teachers
Leadership
Going Public: The Power of Local, Community Partners in PBL
By: Mike Kaechele. Deciding on the right public product that is authentic to students can be one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of designing a gold standard PBL project. A way to avoid this is to start with an excellent, local partner.
EdTech
Teaching the Teacher: Lesson Planning and Powerful PD in One
By: Suzanne Simons. Literacy Design Collaborative offers teachers across the country a system of tools that not only helps them provide more critical moments of instruction for their students’ learning, but for their own professional learning as well.
Difference Making
Pick a Mentor – It Will Change Your Life
By: Katie Goddard. We need to make a conscious effort to create an environment where kids feel safe and comfortable in sharing their growth and development with us. Mentoring is the key to make this free exchange of ideas possible.
Leadership
Welcome to the Copyright Jungle
By: Bill Taylor. The movement toward going open is spreading like wildfire among the education community, but the challenge of navigating through the jungle of copyright law can quickly dampen that enthusiasm. Here are some tips to help teachers navigate open educational resources successfully.
EdTech
4 Features of Great Mobile Learning Apps
By: Alan Schwartz. The average U.S. student spends 8 to 10 hours per day on a mobile phone, mostly on social media platforms. So how can EdTech providers grab a small slice of students’ mobile time and turn it into more productive learning activities?
EdTech
Generic vs Coherent Teacher Prep
We’ve inherited sedimentary layers of local, state and federal EdPolicy--not system designed to prepare young people for the idea economy and not an easy system in which to teach. In contrast we know that good schools are coherent--everything is mission-aligned to benefit teachers and students. The benefits of purpose-built coherent teacher preparation hold the potential to extend quality learning for all teachers and students.
Leadership
10 Teacher Moves To Build Student Support in a PBL Classroom
By: JoAnn Groh. I absolutely do believe that all students can not only survive but thrive in a PBL classroom, and that for many of our students who struggle, the engagement that accompanies PBL is a game changer. Here are ten ways teachers can build that important student support in a PBL classroom
Leadership
Why PD for ELL Educators Matters
Personalized, professional learning is absolutely essential for teachers who serve unique student populations like English Language Learners (ELL). ELL students face the unique learning challenge of developing skills and content mastery while simultaneously acquiring a new language--often when their native language is not yet fully mastered. This means that teachers must also simultaneously meet these instructional goals.
Leadership
Who is THE Expert: Parents or Teachers? Both?
By: Arina Bokas. Many educators believe parents should trust them as trained experts who know what's best for their children. Many parents believe educators should trust them as the experts when it comes to their children. So who is the actual expert here?
Leadership
Two Strategies for Empowering Teacher Leaders
In a coherent system, everything works together for students and teachers: content, learning experiences, assessment, professional development, schedule, structure, staffing and supports. Here are two ways to create this coherence and empower teacher leaders.