Much of the writing we assign our students is public writing—writing to communicate with others. Writing-to-learn is personal writing, writing that helps students increase their comprehension of texts in all disciplines. The 2000 report of the National Reading Panel states, “Teaching students to use … writing to organize their ideas about what they are reading
How an LMS supports learning, communication, and collaboration Schools are incessantly faced with implementing new initiatives and programs. Clickers in the classroom! Use cell phones! One-to-one laptops! Online textbooks! Communicate with parents digitally! The list is endless and the pressure to keep up with ever-evolving technology is constant. Sometimes educators have trouble keeping up with
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Making connections with advisory is so much fun When we first began creating our advisory program, its purpose was to replace a 30-minute homeroom embedded in our day. One of the problems with advisory at the time was that teachers were struggling to create worthwhile activities. We needed a better plan and an advisory program
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What We Should Do So All Students Succeed Access: Why would we look at middle level education through the lens of access? What effect does access have on specific stakeholders—including ourselves? How does access (or lack thereof) affect teaching and learning in the critical middle grades? What do we do when we have an “access gap” in
This is part 1 of 5 in “Mentor Me” questions about Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). There are five components of SEL: Self-Awareness, Responsible Decision–Making, Relationship Skills, Social Awareness, and Self-Management. Classrooms where teachers both overtly and organically teach these crucial skills help students develop essential skills and dispositions. Like many teachers, I post a “daily
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Teacher collaboration and shared decision-making. In the midst of monumental changes and innovative learning strategies, raising the degree of teacher voice in our schools is needed now more than ever. While many improvement processes and strategies have come on the scene to support schools in leadership growth and student achievement, a vital component is to
Read More… from Using the Teacher-Based Team Process to Raise Teacher Voice