TeachThought

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

Don’t Use Physical Education As Punishment contributed by Dr. Kymm Ballard, Executive Director for SPARK Think about any time you’ve seen “army boot camp” portrayed in pop culture — are you picturing the traditional drill sergeant, ordering his troops to do endless laps and push-ups, as punishment for their errors that day?

Education 300

Education Elementary School Psychology Classroom Management 300

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Inclusion is essential for special education (SPED) because it promotes the social and academic development of students with disabilities, fosters a sense of belonging, and prepares them for life outside of school. Collaboration among educators, positive behavior support, and peer interactions are crucial.

Teaching 489

Teaching Junior High Professional Development Leadership 489

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 2, 2025

As educators, we feel differently. What we mean is that the success of novel instruction hinges not just on the quality of the books we teach but on the intellectual culture we surround them with. If novels are to survive, it will be because schools believe in their power and put in the work to keep them fresh.

K-12 135

K-12 Pedagogy High School Cultures 135

TCI

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Civic education is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, yet recent evaluations reveal significant gaps in how it is taught across the nation. High-quality civics and U.S. Addressing gaps in civics education is crucial for developing engaged citizens. State Evaluations Reveal Gaps in Civics Education In 2021, The Thomas B.

Civics 98

Civics Teaching Civic Engagement Social Studies 98

A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

When one looks at education in general there is very little change from over 150 years ago. Back then the education system was designed to serve an industrialized world that was in desperate need of skilled factory workers. Fast forward 150 years and you will notice that the world has radically changed, but education has not.

Leadership 416

Leadership Cultures Tradition High School 416

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 10, 2019

Recently I recently learned about Pocket Points , an app that educators are using to promote better decision-making amongst students with the goal of keeping them off their phones when not being used to achieve learning outcomes associated with the class. I am a huge proponent of harnessing and leveraging mobile technology in the classroom.

Classroom Management 419

Classroom Management Cultures High School Teaching 419

A Principal's Reflections

JUNE 8, 2014

For many years New Milford High School was just like virtually every other public school in this country defined solely by traditional indicators of success such as standardized test scores, graduation rates, and acceptances to four year colleges. If education is good for one thing it is making excuses not to move forward.

Leadership 405

Leadership Tradition High School Library 405

A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

The summer of 2013 was probably one of the most important hiring years during my seven-year tenure as a high school principal. Now don’t get me wrong, I hired so many amazing educators over the years and will forever be indebted to the incredible work they did for our students.

Library 408

Library Leadership Cultures Tradition 408

A Principal's Reflections

APRIL 2, 2023

Pedagogical leaders recognize that management is a necessary part of the job, but it shouldn't come at the expense of cultivating a positive learning culture to boost academic achievement. I personally taught a high school biology class during my first few years as an administrator, which is an excellent example of leading by example.

Leadership 542

Leadership K-12 Artifacts Lesson Plan 542

A Principal's Reflections

SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

When I reflect back on what we were able to accomplish at New Milford High School, I am overtaken by a great sense of pride. We were able to transform the learning culture of a traditional school and in the process got results while becoming an example that others emulated. It is driven by choice, voice, and advocacy.

Advocacy 388

Advocacy Cultures Government Tradition 388

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 16, 2020

I often tell audiences during keynotes and workshops that my role isn’t to tell anyone what to do, but instead to get educators to think critically about what they do. The fact for many in education is that we teach the way we were taught and lead the way we were led. Following the protocol described above, I facilitated coaching days.

Pedagogy 422

Pedagogy Economics Leadership Elementary School 422

A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 29, 2020

It is nearly impossible to create a culture of learning if there are elements of boredom, inactivity, and lack of relevance. Thus, I reverted back to what I was comfortable with in terms of what I could control and perceived that educators wanted. In order to empower people at some level, you first need to engage them.

