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Asking students to write about what they have learned from high-interest but complex informational texts requires explicit instruction. Nonfiction text expert Sunday Cummins and her two teacher colleagues share their strategies for strengthening both writing and understanding. The post Using Key Words to Build Written
Math curriculum developer and teaching coach Jen Knudsen walks readers through the four steps she's designed to "streamline the necessary back-and-forth between you and AI" and create reliable, satisfying lessons. Feed AI what it needs when it needs it while maintaining control. The post Crafting Quality Math Lessons w
In "The Body-Brain Connection," Gravity Goldberg shows how we can use active learning strategies to engage the whole student – both their body and their brain – and increase learning and engagement. Teacher-author Michele Haiken finds Goldberg's arguments convincing. The post Boost Learning Using the Body-Brain Connect
Sarah Miller’s The Teacher’s Year offers support to teachers through each week of the school year to meet the seasonal challenges and to savor the joys that can fill the calendars of both new and veteran teachers. Educator Sarah Cooper expects readers will revisit the book often. The post A Weekly Guide to the Heart of
Laurie Hornik’s students say the Peer Reader Feedback strategy is helpful to them because as writers, they appreciate having agency in deciding what feedback to ask for. And as readers, they feel more able to give meaningful feedback when they know what the writer wants. The post Peer Reader Feedback Helps Readers & Wr
Every classroom we enter is an opportunity to influence instruction, writes leadership coach Toni Faddis. Sometimes it's a two-minute conversation. Sometimes it grows into weeks or months of partnership. Coaching begins the moment we notice instruction and choose to talk about it. The post Rethinking How Leaders Suppor
How can we give our middle grades students the strategies and scaffolding they need to read and absorb high-interest but complex informational texts? Author and nonfiction text expert Sunday Cummins and her two teacher colleagues share their classroom-tested solution. The post How to Help Kids Absorb Complex Nonfiction
Recent EdWeek research revealed that two top challenges related to math (as reported by 6-12 administrators) are absences from math class (52%) and student math anxiety (49%). Math interventionist Juliana Tapper explores both and offers several practical ideas that can help. The post The Link Between Math Anxiety and A
As described by Chris Munro and John Campbell, growth talk aims to be transformational as school leaders use coaching conversations and a mindset grounded in trust to empower people, generate positive energy, and create clarity through dialogue rather than direction. The post Growth Talk: A Coaching Way of Leading Scho
For her MiddleWeb column this year Dina Strasser will be exploring thoughts and issues unique to older teachers as she reflects on the 1/3 of public school teachers – most of whom are women – who’ve entered the 50+ crowd, a group she’s settling into. Read about her plans. The post How Our Teacher Lives Change as We Mat
Patterns of Analysis is a practical, vibrant, and "incredibly user-friendly" guide to showing students how grammatical choices shape meaning, tone, and text structure, says Andi Jackson. It's a blueprint for making grammar relevant, accessible, and deeply connected to literacy. The post Use Patterns of Analysis to Reth
You do not have to have grammar all figured out before you teach it, argues grammar coach Patty McGee. The best contemporary teachers she knows let students discover the rules. "Put a mentor text in front of them, ask them 'What do you notice?' and get out of the way." The post It’s Time for Teachers to Put Grammar in
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