Welp. We’re still here, in this not-so-fun space of teaching during a pandemic. Can a simple shift in mindset offer much-needed energy and impact on student learning? So glad you asked. Turns out, yes! The challenge we face as teachers is to reorient our classrooms so that transfer is the
Lately it seems that our inboxes, news feeds, and social media streams are flooded with worrisome messages about “COVID slide” and “Learning Loss.” While it’s true that the past year has been filled with challenges, we invite teachers, parents, and other stakeholders to join us in a
None of us expected that our students would be engaged in online and hybrid learning for so many months. This reality has created very real barriers to knowing and assessing our students in meaningful ways. The good news is this very challenge has created rich opportunities
For the past 10 months, many teens have been cut off from their key sources of social support. They, like all of us, have struggled to adapt to long hours at home with few interactions outside our immediate households, and many have lived with anxiety, sadness, anger, and depression. For
The negative effects from teaching during COVID-19 are a hot topic. While there have been positives resulting from the pandemic—especially the need to value and teach self-regulation and to have teachers engage in higher levels of release of responsibility (Hattie 2021)—there are many students who have failed to thrive, been denied access to technology, and been absent and not engaged. While these results occur also in regular schooling, too, COVID-19 spotlights the need to
Beginning in March 2020 and continuing to the present, educators across the nation have shown remarkable resilience, creativity, and compassion as they work to educate their students. The COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic shift to virtual and hybrid learning have revealed and exacerbated educational inequities
Has the sudden shift to virtual learning sent you searching for motivating, engaging, and challenging activities for your online classroom? More and more, I am hearing teachers and parents lament over students who are logging in but tuning out. And as schools transition back to face-to-face,
Rigorous, sustained and job-embedded professional learning for teachers is critical; the research is clear that a rise in student outcomes is not possible without an investment in our teachers. But on the ground, enhancing teacher practice is hard. School terms move at a frenetic pace,
Before you read any farther, I want you to consider the following. How would your students, whether face-to-face, hybrid, or at a distance, respond to these three questions? What am I learning? Why am I learning this? How will I know that I have learned it? We
Let’ s admit it, this past year has been one of anguish, turmoil, anxiety, and sheer havoc for every segment of society, in particular, multilingual learners and their families who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and racial unrest. It has also been a time for educators to take stock of their