If we accept that discomfort is inevitable but silence is not a strategy, what practices or systems in your school can you examine in order to confront and change outcomes for students of color?
(continue reading)
Sometimes the things that we have to do become tradition, and as tradition ages sometimes those practices do not serve all children. Sometimes we have to change an established way of doing things in order to better serve our kids.
(continue reading)
Reading, writing, and conversation can stretch the known and expand the heart and mind toward a more inclusive and empathic way of being. Lester Laminack and Katie Kelly offer a framework that can both deepen and broaden students’ understandings, insights, and empathy for the greater human family. (continue reading)
To learn together, children need to figure out how to live in the confined space of a classroom, developing processes that enable them to navigate their environment, and each other, with care, respect and trust. (continue reading)
Let’s begin thinking about aligning beliefs and practices not within the classroom, but in your personal life. Can you name something you routinely do because you believe it has a positive impact on long-term quality of life? (continue reading)
Talk has a purpose—and that purpose is to tackle the unknown—to strategize, to innovate, to problem-solve, to construct understanding. This use of talk “in the wild” frames the “why” behind purposeful talk in the classroom—our rationale for designing teaching and learning that’s dialogic in nature. (continue reading)
The Comprehension Toolkit series offers robust instruction to encourage students to develop the reading comprehension skills that lead to lifelong learning. See what's inside in this unboxing video! (continue reading)
When the reader stands in his or her own worldview, unable to see or conceive of any other perspective, a book can be a bridge. The right book, at the right time, can span the divide between where the reader stands in this moment and alternate views, new ideas, and options not yet considered. (continue reading)
The teaching of phonics is a means to an end. Children need to decode in order to independently read and write. Phonics shouldn’t feel like an interruption or detour away from these authentic experiences. Phonics should be the building of a curiosity. (continue reading)
We want to build a bridge for children—a bridge between what we are doing in class and the lives that they lead outside of class. We want to be able to show kids how each skill we teach in class makes life right now better outside of class. (continue reading)
