4 Tools to Help Kids Develop Empathy and Cultural Humility
Brain Rules
Don’t skip recess and be sure to let your kids get up and move around in class. John Medina has defined 12 Brain Rules, backed by research, that help us understand how kids (or anybody) learns best. Watch the videos. Read the book. Share with colleagues.
Why So Many Kids Dislike Reading
We tend to teach reading in a very industrial way in the United States. We focus on giving kids “tools” and “strategies” to “make” sense of a text. To “take it apart.” To look for the “author’s purpose”—to bounce back and forth between a main idea, and the details that “support” the main idea. There’s little wonder why students are increasingly seeking briefer, more visual, social, and dynamic media.
TEACHERS: Using Scrum Boards to Organize Small Group Projects
Popular as a planning tool in the IT industry, Scrum boards help students working on a group assignment determine what to do, who will do it, and how to track the group's progress. Learn more here.
TEACHERS: A Classroom Full of Risk Takers
No one learns without making mistakes. Quite the opposite—we learn when we make mistakes. But in the classroom, making mistakes and taking risks can be at best unrewarded, and at worst ridiculed and unnecessarily penalized. In this article State teachers of the year explain how they make students feel safe enough to take risks—and then push them to do so.
TEACHERS: Using Formative Assessment to Bring Clarity to the Classroom
The purpose of formative assessment is to inform earning, not to measure it or sum it up. When teachers use formative assessment as part of their daily classroom practice, they are better able to meet the ongoing learning needs of their students. And their students end up learning more. The power of formative assessment lies in targeted teacher actions. Learn more here.
TEACHERS: Seven Words that Might Change the Way You Teach
TEACHERS: Bringing Authors Into Your Classroom
If you want to be a better writer, you have to read, read, read. If you want to be a better reader, you have to write, write, write. Most teachers understand the reciprocal relationship between reading and writing. The question is, how do we get our students to read and write and then write and read some more? Virtual author visits are a good start. Thanks to Skype, Google Hangouts, and Zoom, it’s easier than ever to host published authors in your classroom.
TEACHERS: Three Assumptions Teachers Should Avoid
Assumptions. We all have them. We carry them into the car, into the classroom, into work. Some assumptions—particularly those of teachers that pertain to themselves and to their students—can cause frustration and burnout. Being aware of these assumptions is the first step to counteracting them
TEACHERS: Strategies for Students With Scattered Minds
Teachers can help students strengthen their brain's executive function with "workouts" in which they practice pausing, prioritizing, improving their working memory, and mapping their options. Check out these strategies for helping students with “executive dysfunction."
PARENTS: The Importance of Sleep and Strategies for Sleeping Better
FOR PARENTS: 40 Resources for Homework Help and Parent Organization
SCHOOL LEADERS: 12 Things School Leaders Should Stop During Today
There isn’t a day that goes by in the work of a school leader that is free of challenges. The never-ending stream of problems and challenges that flows across our paths during the course of an entire school year can leave even the most positive and passionate leaders feeling exhausted and depleted. Rather than ask what you can start doing, perhaps a better question would be to ask, “What should I stop doing?"
SCHOOL LEADERS: What is Culturally Responsive Teaching?
SCHOOL LEADERS: When Coaching Teachers Has Curiosity as Its Primary Goal
Center for Christian Urban Educators
Email: hpotoka@ccuechicago.org
Website: ccuechicago.org
Location: Chicago, IL, United States
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