Coaches, Teachers

Altruism: Is It Enough?

I’m currently reading Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic, her national bestseller about the life and death of President James Garfield. In the early pages of the book, Millard recounts the accomplishments of one of Garfield’s contemporaries, Alexander Graham Bell. I was struck by a particular passage that describes Bell’s life and passionate pursuits. Although …

English learners, Teachers

Planning Powerful Learning for Newcomer ELLs

One of the biggest challenges teachers face today is designing instruction that allows English Language Learners to access both language and content in powerful ways. Much has been written and resources abound, but the complex task of planning and executing engaging, differentiated lessons that stick is just not that simple. This year I’ve been a …

Summer Reading, Teachers

Closing the Gap: It’s Not Too Early to Be Designing Summer Reading Programs

It’s February, I know, and there are still four months until summer begins for students and their families. But this is the perfect time to be planning strategically to provide ways to gets kids to read books, lots of books, over the summer to combat the decline of reading growth. Photo Credit  © Wavebreakmedia Ltd …

Accountability, Campus Admins, Coaches, Leadership

Accountability Ensures a Good Education For All Students—Or Does It?

Accountability—the idea of holding schools, districts, educators, and students responsible for results—has become the most-recent watchword in education. In more and more states and districts, policymakers are moving to reward achievement and punish failure in schools, in an effort to ensure that children are getting a good education and that tax dollars aren’t being wasted. …

Kidlit, Reading, Teachers

Reading Kidlit Can Change Your Classroom and Your Life

There’s a lot of buzz in the education world about ways to motivate students to read, but what about enticing teachers to read more children’s literature? The life of a teacher is packed with responsibilities inside and outside the classroom, but making time to read a wide variety of children’s/teen’s books is vitally important. There …

Reading, Summer Reading

3 Surefire Ways to Avoid the Summer Slide

Each summer, students in poverty fall further and further behind in their reading progress during the summer break. The problem is that children from low-income neighborhoods simply don’t have access to books in the ways that kids from middle class homes do. It’s a complex issue, but it’s possible there’s a solution in as few …

Campus Admins, Coaches, Teachers

Welcome to My New WordPress Blog!

In this space I’ll be exploring everyday teachers committed wholly to student learning, tackling hard questions that beat at the heart of a classroom, analyzing the latest messages coming from educational professionals, and envisioning application for classroom use. I hope you’ll stick around and journey with me.

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