A Principal's Reflections

DECEMBER 12, 2022

I never saw myself as a writer until I started blogging back in March 2010. It all began with goal setting for the Google Teacher Academy for Administrators, and I haven’t looked back. Consistency has been vital for me, as I have published a post every week since. Therein lies the dilemma I am currently facing. The struggle is real in my case when it comes to finding new topics to blog about or adding an innovative spin to already-prevalent concepts.

Junior High 488

Junior High High School Education 488

My AP Life

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Creating a dynamic communication model so that information flows effectively among the leadership team, faculty and staff, and parents and stakeholders helps nurture a culture and climate of shared leadership where all voices are heard and appreciated, writes AP DeAnna Miller. The post The Best-Led Schools Put Communication First first appeared on MiddleWeb.

Leadership 344

Leadership Cultures 344

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 12, 2022

As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged communities and shuttered schools, many educators and parents worried about kindergarteners who were learning online. That concern now appears well-founded as we’re starting to see evidence that remote school and socially distanced instruction were profoundly detrimental to their reading development. This story also appeared in Mind/Shift.

Elementary School 145

Elementary School Charter School Middle School Research 145

ED Surge

DECEMBER 12, 2022

“When the murders happened in Atlanta, my school said nothing.” On March 16, 2021, a 21-year-old white man went on a targeted shooting rampage across Atlanta, driving 30 miles to three massage businesses and killing eight people, the majority of whom were Asian women. Upon capture and questioning, the shooter evoked long-standing, entrenched tropes of sexual violence, racism and misogyny to justify the slaughter.

K-12 142

K-12 Ancestry Education Geography 142

Dangerously Irrelevant

DECEMBER 12, 2022

I’ve been playing around with ChatGPT from OpenAI. Below are a few prompts and the responses generated by the artificial intelligence (AI) of ChatGPT. Be sure to see the last question below! Your thoughts? — Can Holden Caulfield be considered a tragic hero? Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye,” could be considered a tragic hero.

Economics 125

Economics Teaching Humanities Professional Development 125

Education Elements

DECEMBER 13, 2022

More than ever, teachers need connections and opportunities to talk about student learning, celebrate progress and discuss overcoming challenges. The welcome and standard structure of PLCs in schools is an obvious route for these professional conversations. It is easy for meetings to be eaten up with personal stories, professional questions, and school concerns.

Teaching 81

Teaching Leadership 81

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Pandemic-related school closures wreaked havoc on attendance. Strict quarantine periods and policies demanding students stay home at any hint of a cough or runny nose tormented schools even after they reopened. Students got out of the habit of getting to school on time or going consistently at all. This story also appeared in Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.

Elementary School 144

Elementary School High School K-12 Tradition 144

Rockin Resources - Social Studies

DECEMBER 16, 2022

The first week back after a holiday break can feel like the first week back after summer vacation. Having lesson plans prepped and ready will make the transition easier for you. Check out Language Arts Lesson Plans for January! You will find generalized plans for any grade as well as specific plans I used in. The post Language Arts Lesson Plans for January!

Lesson Plan 52

Lesson Plan Social Studies Teaching Education 52

Learn for Living

DECEMBER 13, 2022

In School Culture By Design Podcast Episode #103, Dr. Deborah Beagle shared a fun activity involving paper airplanes and creating time for positivity. Print the template (below). Feel free to add your school logo or tagline Student or staff member to write their name and an inspiring quote (can search online, if needed) Fold into an airplane using the dotted lines During a specified time, everyone flies their paper airplane and each person then catches/picks up one Expect some laughter and smile

Cultures 52

Cultures 52

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 10, 2022

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. Subscribe today! New Jersey is set to become the first state in the nation to mandate teaching media literacy to students of all ages as a bill with the requirement heads to Gov.

Teaching 137

Teaching Civics K-12 Social Science 137

ED Surge

DECEMBER 12, 2022

The investigators erupt with excitement as the suspect appears, walking from his house to his car. “There he is!” “Right there!” “Get him! Quick!” Studies show up to a 75 percent improvement in retention with experiential learning scenarios. The case: the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping. The investigators: a group of students at Independence High School in Frisco, Texas.

Library 114

Library History Cultures High School 114

Transcending Pedagogy

DECEMBER 12, 2022

I’m really starting to loathe technology. Over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten into battles with multiple devices and technologies: my non-“smart” TV, my Instagram accounts, this WordPress blog, and now – the latest – the most recent tech tool that both is – and has gone, it seems – viral: ChatGPT. There’s nothing wrong with my non-smart TV.