Leadership 545

Leadership Tradition Cultures High School 545

A Principal's Reflections

MARCH 5, 2023

Truth be told, when it comes to education, there is no perfection, no matter where quantitative and qualitative metrics reside. There is always work to be done and effective educators embrace this wholeheartedly. A standout example of this is Quest Academy Junior High School in Utah. How can we improve?

Junior High 474

Junior High Cultures Leadership Tradition 474

The Hechinger Report

JANUARY 1, 2025

This story about eighth grade algebra was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. It was fourth-period Basic Algebra 8 class on a gray October morning at Braham Area High School. Department of Education spokesperson Alberto Betancourt.)

Middle School 145

Middle School High School Tutoring K-12 145

The Hechinger Report

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

Theres a half-billion-dollar federal program that is supposed to help students with disabilities get into the workforce when they leave high school, but most parents and even some school officials dont know it exists. I just wish we could have gotten help while he was still in high school. That was the hope.

High School 128

High School Library Government Public School 128

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 12, 2014

My narrow focus was on sustaining a school culture focused on rules, compliance, conformity, and preserving the status quo. Image credit: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bzly4ZyCMAE1uDY.jpg It is scary to think that the culture I describe above is still prevalent in the majority of schools across the country.

Cultures 396

Cultures Tradition High School Education 396

A Principal's Reflections

JUNE 21, 2015

This was a natural connection to my work as a high school principal as you will not find an effective leader who is not an effective communicator. So there I was churning out tweets about everything going on at New Milford High School. In the field of education, schools are considered a brand.

Leadership 416

Leadership High School Tradition Cultures 416

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 21, 2022

A meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students showed promising results. As this model shows, the impact of rigorous and relevant teaching and learning relies on strong student-educator relationships.

Pedagogy 470

Pedagogy Classroom Management Leadership Cultures 470

The Hechinger Report

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

The novel follows the twins Joshua and Christophe, who recently graduated high school. As a teacher, I know that the desire for building a culture of trust is strong — and mutual. My commitment to the school and the community has now made it possible for me to talk openly with parents about my curricula.

Cultures 138

Cultures Advocacy Lesson Plan High School 138

The Hechinger Report

APRIL 29, 2024

More than 75 percent of elementary school math teachers said they used their school’s recommended materials, but fewer than 50 percent of high school math teachers said they did. Related: Education research, condensed. The survey results varied by grade level.

High School 145

High School Tutoring Lesson Plan Elementary School 145

TeachThought

AUGUST 7, 2024

Address Common Project-Based Learning Challenges Through Culture-Building contributed by Sara Segar , Experit Learning Depot I would never claim to be the world’s best project-based educator. I’ve learned that every PBL struggle is preventable with a solid PBL culture. What is a PBL culture?

Project-Based Learning 325

Project-Based Learning Cultures High School Teaching 325

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 2, 2024

As the Watonga school system’s Indian education director, Hollie Youngbear works to help Native American students succeed — a job that begins with getting them to school. She makes sure students have clothes and school supplies. One helps students with school expenses and promotes conferences for tribal youth.

High School 99

High School Charter School History Cultures 99

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 29, 2023

Aléshah Brown wasn’t yet in high school when she started having doubts about college. This story also appeared in The Washington Post “Even in middle school, you’re feeling all this pressure and stress about going to college, but no one’s asking you, ‘What do you want to do?’ ” said Brown, of San Antonio, Texas.

High School 139

High School Cultures Middle School Economics 139

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 27, 2022

While it is understood that management is a necessity associated with the position, it should not be something that comes at the expense of improving the learning culture. During my first couple of years as an administrator, I taught a section of high school biology. This is leading by example at its best.

Leadership 529

Leadership Archiving Lesson Plan Tradition 529

ED Surge

OCTOBER 4, 2023

When Mayra Valtierrez talks about the students in New Mexico public schools who are learning English, one thing becomes clear: It’s an incredibly diverse population. Parsing education data into snack-sized servings. The data covers 10 years, starting with 2010-11 through the 2019-20 school year. Data from the U.S.

