Heinemann Blog

Sara defines social comprehension as developing “skills and habits to help us comprehend social issues and participate in relevant, transparent conversations.” She points out that this skill is learned, and to me, that means we need to be teaching it from the first day of school in kindergarten.

This book is for teachers who want to revive the art of analytical writing in their classrooms—from teachers of middle-grade writers who are making their first foray into analytical writing to teachers of experienced twelfth-grade writers who are looking ahead to college where their professors will expect much, much more.

Kelly and Penny discuss how this collaboration changed their teaching for the better. Our conversation with these two influential educators, picks up where we left off, by asking them to reflect on their year spent teaching together

If you, like me, suffer from bouts of the Blahs, I encourage you to develop your own plan too. To take care of our students, to do our part in ensuring Leticia and other young people like her don’t fall into the Abyss, we must first stay clear of it ourselves.

At the beginning of the school year, one of the most important things we do as teachers is get to know our children. It is during this “get to know you” time that we can easily learn about our students’ confidence levels.

At its heart, this book is about why we did what we did. Creating a classroom conducive to raising engaged readers, writers, listeners, speakers, and thinkers continually led us back to closely examining our decision-making process.

We see bookrooms as the perfect solution to provide the depth and breadth of books a teacher needs to supplement a core curriculum. In It's All About the Books, we share our vision of how a bookroom can become a shared instructional resource that provides us with what we need.

The study guide includes easy-to-use worksheets, reflection questions, and workshop strategies to invigorate reading instruction in your classroom and guide students through difficult texts.

This week on the Heinemann Podcast we welcome authors Kelly Gallagher & Penny Kittle of 180 Days. We had a lot to talk about, so we’re going to bring you our discussion in two parts. In Part One, we learn about their quest to engage and empower adolescents.

Books are the heart and soul of teaching literacy and our tools to develop lifelong readers. So how can we organize books across an entire school community to support student choice AND instructional goals? And how do we do this on any budget?

Last fall, I wrote about the Blahs, a predictable time of year when I struggle with energy, motivation, and self-doubt. A friend pointed out that our students battle their own Blahs as well.

One of the most important factors in successful student-centered instruction and learning is perseverance. If we let our students give up after the first try or get overly frustrated when they make a mistake, we are doing them a great disservice.

This month, celebrate community and confidence in mathematics.

In this video, Amy VanDerwater explains that if we are able to harness a love of poetry and use it as a way to demonstrate writing techniques across genres, students gain a better understanding of writing overall.

This week on the Heinemann Podcast we welcome Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan, authors of It's All About The Books. From design, to inventory, to organizing, and using these books in the classroom—they demonstrate how to make the most of what you have, and how to get what you need on a budget.

In this video, Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle speak to the intentions behind the book, and their hopes for helping educators develop their unique teaching methods.

Have you ever conferred with students who struggle to determine what information is really important? A clearly stated purpose for reading multiple sources can make the difference between productive and unproductive reading and thinking for many students. Here's what that might look like...

In what ways are certain topics treated as taboo in our classrooms and why? How often do we avoid talking and writing about race because we fear what others might say? If we avoid controversial issues, how will our students learn how to have civic discussion of such issues?