Posts by Kristen Thorson
Voices from the Field: Educational Leadership
In the second blog of a three-part series on educational perspectives, Erin and Kristen survey educators about educational leadership.
Civics for 2020: This Is How to Engage Future Voters
By: Kristen Thorson and Erin Gohl. From preK-12, these age-appropriate ideas for a more engaging civics education can help ensure the health of our political institutions.
Empowering Students Through Choice, Voice and Action
By: Kristen Thorson and Erin Gohl. Children should have the choice to contribute their voice to our social and civic dialogue. Here’s how teachers and parents can create a space for kids to develop their thoughts, share their opinions, and take action.
Ensuring Readiness for All Through Math Literacy
Bob Moses has spent his life advocating, organizing, and teaching in pursuit of equality and access for all. Over the last several decades, he has continued that fight for equal opportunity and access, with a similar urgency and fervor. This time, however, the goal is to ensure sufficient access and support for math preparation for minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
New Guide Helps Parents Support Students in LEADing in Their Learning
Following the success of both the "Learning Differences MOOC-Ed" for educators and the "Students LEAD" course, The Friday Institute launched "Letting Students LEAD," a parent-directed companion resource to further support maximizing student learning.
Extending Social Emotional Learning into the Home
Though the addition of social-emotional learning to the standard set of curricula offerings has marked benefits for developing the whole child, social-emotional skills cannot be learned in the vacuum of school alone. This post explores ways to bring social-emotional learning into the home.
A Beginning Rather Than an End: Reframing Summer as the Start of Next School Year
By reframing the potential of summer, from “ten weeks of academic wilderness between school years” to “the start of the next learning opportunity,” summer has the possibility to serve as a smooth, engaging, and uninterrupted continuation from one school year to the next.
Creating a Culture of Collaborative Family Engagement
As the spotlight has shifted to the role that families can play in education, many schools are scrambling to identify a starting point for how to invite families into student learning. Here are a few good considerations to keep in mind.
Early Learning Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking Skills
We live in a world with Smartphones and Smarthomes, and understanding how devices work allows us to approach technology as a partner to help us solve problems. Here's how we can start giving kids these skills sooner rather than later.
Homework or No Homework? Maybe We’re Asking the Wrong Question (Part 2)
By: Kristen Thorson and Erin Gohl. By reimagining homework, teachers have the potential to design purposeful experiences that transcend the walls of a classroom and build a solid foundation for learning. Homework can even feel like an opportunity for students and families.