High School 129

High School Public School Cultures Education 129

A Principal's Reflections

AUGUST 24, 2014

The new school year has begun for many educators across the country with others soon to follow after Labor Day. Administrators and teachers alike will work to establish a shared vision and subsequent plan of action for meaningful change that will hopefully lead to cultural transformation. Here is the problem though.

Artifacts 391

Artifacts Cultures Tradition High School 391

ED Surge

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

This also reflects a broader issue that sends a damaging message to students about what’s truly important in their education. When we devalue the subject areas on the margins of our state-mandated curriculum, we fail to recognize the full range of skills students need for a well-rounded education.

Heritage 134

Heritage Cultures Teaching Critical Thinking 134

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 2, 2024

Schools also must navigate distrust dating back to the U.S. government’s campaign to break up Native American culture, language and identity by forcing children into abusive boarding schools. AP's analysis does not include data on schools managed by the U.S. Franklin Credit: Ross D.

Elementary School 94

Elementary School Charter School Cultures High School 94

ED Surge

DECEMBER 11, 2024

As a public high school teacher in a state and district with a teachers union, my contract entitles me to a duty-free lunch. Many teachers dont necessarily see their students outside the confines of their class often, but high school is about way more than class time.

K-12 113

K-12 Cultures High School History 113

A Principal's Reflections

FEBRUARY 18, 2024

We live in exciting times as unprecedented access to knowledge, research, and effective strategies at our fingertips can assist educators in creating meaningful experiences for students that align with both needs and strengths. This is yet another testament to the culture of learning that has been established.

Junior High 482

Junior High Pedagogy Professional Development Leadership 482

A Principal's Reflections

OCTOBER 23, 2022

for feedback in his synthesis of 800 meta-analyses of education research studies. It was found that feedback ranked among the highest of hundreds of education practices he studied. Think about all the conversations that educators have with learners on a daily basis. Review of Educational Research (Vol 77, No1).

Junior High 392

Junior High Leadership Cultures Research 392

The Hechinger Report

MARCH 30, 2023

Editor’s note: This story led off this week’s Future of Learning newsletter, which is delivered free to subscribers’ inboxes every other Wednesday with trends and top stories about education innovation. Carver said he received little to no support from his school administration. Subscribe today! When Willie Carver Jr.

Cultures 145

Cultures High School Leadership Teaching 145

A Principal's Reflections

APRIL 19, 2020

In a previous post , I recommended that grading kids should be avoided as many have yet to complete one assignment since schools closed, and there are equity issues at a scale most have never seen before. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you want to get some more information on what can be done for your school or district.

Leadership 454

Leadership Pedagogy Cultures High School 454

ED Surge

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

As a math educator at the high school and middle school levels, I lived for the moments when students’ furrowed brows ever-so-slightly began to unfold and smiles emerged. Though some argue that mathematics is culturally independent, I can say from experience that it is anything but.

Cultures 137

Cultures Civic Engagement Civics Pedagogy 137

ED Surge

JANUARY 22, 2025

As an art educator, I am not alone in seeing this phenomenon, other art teachers across the USA know how the arts can give multilingual learners (MLs) opportunities to succeed in school even if they are struggling in other classrooms. In Long Beach, I attended a school with a large population of multilingual learners.

K-12 119

K-12 Middle School Cultures Teaching 119

ED Surge

AUGUST 28, 2023

On a Friday morning in March, students and teachers gathered at a hip hotel here to reimagine what their high schools could be. The delegation from Calvin Coolidge High School was thinking big — as in, global. Yet measuring whether a redesigned high school is working as intended, and why, is difficult to do.

High School 120

High School Leadership Public School Charter School 120

A Principal's Reflections

NOVEMBER 19, 2023

The dynamism of the world, driven by scientific discoveries, technological innovations, and cultural shifts, ensures that there is always room for improvement. My work with Quest Academy Junior High School (UT) validates why change succeeds or fails.

Junior High 341

Junior High Pedagogy Leadership Humanities 341