A paradox: Students raise their voices when they have something personal at stake. But, to be heard outside the classroom, they must meet the expectations of a wider community. A personal stake is just not enough. In helping to prepare students in one urban school to
Do you have a lurking suspicion that you are working harder than your students? Do you pore through Pinterest and TeachersPayTeachers, looking for a magic lesson that will engage your kids? Well, stop. There’s a simple fix I’ll get to in a sec. First, let’s be clear
I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to review Ana Homayoun’s new book, Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World (August 2017). I am very much in this space as I work at a high school of
The most important aspect of engaging and motivating students is creating professional relationships with them that demonstrate a real, genuine, and empathic interest in their lives, hopes, dreams, and lived experiences as cultural beings. It doesn’t hurt to have fun and a shared sense of
In my National Writing Project summer institute, each morning begins with a participant sharing a short powerful text to use as an inspiration for writing. This last year, NWP fellow Nancy Tacke shared a poem entitled “I Remember.” The poem first listed several intense memories
How many of us have listened to a speaker or read a book and marveled at the descriptive power and richness of the words used? We have our favorite speakers, reporters, or authors who move us through how they write. Nations, peoples, political change
Just take off the top of your head! Share your reading (and writing) expertise with think alouds. In our last post, “Developing Student Expertise Through Deliberate Practice,” Michael Smith discussed Anders Ericsson’s (Ericsson & Pool, 2016) findings about deliberate practice. For practice to develop expertise, it
My new favorite teaching move is using visual artwork of all kinds to introduce the concepts and strategies I am teaching my students. What’s the itch and where’s the scratch? What’s the itch? That my very diverse students, including underserved populations like refugee and LFS (limited formal
Imagine this scene: There are a few minutes before school starts and you’re walking to your room. You see a colleague and say “Hey, how are things?” Your colleague pulls you aside and begins, “Well, I have to tell you, not too good right now.
As the school year begins it offers an opportunity to create an intentional classroom community of readers. One of those intentions is likely to help students become risk-takers who feel willing and able to tackle challenges and outgrow themselves as readers. When students feel pressure