My college students and I are a little bit obsessed with adult coloring books: they’re our form of stress relief and meditation. If your reading workshop has gotten a bit off track and your students aren’t reading as much as they need to be, try the strategies in 15 Minutes to Make Time for Reading.…
Jess Lifshitz has a fascinating post about a lesson she designed using picture book covers to help her students begin to think about their own racial and gender biases and stereotypes. This is such important work. If you love podcasts as much as I do, be sure to check out these Five Fun Podcasts for…
Aces Too High shares the secret of solving the problem of school discipline: change the behavior of the adults! Yes, please! Wondering how to be more creative? Apparently we need more silence! I don’t think any books should be added to any kind of canon, but this is still a great list of 10 YA Books…
Kylene Beers tackles the question of the whole-class novel, shares the research, and offers suggestions for making shared reading both humane and productive. Maricela Montoy-Wilson has great ideas for incorporating inquiry-based learning and student choice in a packed curriculum. Hey Sigmund is a site I’m really enjoying lately, and this article on how to explain the adolescent…
Mary Ann Scheuer at Great Kid Books celebrates National Poetry Month with her top five rules for sharing poetry with kids. I’m still thinking about Donalyn Miller’s wise words in Touchstones, a post about our reading autobiographies and specifically about those books that were “turning points” in our reading histories. Carrie Gelson writes a poignant…
It’s a miracle that I managed to read ANYTHING this week besides Slices. I’m trying to comment generously each day, and with nearly 300 Slicers slicing away each day, there is plenty of opportunity for commenting! Carol explains why she comments on blogs in a typically thought-provoking and generous post. Carrie wrote two wonderful pieces…
My must-reads this week are two powerful slices by Carol: one about sleepless nights as a mother of twenty-somethings and one about the ways that school fails clever kinesthetic learners like our sons. Jackie’s excellent post contrasting Natural vs Unnatural Learning is a good place to start rethinking school. And I love the metaphor of school as summer…
Terrific post at TeachThought about the 4 Things Innovative Schools Have in Common. Three Teachers Talk answers some great questions about transitioning to a workshop classroom. Cathy at Reflect & Refine advises us to stop trying to do more and focus on one thing we could do better. George Couros has some characteristically generous and…
‘ I always love Jillian Lauren’s thoughtful writing about motherhood. Here, she tackles a Massive Mom Fail. Emerging Mama has a terrific piece on 4 Reasons Parenting Trauma Is Incredibly Difficult. Yes, yes, yes. 7 Tools for Calming Angry Kids is written for parents but has plenty of applications in the classroom as well. (Note:…
Zetta Elliott notes the silence of girls’ voices in All American Boys, and Jason Reynolds responds. Thanks to both authors for modeling how to talk about tough issues. Teacher of the Year Nate Bowling has a must-read post about education inequality in America. The only thing I care about my son learning in school–joy in…