Pedagogy 52

Pedagogy Lesson Plan Tradition High School 52

Leah Cleary

DECEMBER 10, 2022

Inquiry-based lessons have been around for a while. But hear me out–I think they’re the key to making learning meaningful for our post-pandemic students. When we were going through all of the quarantining and hybrid learning that Covid brought, I remember the anxiety the most. Change was happening so quickly. We had to twist, turn, bend, and sometimes break at a moment’s notice.

Primary Sources 52

Primary Sources Library Geography World History 52

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 16, 2022

EMPORIA, Kan. — When Adia Witherspoon was growing up in the south-central Kansas town of El Dorado, her single mother told her that “the only way to get away from poverty or El Dorado was to go to college.”. This story also appeared in The Washington Post. There was a community college near where she lived, but there were no public universities, or even private ones, close by — and if there had been a private college, she said, she likely wouldn’t have been able to afford it.

Geography 134

Geography Political Science Sociology History 134

ED Surge

DECEMBER 15, 2022

Sarah Turner spends time with her son Noah at home, on Sunday, July 3, 2022. Photo by Rosem Morton for EdSurge. BALTIMORE — Sarah Turner moves with grace. At 8:45 on a Thursday morning in May, the 20-year-old stands at the stove, preparing two meals at once: eggs for her son Noah’s breakfast and a grilled cheese sandwich for his lunch. Noah sits expectantly at the dining room table.

High School 106

High School Research Educational Technology Education 106

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 15, 2022

OREM, Utah — Of the many things that happen at a university, it seemed among the most mundane: the periodic task of coming up with those “core values” that flash from websites or are splashed on banners hung from campus light poles. This story also appeared in KUER and National Public Radio. At Utah Valley University, or UVU, the process started smoothly.

Education 119

Education Tradition History Cultures 119

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 12, 2022

This fall, my dad pointed me to the U.S. Department of Education’s new initiative, YOU Belong in STEM. I read about the program’s goal to redesign the nation’s STEM education ecosystem based on a new narrative focused on ensuring that all students feel welcome in STEM. My heart raced because that is precisely what I have been trying to do with a group I started at my high school in Maryland.

Elementary School 109

Elementary School High School Government Teaching 109

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 14, 2022

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — With grape juice and Chex Mix at hand, and their little sister busy coloring nearby, Jenashia and Nevaeh Aponte settled down at a table with Sara Rubio, their “pod leader.”. This story also appeared in The Christian Science Monitor. It was Halloween afternoon and the first floor of the McKenna Center — a renovated Victorian house located across the street from Central Falls High School in Rhode Island — was abuzz with teenagers chatting and admiring one another’s costumes.

Tutoring 102

Tutoring High School Museum Tradition 102

The Hechinger Report

DECEMBER 13, 2022

Growing up, I often heard from my parents that I needed to “get out of here.” And I did get out, from Ohio’s Appalachian foothills to a university near Cincinnati. Not far in terms of miles, but light-years in lifestyle. My trajectory from a trailer park in a small town to a two-story house in a subdivision was tenuous, but ultimately successful. For many students in Appalachia, though, college is an impossible dream.

Economics 99

Economics Professional Development High School Education Policy 99

ED Surge

DECEMBER 15, 2022

From time to time, Jeff Livingston gets a call from an entrepreneur looking for advice about getting into the edtech market. That’s no surprise given his credentials. As founder of the Center for Education Market Dynamics, Livingston has spent the better part of two decades thinking about how to get edtech innovations to the students who need them most.

EdTech 107

EdTech K-12 Leadership Cultures 107

ED Surge

DECEMBER 12, 2022

During the pandemic, anxieties about math instruction have grown. Fueling them is the most recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which showed historical losses in math education. Falling behind in math can have long term consequences, since the subject can function as a gateway into STEM careers. And like so much during the pandemic, the losses were worse for some communities, with achievement gaps having widened during the pandemic.

K-12 101

K-12 Tutoring Middle School Elementary School 101

ED Surge

DECEMBER 15, 2022

In 2017, one of my former students gifted me a copy of Angela Davis’ book, “ Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement ”. I loved this gift because it spoke to how my students and I cultivated a learning environment where we could explore the possibilities of justice and liberation through studying history.

K-12 98

K-12 History Humanities Cultures 98

ED Surge

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Rep. Frederica Wilson has long felt that American teachers are undervalued, an opinion that developed during her time as a classroom teacher, a principal, a school board member and, eventually, as a member of Congress. And she believes the wages teachers are paid do not reflect the importance of their role in society. But Wilson, a Democrat from Florida, hopes to turn that around—starting today—with the introduction of the American Teacher Act, a bill that would establish a federal minimum salar

Cultural Studies 118

Cultural Studies History Teaching Public School 118