve been thinking...
Simplifying Word Study
Recently I was hiking. A bright yellow T-shirt with bold print caught my eye. “Life is simple,” read the slogan. Somewhere we all have encountered the message this hiker was...
March Literacy Contracts: Nonfiction Curiosities
Spring is arriving in March, and with it, a renewed sense of curiosity and enthusiasm. Spring gives us a bounce in our step, more energy, and a desire to learn...
Bracketology
It was March 2013. Brackets were everywhere you turned. March Madness had taken over NBA basketball. I was participating in Madness poetry-writing tournament. Our fifth graders were writing persuasively and...
The Pause That Refreshes: Write When the Conversation Gets Hot
This year I am participating in a book group for parents at my kids’ school. Instead of reading popular parent fare, How Children Succeed, or Mindset: The New Psychology of...
So You Think You Can Combine Sentences? You Can!
Teaching conventions unconventionally is a passion of mine. Just because I’m using the word unconventionally doesn’t mean that these approaches are new. In fact, the work of William Strong and...
Writing Fiction: More Than Just a Walk in the Park
It’s the day before the last day of school and we have taken over the local park. Hundreds of middle school students are gallivanting around eating hot dogs and snow...
Coming Apart to Come Back Together
Poet Mekeel McBride‘s poem provides a useful prompt for teachers to reflect on the underlying tensions in their classroom that might be fertile ground for healthy reflection and change. “Autobiography’s...
Benefits and Barriers: Helping Teachers Change
My husband and I had the privilege of flying to San Antonio to see our son Jeff’s graduation from Air Force Basic Training. Our family was proud and excited, which...
