culturally responsive classroom

More Grit (and Resilience), Please

A few posts back, I shared information and resources about grit and resilience. Here is another gem that my fabulous colleague Emily shared that was crafted with a student audience in mind. Happy viewing!

Social Emotional Learning and the Common Core State Standards

A few posts back, I shared resources (here and here) about promoting an environment of compassion in the classroom. On this day of candied hearts and (realized or unrequited) love, Dr. Vicki Zakrzewski of Greater Good Science Center contributed to Huffington Post’s blog about the Common Core State Standards and social-emotional learning, or SEL with […]

Marching to the Beat of One’s Own Drum

I couldn’t help but watch this video a few times wearing my “teacher lens.” As I listened to Mr. Zimmer, I was awed not only by his path to musicianship, but also by his resilience. Angela Lee Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania asserts that even though different people define “resilience” differently, all of the […]

“Math is hard, but you can do it. It’s not magic…”

Uhhhhh…I’m not really good at math. Do you “speak” math? As a student in school, I thought that I didn’t, and that I was just a “really good reader,” and that I “wasn’t as good” in math. I later realized that (bless their hearts) some of my teachers did more assigning than teaching during math, […]

Getting to Know You…Getting to Know All about You…

A FREE downloadable K-12 resource is available in this post…read on! The beginning of any school year engenders a full range of emotions for teachers as well for our students. The anticipation that leads to the first day, the uncertainties of new procedures and expectations, and the promise of fresh starts can stir up emotional […]

A No-Tech/Low-Tech Integration of UDL–“Fantastic!”

[google-translator] As the CCSS has been crafted with principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to support inclusive access for all students with identified learning needs and/or disabilities, English Learners, linguistic minority students, as well as students from fragile families, many educators respond with concern that without technological resources, they feel challenged to design instruction […]

Say What?

The oft-used instructional strategy of pairing students to interact, has no shortage of monikers…Think-Pair-Share, Discussion Partners, Structured Student Interactions, Productive Partners (Access Kate Kinsella’s article here), and there are many more. Regardless of the nomenclature, many teachers acknowledge the power of structuring opportunities for students to not only talk and share their perspectives, but to […]